music festivals definition of music festivals in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

music festivals, series of performances separate from the normal concert season and often, but not always, organized around an idea or theme. Music festivals usually are held annually in the summer, sometimes in the open air. The concept has been traced as far back as the sixth-century B.C. Pythian Games at Delphi, which included musical competitions. In the Middle Ages competitive festivals were sponsored by guilds. The eisteddfod eisteddfod (īstĕth`vəd, –vôd) [Welsh,=session], Welsh competitive festival.
..... Click the link for more information. in Wales is a direct descendant of medieval competitive festivals. Among the best-known music festivals with a specific theme held today are the Bayreuth Festival Bayreuth Festival, also called the Richard Wagner Festival, annual season of performances of Wagner 's works, held in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth. In about 1851, Wagner began to visualize a festival theater that would be devoted to the performance of great German
..... Click the link for more information. , which features the operas of Wagner; the Munich and Glyndebourne Festivals Glyndebourne Festivals (glīn`dəbərn, glīn`bôrn)
..... Click the link for more information. , which feature opera; the Darmstadt modern music festival; the Warsaw Autumn Days; England's Aldeburgh Festival, which was instituted by Benjamin Britten Britten, Benjamin, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh, 1913–76, English composer. Britten is considered the most significant British composer since Purcell . As a youth he composed instrumental works, displaying technical brilliance and colorful orchestration.
..... Click the link for more information. and concentrates on modern music; the Mostly Mozart festival in New York City; and the Newport Jazz Festival Newport Jazz Festival, annual summer music festival, held at Newport, R.I. Sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Louis Lorillard and George Wein, the first performance was held in July, 1954. The festival brings together jazz lovers and great figures of the jazz world.
..... Click the link for more information. (now held in New York City and Newport). The Salzburg Festival Salzburg Festival, annual festival of music and drama held in Salzburg, Austria, for five weeks starting in late July. The festival may be considered a descendant of the Salzburg Music Festival Weeks that the Vienna Philharmonic gave irregularly between 1877 and 1910.
..... Click the link for more information. began (musically) as a Mozart festival; today, however, other composers are also featured; it is perhaps the outstanding example of a general classical music festival. Similar events are held in New York City (notably Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival), Aspen, Colo. (see Aspen Music Festival Aspen Music Festival, annual summer event, held in Aspen, Colo. A former silver-mining boomtown, Aspen fell into decline and was culturally revived by Walter Paepcke, who formed the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies.
..... Click the link for more information. ), Edinburgh, Spoleto (see Spoleto Festival Spoleto Festival, also called Festival of the Two Worlds, annual summer arts festival held in Spoleto, Italy. Founded by the composer Gian-Carlo Menotti and the conductor Thomas Schippers, the festival has been held annually since 1958.
..... Click the link for more information. ), and Bergen (Norway). The Berkshire Festival Berkshire Festival (bûrk`shər, –shĭr)
..... Click the link for more information. at Tanglewood, near Lenox, Mass., features the Boston Symphony. The festival idea has spread all over the world; Osaka began a festival of music and drama in 1958. Festivals of rock music have frequently been held on a one-time basis. Two of the most famous were the Monterey Pop Festival (1967) and Woodstock (1969).