Egon Hilbert (1899–1968) 1951 OeNB 655602

Egon Hilbert (19 May 1899 – 18 January 1968) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

. Hilbert was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

where he would later study law and philosophy at the

Universität Wien The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. In 1938, he was arrested by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and interned at

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

. In 1945, he was made provisional director of the Salzburger Landestheaters and attempted a reorganisation of the Salzburg Festival. From 1946 to 1953, he was head of the Austrian national theater administration. In 1953, after a brief suspension, he resigned as director of the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...

. From 1954 to 1959 he was he was chief of the Austrian cultural institute in Rome. From 1959, he was general director of the

Vienna Festival __NOTOC__ The Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival) is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June. The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allie ...

, and from 1963 until his death, he was the director of the

Honors and awards

* Officer of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

* Goldene Ehrenmedaille der Stadt Wien

References

External links

*
Egon Hilbert und der Iffland-Ring

Wiener Staatsoper
1899 births 1968 deaths Male conductors (music) Opera managers Austrian theatre directors Musicians from Vienna University of Vienna alumni Dachau concentration camp survivors 20th-century Austrian conductors (music) 20th-century Austrian male musicians {{Opera-bio-stub