Hubris and high notes in Bavaria

Like everywhere else in Europe, music in the Czech Republic moves to the countryside for the summer. Classical fans in particular have a great selection of choices, ranging from the mega-festivals in Litomyšl and Český Krumlov to more modest efforts like the Janáček festivals in Luhačovice and Hukvaldy.

Summer is also a good time to look further afield for fresh performers and a break from the Czech repertoire. Within a half-day's drive of Prague, one of the best options is the Herrenchiemsee Festspiele, located midway between Munich and Salzburg.

First, there's the setting: the Royal Palace on the island of Herrenchiemsee, a breathtaking neo-Baroque fantasy built in the late 1800s by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. A devotee of King Louis XIV of France, Ludwig decided to build his own Versailles, a grandiose undertaking cut short by his death in 1886. What survived is stunning, with gardens and fountains modeled after Versailles, statuary straight out of Wagner and more than a dozen finished rooms in the palace, including a magnificent Mirror Hall, even larger than its counterpart in Versailles, where concerts are held.

Founded in 2000 by conductor Enoch zu Guttenberg and dramaturgist Klaus Jörg Schönmetzler, the Herrenchiemsee Festspiele is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a program titled Sonnenkönige und Schattenreiche (roughly, Sun Kings and Shadow Kingdoms). The theme was inspired by the site and its history - good and bad. Taking a hard look at Ludwig II, for example, the program notes describe him as "the ruler of a state in political and technological turmoil; the royal dreamer, who in Herrenchiemsee gave artistic reality to his fantasies of Baroque Sun-Kingship; and the isolated, disturbed individual who withdrew ever deeper into the shadow kingdom he had chosen for himself."

It's appropriate, then, that the two semi-staged operas are Rigoletto (July 20 and 21), with its imperious Duke of Mantua, and The Magic Flute (July 23 and 24), with its clash between mystical forces of light and darkness. The former is the sole Verdi piece, but Mozart runs throughout the festival, with his regal Jupiter Symphony (July 17), two Coronation Concertos (July 18 and 25) and Adagio in B minor (July 22).

Stretching the theme adds some interesting twists to the program. Two views of war are juxtaposed in a pairing of Haydn's Nelson Mass and Händel's Dettinger Te Deum (July 16). The opening night of Bach Cantatas (July 13) gives the program a spiritual spin, explored further in a "Psalms of David" night featuring an unusual polychoral pairing of Heinrich Schütz and Krzysztof Penderecki (July 14).

That kind of centuries-spanning juxtaposition is typical of this year's program. Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, for instance, follows Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Concerto funebre, written in 1939 to protest the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Other mind-bending match-ups include a night of Haydn, Shostakovich and Beethoven string quartets (July 19), and a pairing of one of the Mozart Coronation Concertos with Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 (July 25) which was dedicated to King Ludwig II. Pianist Herbert Schuch may have the most challenging evening of all, playing a solo program of Mozart, Scriabin, Ravel and Beethoven (July 22).

Most of the performers are German, and their names will be unfamiliar to Prague concertgoers - but that's the point. This is a chance to see new faces and hear a different approach to the music and programming. Guttenberg, who will conduct the opening and closing concerts and three in between, still talks about his aristocratic family's resistance to the Nazi regime. That sense of historical awareness tempered by a spirit of independence characterizes the festival as well, and makes a run to Bavaria an attractive option for a summer sojourn.

Frank Kuznik can be reached at
fkuznik@praguepost.com