Walter Felsenstein

Walter Felsenstein (30 May 1901 – 8 October 1975) was an Austrian theater and opera director.

He was one of the most important exponents of textual accuracy, productions in which dramatic and musical values were exquisitely researched and balanced. His most famous students were Götz Friedrich and Harry Kupfer both of whom went on to have important careers developing Felsenstein's work. Opera director Siegfried Schoenbohm was one of his assistants.

Felsenstein was born in Vienna and began his career at the Burgtheater there. From 1923 to 1932, he was a theater actor in Lübeck, Mannheim, and Bytom, where he first worked as a director. In Basel and Freiburg im Breisgau, he became closely acquainted with the contemporary concert hall.

From 1932 to 1934 he worked as an opera director in Cologne, and from 1934 to 1936 at Frankfurt. He worked in Zurich from 1938 to 1940 and returned in 1940 to Germany, where he was active at the Berlin Schillertheater until 1944. Additionally, he worked as a guest director in Aachen, Düsseldorf, Metz and Strasbourg. In 1942 he produced Le nozze di Figaro (Clemens Krauss conducting, sets and costumes by Stefan Hlawa) at the Salzburg Mozart festival.

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