Festivals: The Happy Plague

Europe in the summer is one big festival of music festivals. Nourished by the tourist trade, the phenomenon has spread across the Continent like a happy plague. After World War II, Europe could boast only half a dozen festivals; today there are some 200. Half ritual and half romp, they are held in medieval barns and torchlighted courtyards, up on cliffs overlooking the sea, down in leafy glens, in castles and cathedrals, on a floating stage and in the cloisters of a convent. Programs range from intimate chamber-music sessions over brandy to razzle-dazzle variety shows, from folk music and jazz to carillon recitals.

For those with specialized tastes, there are all-Mozart programs in Würz-burg (June 13-20) and Augsburg, Germany (July 3-Aug. 14), the famed Wagner Ring cycle in Bayreuth (July 25-Aug. 30), Beethoven in Bonn (Sept. 19-Oct. 10), not to mention the first annual International Mandolin Festival in Verviers, Belgium (July 3). Florence's Maggio Musicale (through June 20) will repeat its popular production of Director-Set Designer Franco Zef-ferelli's Euridice, while Composer Gian Carlo Menotti's Festival of Two Worlds at Spoleto, Italy (June 24-July 18), will augment its opera and concert season with Jerome Robbins' new production of Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat and five performances of the New York City Ballet.

Beyond the large, established sessions of summer music in Vienna (through June 20), Lucerne (Aug. 14-Sept. 9), Salzburg (July 26-Aug. 31), Holland (June 15-July 15), Edinburgh (Aug. 22-Sept. 11) and Glyndebourne (through Aug. 15), there are several smaller, off-the-beaten-track music festivals of special interest. Herewith a sampling of the most distinctive:

∙ BATH (through June 20), on the Avon 106 miles west of London, is in one of England's most beautiful cities, whose elaborate baths are the largest Roman relics in England. Guiding genius for the concerts is Violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who will premiere Malcolm Williamson's Violin Concerto on June 15. Other highlights include performances by the London Symphony as well as Menuhin's hand-picked Bath Festival Orchestra.

∙ THE ALDEBURGH CONCERTS (June 1527) take place in the small local hall and Norman churches surrounding this tiny (pop. 3,000) fishing village on the windswept east coast of England. Chief attraction is Townsman Benjamin Britten. Primarily devoted to chamber music, the program will include a cycle of 15th and 20th century English church music, plus a concert by Russian Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, accompanied on the piano by Composer Britten.

∙ MESLAY (June 28-July 4), near Tours, uses as an auditorium a massive barn built by monks in 1220. The excellent acoustics of the barn's oak and chestnut structure will set off performances by Russian Pianist Sviatoslav Richter, Moscow's Borodin Quartet, and London's Royal Opera singing Britten's Curlew River.

∙ NYMPHENBURG (July 7-29), on the outskirts of Munich, presents some of the finest chamber music available on the summer circuit, highlighted this season by the appearance of the Juilliard String Quartet. Performances are held by candlelight in the magnificent threestory stone hall of the sprawling Wit telsbach Palace.