Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf , born Erich Landauer (born February 4, 1912 in Vienna , † September 11, 1993 in Zurich ) was an Austrian - American conductor who lived mainly in the United States from 1937. Leinsdorf was considered a typical opera conductor and was particularly valued in America as a Wagner conductor.
Life
Leinsdorf studied in his hometown and graduated in 1933 with a diploma. In the following year he became assistant to Bruno Walters and Arturo Toscanini at the Salzburg Festival .
In November 1937 Leinsdorf went to the Metropolitan Opera in New York as an assistant . After Austria's annexation to the National Socialist German Reich (1938) he was able to stay in the USA as a European refugee and received citizenship there in 1942. From 1943 to 1946 he was chief conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra , but was unable to carry out most of this activity as he was drafted into military service because of the Second World War.
After the end of the war he occasionally conducted again in Europe, but was mainly active in America. From 1947 to 1955 Leinsdorf was chief conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra . In 1956 he was the director of the New York City Opera for one season and then returned to the Metropolitan Opera. In 1962 he became chief conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra as the successor to Charles Münch . Also in 1962 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
From 1978 to 1981 he worked intensively with the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin , today's Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, with whom he undertook a highly acclaimed East Asia tour in June 1980.
Discography
The following list comes from the "Opernlexikon" by Horst Seeger , Henschelverlag Berlin (GDR), 4th edition 1989
- Richard Wagner : Die Walküre , Lohengrin , Tristan and Isolde , The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
- Giacomo Puccini : Tosca , Madama Butterfly , Turandot , La Bohème , Il tabarro
- Richard Strauss : Ariadne on Naxos , Salome
- Giuseppe Verdi : Aida , Un ballo in maschera , Macbeth
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Così fan tutte , Don Giovanni , Le nozze di Figaro
- Erich Wolfgang Korngold : The dead city
- Gaetano Donizetti : Lucia di Lammermoor
- Gioacchino Rossini : Il barbiere di Siviglia
- Peter Cornelius : The Barber of Baghdad
Leinsdorf also recorded symphonies and other orchestral works, including works by
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Johannes Brahms
- Anton Bruckner
- Béla Bartók : Concerto for Orchestra , Magyar képek
- Zoltán Kodály : Háry János Suite
- Franz Schmidt
- Gustav Mahler : Symphony No. 1 ("The Titan")
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: all symphonies
- Sergei Prokofiev
literature
- Erich Leinsdorf in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
Web links
- Works by and about Erich Leinsdorf in the catalog of the German National Library
- Interviews, radio reports and recordings with Erich Leinsdorf in the online archive of the Austrian Media Library
- Complete discography [1]
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with Erich Leinsdorf on March 18, 1969 (PDF), source: LBJ Library Oral History Collection.
George Henschel (1881–1884) | Wilhelm Gericke (1884–1889) | Arthur Nikisch (1889-1893) | Emil Paur (1893–1898) | Wilhelm Gericke (1898–1906) | Karl Muck (1906–1908) | Max Fiedler (1908–1912) | Karl Muck (1912–1918) | Henri Rabaud (1918–1919) | Pierre Monteux (1919–1924) | Sergei Alexandrowitsch Kusewizki (1924–1949) | Charles Münch (1949–1962) | Erich Leinsdorf (1962–1969) | William Steinberg (1969–1972) | Seiji Ozawa (1973-2002) | James Levine (2004-2011) | Andris Nelsons (since 2014)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Leinsdorf, Erich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian-American conductor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 4, 1912 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 11, 1993 |
| Place of death | Zurich |