Karl Elmendorff

Karl Elmendorff

Karl Eduard Maria Elmendorff (October 25 1891 – October 21 1962) was a German opera conductor.

Born in Düsseldorf, Elmendorff studied music at the Cologne College of Music and Hochschule für Musik Köln from 1913 to 1916 under Fritz Steinbach and Hermann Abendroth. Early in his career, he conducted for a number of cities including:

• 1916 to 1920 in Düsseldorf
• 1920 to 923 in Mainz
• 1923 to 1924 in Hagen
• 1925 at the Munich State Opera
• 1927 to 1942 at the Bayreuth Festival

Elmendorff also was a regular guest conductor in various European cities, including at La Scala.

His prominent role at the Bayreuth Festival, where he was staff conductor for more than a decade, was principally due to the lack of other conductors willing, or able (because they were Jews or because they criticized Nazi policy), to participate in the festival when it fell under Nazi control.

Discography

• Götterdämmerung - Live 1942 Bayreuth, Label: Music & Arts Program, 2000 (recorded 1942)
• Tannhäuser, Label: Naxos Records, 2001 (recorded 1930)
• Tristan und Isolde, Label: Naxos, 2003 (recorded 1928)

References

• "Bayreuth's Blight". Time. 19 June 1933. Retrieved 2007-09-21.