Ferdinand Leitner

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The German conductor Ferdinand Leitner at a rehearsal with the Bamberg Symphony in 1985.
Grave of the conductor Ferdinand Leitner (1912–1996) in the Enzenbühl cemetery in Zurich

Ferdinand Leitner (born March 4, 1912 in Berlin; † June 3, 1996 on the Forch near Zurich ) was a German conductor .

Life

Leitner, who already led a choir at the age of 18, studied at the Music Academy in Berlin with Franz Schreker and Julius Prüwer , and later with Artur Schnabel and Karl Muck . He began his activity as a pianist , especially as a companion to Georg Kulenkampff and Ludwig Hoelscher , then rose through Fritz Busch as a conductor in the thirties and was a conductor from 1943 to 1945 , although the leading layer in cultural life in the Third Reich placed him behind of the theater on Nollendorfplatz in Berlin.

1945 to 1946 in Hamburg, 1946 to 1947 in Munich, from 1947 he found a position as general music director of the Württemberg State Orchestra in Stuttgart , which he - as shown by the strong foreign interest in guest performances - was extremely successful and in which he stayed until 1969 when he went to the Zurich Opera House , which he did not leave until 1984. At the same time he worked in The Hague from 1976 to 1980 .

In Stuttgart , a pedestrian and cyclist footbridge is named after him ( Ferdinand-Leitner-Steg ), which connects the upper part of the Stuttgart Palace Gardens , where the State Theater is located, with the middle section of the Palace Gardens, which is currently under construction for Stuttgart 21 is located.

Act

He is best known as an opera conductor (favorite composers: Wagner , Richard Strauss , Mozart ), who also took on the opera of the 20th century ( Carl Orff , Othmar Schoeck , Karl Amadeus Hartmann ). As such, he worked after Erich Kleiber in 1956 at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in the performance of German operas. In 1950 and 1980 he directed the world premiere of works by Hermann Reutter .

Leitner also became known through his collaboration with the Cappella Coloniensis , which he conducted for the first time in 1959 on the 200th anniversary of the death of George Frideric Handel. Through this collaboration, Leitner established himself as a serious conductor in the field of historical performance practice .

His more than 300 recordings also include the symphonies of the Romantic era .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Died: Ferdinand Leitner . In: Der Spiegel . No. 24 , 1996 ( online - June 10, 1996 ).
personal data
SURNAME Leitner, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German conductor
DATE OF BIRTH March 4, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin , Germany
DATE OF DEATH June 3, 1996
Place of death Zurich , Switzerland