Erich Leinsdorf (bornErich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born Americanconductor.[1] He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality.[2] He also published books and essays on musical matters.
Leinsdorf was born to a Jewish family inVienna, and was studying music at a local school by the age of 5. He played the cello and studied composition. In his teens, Leinsdorf worked as a piano accompanist for singers. He studied conducting at theMozarteum inSalzburg, and later at theUniversity of Vienna and theVienna Academy of Music. From 1934 to 1937 he worked as an assistant to the noted conductorsBruno Walter andArturo Toscanini at theSalzburg Festival.[3]
In November 1937, Leinsdorf travelled to the United States to take up a position as assistant conductor at theMetropolitan Opera in New York City.[3] As it turned out, his departure from Austria came a few short months ahead of theAnschluss of March 1938, when the country was taken over byNazi Germany. With the assistance of freshman Representative from TexasLyndon B. Johnson,[4] he was able to stay in the United States, and became a naturalized American citizen in 1942.[1]
While at the Met, Leinsdorf was particularly noted for hisWagner performances; after the sudden death ofArtur Bodanzky in 1939, he was named the Met's "head of German repertoire".[1][5] By the spring of 1943, the candidates being considered to take over forArtur Rodzinski as music director ofThe Cleveland Orchestra includedVladimir Golschmann of theSt. Louis Symphony Orchestra,Albert Stoessel of theJuilliard School and New York Oratorio Society,George Szell and Leinsdorf, both from the Met.[6]
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 You may hear Erich Leinsdorf conductingSymphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60 byAntonin Dvorak with theCleveland Orchestra in 1946Here on archive.org |
Given Leinsdorf's age (31) and limited experience conducting performances outside of opera, questions arose about his capacity for the job. However, Leinsdorf won a vote taken by the Orchestra's board of directors and became the ensemble's third music director, in 1943. Among the most significant developments during Leinsdorf's first year in Cleveland was his intention to schedule the entire season in advance so the Orchestra could promote its concerts ahead of time and reach a wider audience;[7] his desire to have the Orchestra play a year-round schedule — though World War II complicated that possibility; and, finally, the successful negotiation of a weekly radio broadcast on Sunday evenings — allowing The Cleveland Orchestra to be heard throughout the United States, parts of Mexico, and by short wave across Europe, South America, and the South Pacific. More importantly, perhaps, given U.S. involvement in the war, concerts would be recorded and broadcast to overseas American military zones.[8]
In the event, Leinsdorf's tenure as music director was short-lived. In October 1943, he received a letter informing him that his potential draft status had changed — though he remained doubtful he would be called to serve because of a host of health problems. Later in the month, however, he received his draft notice, remarking to the press: "I intend to abide by the orders of my government."[9] Leinsdorf's impending departure left the Musical Arts Association with a major problem: The Cleveland Orchestra needed a new music director.
Although Leinsdorf's service in the Army was only less than a year— he was honorably discharged in September, 1944 — the Orchestra already had its sights set on his replacement.[10] In November 1944,George Szell, who had been at the Met with Leinsdorf, made hisSeverance Hall debut to rave reviews.[11] Leinsdorf was still under contract, but he had lost much of his power as music director — compromising on a number of issues, from performance content to recording authority. He returned to the podium at Severance Hall for the last program of the season. As public opinion shifted toward Szell, Leinsdorf submitted his resignation.[12] But after Szell's death, in 1970, Leinsdorf returned regularly to lead The Cleveland Orchestra as a guest conductor through the 1980s.[13]
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| You may hear Erich Leinsdorf conducting theRochester Philharmonic Orchestra inWolfgang Amadeus Mozart's: Symphony No. 41 in C major (K. 551) "Jupiter" Symphony No. 35 in D major (K. 385) "Haffner" in 1957 Here on archive.org |
Leinsdorf was the principal conductor of theRochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1947 to 1955. He came to despair of what he saw as Rochester's insular musical culture, famously remarking that "Rochester is the best disguised dead end in the world!" Subsequently, he was briefly head of theNew York City Opera, before resuming his association with the Met.[1] In 1962 he was named music director of theBoston Symphony Orchestra. His tenure in Boston produced many recordings forRCA Victor, but was also marked by controversy, as he often clashed with musicians and administrators.[2]
On November 22, 1963, during an afternoon concert with the Boston Symphony, Leinsdorf had to announce the report ofPresident John F. Kennedy's assassination inDallas, Texas, to a shocked audience. He and the orchestra followed the news with a performance of theFuneral March fromBeethoven'sEroica Symphony.[14] Leinsdorf left the Boston Symphony in 1969. He continued to guest-conduct operas and orchestras around the world for the next two decades, being particularly associated with the Metropolitan Opera and theNew York Philharmonic. He also served from 1978 to 1980 as principal conductor of the(West) Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.[2] He died of cancer inZürich, Switzerland, at the age of 81.
