Otto Schenk was one of ours, says Vienna Opera

The Staatsoper has hoisted a black flag in memory of the late international director. Here is its mourning statement:

The entire staff of the State Opera mourns the loss of one of the greats of the theatre world: KSch Otto Schenk, director, actor, artistic director, author, passionate opera fanatic and theatre person through and through, passed away on January 9, 2025 at the age of 94.

For many decades he was more closely connected to the opera house on the Ring than almost anyone else: he created a total of 31 productions for the Vienna State Opera, was the legendary head director at the opera house, created an unforgettable, pointed and eccentric role for the frog in “his” Fledermaus (debut: 1963) and was a welcome guest at artist talks. A director and colleague who was highly valued by employees and artists alike, Otto Schenk could also often be found at performances in his private life.

Following his universal love of art, he avoided boundaries and pigeonholes, did not separate opera from drama, literature from music. He drew on his passion for performing and showing, and always developed his work from the individual perspective: his trademark was a consistent scenic design of all the characters on stage; each chorister, each extra, in addition to the soloists, received a role tailored to him personally. He saw the “human element” on stage, i.e. the touching portrayal of personal fates, as a quality feature and a basic condition of the theater. When he took on a work, he experienced an intense love story with it: his works arose from an incomparable desire to play and explore, his sympathy and compassion for the great figures of the opera brought them to life.

His first production, Janáček’s Jenůfa in 1964, was followed by Carmen , Boris Godunov , Baal, Così fan tutte , The Visit of the Old Lady (world premiere), Intrigue and Love (world premiere), The Magic Flute , La traviata , Lulu , Don Carlo , Don Giovanni , Il trittico, The Bartered Bride and many more from a wide-ranging repertoire ranging from classics to contemporary works. Numerous legendary productions were created, many of which are still part of the State Opera’s repertoire – Der Rosenkavalier, Die Fledermaus, Andrea Chénier , Fidelio and L’elisir d’amore are regular features of the program.

His last new production at the Vienna State Opera was Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen in 2014.

In order to refresh his productions for revivals and new productions and to conduct rehearsals, most recently from the “Schenk throne” lovingly designated on the rehearsal schedule, he regularly returned to the State Opera, most recently for Fidelio .

Photo: Vienna State Opera/Michael Pöhn

And this just in from the Salzburg Festival, where Schenk also appeared as an actor.

“With the death of Otto Schenk, the theatre world has lost one of its greatest luminaries, an exceptional artist, a true legend! One could not help loving Otto Schenk,” said Artistic Director Markus Hinterhäuser in an initial statement.
“Otto Schenk influenced the Salzburg Festival profoundly for decades, in many ways. As an actor, he was a force of nature on stage, an audience favourite in the best sense of the meaning. As a director, he made theatre history and audiences and critics alike celebrated his triumphs. And as a member of the Directorate, he led the drama department successfully through the turbulent era of the late Karajan years,” Hinterhäuser continued.

To the audience’s delight, Otto Schenk performed an impressive 237 times at the Salzburg Festival.

As early as 1950, when he was still a young student at the Reinhardt Seminar, he was personally selected by Helene Thimig to appear in the banqueting scene of Jedermann, making his Festival debut.

His rendition of the role of Francis Flute/Thisbe in William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1966 was legendary. Karl Löbl raved in Express: “At first, Schenk has three scenes with very little text. Continuously munching on various edibles, he observes his friends. Even this observation, these unnoticeable, but so very typical changes in his face are wonderful. Then comes the moment when Flute sees Bottom with his donkey’s head. It is hard to imagine any other actor but Schenk executing this toneless shriek, this helter-skelter escape. And then finally his Thisbe, a mixture of awkwardness (due to the costume) and high spirits, joyful imitation and clumsiness … it’s heavenly.”

For seven summers, from 1978 to 1982 as well as 1991 and 1992, he returned to Cathedral Square, performing the role of the Devil in Jedermann.

In 1987, he won the Festival audience’s hearts as Fortunatus Wurzel in Jürgen Flimm’s legendary production of Ferdinand Raimund’s Der Bauer als Millionär. Two years later, he gave a brilliant rendition of the role of Schnoferl in Johann Nestroy’s Das Mädl aus der Vorstadt, alongside Gertraud Jesserer, Karl Merkatz and Louise Martini.

His last performances in 1996/97 remain unforgotten: he appeared alongside his friend Helmuth Lohner in Peter Stein’s production of Ferdinand Raimund’s Der Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind. The way in which the two antipodes wore the other one’s mask, i.e. how Lohner (Alpenkönig) as Schenk and Schenk (Rappelkopf) as Lohner faced off, inspired the audience to rapturous applause.

The Festival also featured Schenk as a highly successful director. Hilde Spiel gave an excellent characterization of the stage director Otto Schenk in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in 1976: “Frequently acclaimed, not only as a curious figure, a comedian and character actor of high rank – his Thisbe, his Theodor in Der Unbestechliche have become the stuff of legend – but mainly as an opera and drama director, Otto Schenk is a phenomenon that is as complex as it is uncomplicated. Accustomed to success and relaxed, he strolls from one production to another where others might rush breathlessly, from La Scala to the Met, in Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, London and Paris. Otto Schenk here, Otto Schenk there – a Figaro of the stage, yet never betraying his standards, nor ever losing his inner dignity, as unrestrainedly as he may play the clown. Protean is a word that might have been invented for him, and yet, the man is all of a piece.”

His productions of the two Nestroy plays Der Talisman in 1976 and Der Zerrissene in 1982 are unforgotten. He made Festival history with the world premiere of Friedrich Cerha’s opera Baal in 1981, a triumph with audience and press alike. Franz Endler wrote in Die Presse: “Otto Schenk, to whom the staging was entrusted, created a grandiose image of Baal and his surroundings, turning types into human beings and the ‘animal’ Baal into a natural oaf whose total passion for himself is as understandable as anything.”

From 1986 to 1988, after Boy Gobert’s sudden death, Otto Schenk joined the Directorate of the Salzburg Festival with the responsibility for the drama programme.

“With the black flag flying today at the Festspielhaus, we bow in gratitude before Otto Schenk’s life achievements and his work for the Salzburg Festival,” the Festival’s Directorate declared.

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