Van der Bellen urges European patriotism at Innsbruck festival

Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen has called for a rediscovery of “European patriotism” at the opening of the 50th Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, ORF reported. He made the appeal on Friday at Ambras Castle in Innsbruck.

“It is not difficult to love one’s homeland and to be a European patriot,” Van der Bellen said in his speech. He rejected what he called a “longing for self-diminishment” and argued that countries are stronger together than separately.

Van der Bellen said the early modern period had featured a shared European space in which people regularly moved to other regions. It had been possible to love one’s homeland without despising the rest of the world, he said. European patriotism was therefore not a new invention, but something that had existed before.

The upheavals of the 20th century had led people to regard borders as something natural, Van der Bellen said. He strongly rejected that view, arguing that mutual influence had always been a natural part of Europe. He attended the event with his wife, Doris Schmidauer.

Tyrol Governor and Culture Minister Anton Mattle also stressed the importance of social diversity. Referring to the opera Il pomo d’oro by Pietro Antonio Cesti, which is being performed on Friday and Saturday, he said stories shape people. In the opera, the goddess of discord is not invited to a celebration and throws an apple marked “For the fairest” among the guests. The apple then becomes a source of conflict.

Mattle said the story showed how exclusion could develop an uncontrollable dynamic, leading to polarisation and division. Innsbruck Deputy Mayor Georg Willi called instead for community and “harmony, which never arises by chance”. He said art could create a sense of community, including at the festival.

Artistic Director Eva-Maria Sens paid tribute to the festival’s history. Referring to its founder, Innsbruck musician Otto Ulf, she said he had “planted a tree under whose shade we may now dance”. The anniversary celebrations would honour everyone who had contributed to the festival since its creation, she said.

The opening programme included the Sinfonia from Handel’s Atalanta, performed by the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis orchestra with Andrea Buccarella on harpsichord and as musical director. Scenes from Atalanta formed the musical centrepiece. The programme also featured Francesco Geminiani’s Concerto grosso in E minor, Op. 3 No. 6 and “Le belle immagini” from Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Paride ed Elena, performed by mezzo-soprano Anna Bonitatibus.

The Innsbruck Festival of Early Music runs from July 24 to August 30. Cesti’s large-scale opera Il pomo d’oro is being premiered in two parts at the Tyrol State Theatre.