Leinsdorf is also known for his arrangements of orchestral concert suites of music from major operas. They include:Claude Debussy'sPelléas et Mélisande,Richard Wagner'sParsifal, andRichard Strauss'sDie Frau ohne Schatten.
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| You may hear Erich Leinsdorf conducting:Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 38 ("Spring") byRobert Schumann with theCleveland Orchestra in 1946Here on archive.org | |
| You may hear Erich Leinsdorf with theRochester Philharmonic in: Franz Schubert'sRosamunde Overture and Ballet Music, Op.26 Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 ("Italian") Here on archive.org |
Leinsdorf recorded throughout his career, including some 78-rpm discs forRCA Victor and forColumbia Records with theCleveland Orchestra. In the early 1950s, Leinsdorf recorded all of the Mozart symphonies forWestminster with theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra, and started a highly regarded series of recordings with theRochester Philharmonic for Columbia with a BeethovenEroica that rivaled that of Toscanini in intensity. Leinsdorf made a number of stereo recordings with theLos Angeles Philharmonic, thePhilharmonia Orchestra, and a Los Angeles pick-up orchestra called The Concert Arts Orchestra forCapitol Records in the 1960s. He also recorded the Brahms First Symphony, theFranckSymphony in D Minor, and theMendelssohn First andGrieg piano concertos for RCA Victor withAnia Dorfmann and thePhiladelphia Orchestra, called theRobin Hood Dell Orchestra on disc. Beginning 1957, Leinsdorf was conductor for a series of complete stereophonic opera recordings for RCA Victor in Rome, commencing with Puccini'sTosca withZinka Milanov,Jussi Björling, andLeonard Warren. He continued to record prodigiously for RCA Victor as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with notable releases ofMahler,Bartok, the complete Beethoven and Brahms symphonies, and a liveMozart Requiem in memory ofPresident John F. Kennedy. Later, he again made additional operatic recordings, including the first complete stereo recording ofErich Wolfgang Korngold'sDie Tote Stadt, withCarol Neblett andRené Kollo for RCA. Leinsdorf conducted the Boston Symphony with pianistArtur Rubinstein in the pianist's second complete recordings of Beethoven's piano concertos, Brahms' First Piano Concerto, and Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. He also recorded a completeLohengrin with the Boston Symphony, a massive and expensive project, which at the time was the first Wagner opera recorded with a major US orchestra. It was announced at the beginning of Leinsdorf's appointment with the Boston Symphony that he and the orchestra would record all the major works ofProkofieff, but by the end of his tenure only symphonies 2, 3, 5, and 6, the violin concertos, the five piano concertos, music fromRomeo and Juliet, theScythian Suite and the Symphony-Concerto for Cello had been recorded and issued. Many of his RCA Victor recordings were considered flawed by the company's controversialDynagroove process. ForDecca/London Leinsdorf recorded many Mozart operas, includingDon Giovanni,Cosi fan tutte, and theMarriage of Figaro as well as a highly regarded recording of Wagner'sDie Walküre. After leaving Boston in the 1970s, Leinsdorf returned to Decca/London to record several releases in their acclaimedPhase 4 Stereo project, notablyStravinsky'sRite of Spring andPetrouchka. For Sheffield Labs, Leinsdorf recorded three direct-to-disc recordings with theLos Angeles Philharmonic in the 1980s.
Leinsdorf received sevenGrammy Awards during his career:
He also received a total of 12 Grammy nominations during his lifetime.
On video Leinsdorf conducts theVienna Symphony inJohann Strauß: Famous Works. Available on Silverline Classics inDolby Digital, 2003. A number of Leinsdorf's televised performances with The Boston Symphony Orchestra have been released on DVD by VAI and ICA Classics; most notably on ICA Classics, a performance of Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony taped in color from April 1969. This has received several critical accolades.
Leinsdorf with the BSO appeared regularly on local broadcasts fromWGBH-TV and nationally on PBS in the Evening at Symphony broadcasts. On August 17, 1967, Leinsdorf conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a two-hourprimetime special telecast in color onNBC, a reflection of the days when a commercial network would periodically broadcast a full-length classical concert. The program, entitledAn Evening at Tanglewood, featured violinistItzhak Perlman as guest soloist.[15]
Three works that make conducting worthwhile are Wagner'sSiegfried,the [Beethoven] Ninth, andRite of Spring.[16]
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a press report over the wires – we hope that it is unconfirmed, but we have to doubt it – that the President of the United States has been the victim of an assassination. [gasps from the audience] We will play the Funeral March from Beethoven's Third Symphony.
— Erich Leinsdorf informing the audience at a BSO performance at Symphony Hall and over WGBH radio of the assassination of PresidentJohn F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963.[17]
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