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𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐊𝐥𝐞𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐲𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐲 There are conductors whose greatness lies in sheer musical command, and there are conductors whose greatness also acquires a moral dimension because of the…

𝐎𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐊𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 There are conductors whose reputations are made by glamour, by controversy, or by a few world-famous recordings. And then there are conductors…

𝐒𝐈𝐑 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈 (𝟏𝟖𝟗𝟗–𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟎): 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970) was born Giovanni Battista Barbirolli in London on 2 December 1899 and died there on 29 July…

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐓 (𝟏𝟖𝟖𝟎–𝟏𝟗𝟔𝟕) 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎 𝐎𝐅 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇 — 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 — 𝐀 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐀 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐭 (𝟑 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟖𝟖𝟎 – 𝟕 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲…

𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒 𝐊𝐑𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐒 — 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐈𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎 (𝟏𝟖𝟗𝟑–𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟗) 𝐈. 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐑𝐄 — 𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐬 was born in Vienna…

𝐊𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐊𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍 — 𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐋𝐄, 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 (𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟖–𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟏) 𝐈. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 (𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟖) By the late 1970s, 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧 (𝟏𝟗𝟏𝟒–𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟏) was already…

𝐘𝐄𝐕𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐘 𝐒𝐕𝐄𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐕 — 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄, 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐀: 𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐃𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐈. 𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐈 (𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟖–𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟎𝐬) 𝐘𝐞𝐯𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐲 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐯𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐯 (𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟖–𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟐) was born on 6 September 1928 in…

𝐎𝐭𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝟏𝟗𝟑𝟔 — 𝐀 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝟏. 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭: 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 By 1936, 𝐎𝐭𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐫 (𝟏𝟖𝟖𝟓–𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟑) was living through one of the most difficult phases…

𝗚𝗘𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗘 𝗦𝗭𝗘𝗟𝗟 — 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗡 𝗜𝗥𝗢𝗡 𝗠𝗔𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗢 The early career of 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗦𝘇𝗲𝗹𝗹 (1897–1970) reads less like the meteoric story of a flamboyant prodigy and more like the steady forging of one…

𝗬𝗘𝗛𝗨𝗗𝗜 𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗨𝗛𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗘𝗡𝗝𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗡 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗡 — 𝗔 𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗗𝗘𝗣𝗧𝗛 The relationship between 𝗬𝗲𝗵𝘂𝗱𝗶 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗵𝗶𝗻 (1916–1999) and 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 (1913–1976) stands as one of the most intellectually and morally significant artistic…

𝗘𝗨𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗘 𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗬 — 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗕𝗨𝗗𝗔𝗣𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗜𝗚𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗟𝗣𝗛𝗜𝗔 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 The rise of 𝗘𝘂𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲 𝗢𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘆 (1899–1985) from a Budapest violin prodigy to one of the most influential orchestral conductors of the twentieth…

## 𝗝𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗼𝗻 — 𝗔𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗱𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿-𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 **Jean Martinon (1910–1976)** remains one of the most fascinating French musicians of the 20th century:…

## 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘄 𝗦𝗸𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗰𝘇𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗸𝗶 — 𝗔𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗱𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗿-𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗻𝗲𝗿, 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮 **Stanisław Skrowaczewski (1923–2017)** was one of the last conductors directly shaped by the Central-European symphonic…

# Austria, Gmunden, Johannes Brahms with wife and daughter of Viktor von Miller zu Aichholz in 1890 The photo was taken in **1890 in Gmunden, Austria**, a lakeside town in Upper Austria that had…

Tamas Vasary Early Life and Musical Beginnings Tamás Vásáry (born July 11, 1933, in Debrecen, Hungary) grew up in a country where music was deeply interwoven with national identity. Hungary in the 1930s and…

# **Takashi Asahina (1908–2001): Anecdotes and Curiosities from a Life of Absolute Musical Integrity ** Takashi Asahina was not a man of public charm, wit, or theatrical gesture. His life offers no flamboyant scandals…

# **The Traveller (Book: Mozart, His Character, His Work** by Alfred Einstein) Mozart—like other geniuses—is the most brilliant proof that within a human being **the bodily and the spiritual, the animal and the divine,…

# **Celibidache and His Orchestras: A Love Story of Genius, Conflict, and Absolute Sound ** Sergiu Celibidache’s relationships with his orchestras were among the **most intense, psychologically complex, and historically consequential** in the entire…

# **Beethoven’s Mother** This is the biography of **Maria Magdalena van Beethoven**, the mother of **Ludwig van Beethoven**. **Maria Magdalena Keverich** was born on **19 December 1746**, and after a short and difficult life,…

# **Lovro von Matačić (1899–1985)** ## **A Life in 20 Chapters** Lovro von Matačić stands as one of the **most profound, uncompromising, and morally complex conductors of the 20th century**. Revered by musicians for…

# **Tugan Sokhiev, Conductor — Life and Musical Career ** **Tugan Sokhiev** was born on **September 21, 1977**, in **Vladikavkaz**, in North Ossetia–Alania (then part of the Soviet Union). He grew up in a…

# **Riccardo Chailly — Anecdotes and Curiosities from a Life in Music** **1. A Childhood Immersed in the Orchestra Pit** Riccardo Chailly did not “discover” music—he was born into it. As the son of…

# **Yannick Nézet-Séguin — A Life in Music ** [[https://yannicknezetseguin.com/en/](https://yannicknezetseguin.com/en/)](https://yannicknezetseguin.com/en/) **Origins and Formation (1975–1995)** Yannick Nézet-Séguin was born on **March 6, 1975**, in **Montreal, Quebec**, into a francophone Canadian family for whom culture and…

# **Bruno Walter in Nazi Germany before the War (1933–1936)** Bruno Walter’s position in Germany during the early years of National Socialism represents one of the most painful and revealing chapters in his life,…