Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips,[2] a medical doctor and amateur singer,[3] and his mother was Aloisia, née Seitz.[2] Krips was one of five sons.[4][2] Krips went on to become a pupil ofFelix Weingartner[5][6][7][8] andEusebius Mandyczewski.[9][8] From 1921 to 1924, he served as Weingartner's assistant at theVienna Volksoper, and also asrépétiteur and chorus master. He then conducted several orchestras, including inKarlsruhe from 1926 to 1933. In 1933 he returned to Vienna as a resident conductor of the Volksoper and a regular conductor at theWiener Staatsoper.[6][5] He was appointed professor at theVienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1935,[9] and conducted regularly at theSalzburg Festival between 1935 and 1938.
In 1938, the Nazi annexation of Austria (orAnschluss) forced Krips to leave the country. (He was raised aRoman Catholic, but would have been excluded from musical activity because his father was bornJewish.)[1][10] Krips moved toBelgrade,[11] where he worked for a year with the Belgrade Opera andPhilharmonic, untilYugoslavia also became involved inWorld War II. For the rest of the war, he worked as an "industrial clerk"[12] in a food factory.[5][9][1][13][14][15][16]
From 1950 to 1954, Krips was principal conductor of theLondon Symphony Orchestra.[19] Afterwards, he led theBuffalo Philharmonic Orchestra from 1954 to 1963.[20][21][17][22] Under Krips' leadership, the orchestra expanded in the length of its performance season and in the number of musicians that the orchestra employed. Krips took the orchestra on tours in eastern United States and Canada, including the Maritime Provinces.[17] For his time with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Krips largely eschewed recent compositions and "concentrated largely in European classical and romantic literature."[20] Later, during his final seasons, Krips began to program "a few contemporary works."[20]
His first wife was Maria Heller, a woman who was widowed and ran a fashion salon in Aussig (a small town, located between Dresden and Prague), where Krips had his first engagement abroad. The wedding took place in Vienna on August 12, 1925. His wife died in a car accident in June 1928.[36]
His second wife was Maria "Mitzi" Wilheim, a singer whom Krips had coached and married in 1947. The two remained together until Wilheim's death on April 8, 1969.[1]
Krips married his third wife on October 9, 1969.[1] The formal wedding announcement identifies her as Harrietta Freiin von Prochazka, the daughter of Dr. Ottokar Freiherr von Prochazka and Maria Freifrau von Prochazka née Dressler.[37] According to Ewen and theNew York Times, Krips' third wife was "the former Baroness Marietta von Prohaska."[1][10] TheNew York Times noted that von Prohaska was his "29‐year‐old secretary."[10] Other sources list the name of Krips' third wife as "Harrietta Krips."[4] In the Reuters obituary notice for Josef Krips, her name is listed as being "the Baroness Henriette Prochazka."[34] TheBoston Symphony Orchestra Archives has a photograph of Krips and his third wife attending aTanglewood concert, where she is identified as "Baroness Harriet Prochazka."[38] Krips' third wife died on 12 January 2015.[39]
Krips's first recording was made for Odeon Records in Vienna on 13 January 1937, conducting the Orchestra of theWiener Staatsoper in two Rossini numbers from theBernhard Paumgartner operettaRossini in Neapel, sung byRichard Tauber. Krips conducted the Vienna premiere of the work ten days earlier.[41][4]
In 1947, Krips and the National Symphony Orchestra recorded Strauss'sBlue Danube & Emperor waltzes (Decca LW 5011).
In 1950, Krips and the London Symphony Orchestra made a well-received recording of Mozart'sJupiter Symphony (London LPS 86).[42]
During the 1970s, Krips recorded Mozart's late symphonies forPhilips Records, conducting theConcertgebouw Orchestra. These have been reissued over the years by Philips and more recently byDecca.[56]
Krips did not make any commercial recordings with the San Francisco Symphony, although many of his concerts were broadcast in stereo by San Francisco stationKKHI.[26]
