Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble,Concentus Musicus Wien, in 1953, and became a pioneer of theEarly Music movement. Around 1970, Harnoncourt began conducting opera and concert performances, soon leading international symphony orchestras, and appearing at leading concert halls, operatic venues and festivals. In 2001 and 2003, he conducted theVienna New Year's Concert. Harnoncourt was also the author of several books, mostly on subjects of performance history and musical aesthetics.
Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt was born as an Austrian citizen in Berlin,Germany, in 1929. His Austrian mother,Ladislaja néeGräfin von Meran, Freiin von Brandhoven, was the great-granddaughter of theHabsburgArchduke Johann, the 13th child of EmperorLeopold II, making him a descendant ofHoly Roman Emperors and other European royalty. His father, Eberhard Harnoncourt, born de la FontaineGraf d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt,[3] was an Austrian engineer working in Berlin who had two children from a previous marriage. Two years after Nikolaus's birth, his brotherPhilipp was born, and also in 1931, the family moved to theStyrian capitalGraz, Austria, where they took up residence in their ancestral home,Palais Meran. Eberhard obtained a post in the state government (Landesregierung) of Styria.
Harnoncourt was raised in Graz, and studied music inVienna. During his youth, he served in theHitler Youth under duress, where, as he noted:[4]
If you didn't go there every Wednesday and Saturday, the Hitler Youth police would come, fetch you, cut your hair and toss you into a group with other difficult ones who were treated terribly.
One reason that Harnoncourt left the Vienna Symphony was to become a conductor. He made a conducting debut atLa Scala,Milan, in 1972/ 73 season, leading a production of Monteverdi'sIl ritorno d'Ulisse in patria at La Piccola Scala.[10]
In 1971, Harnoncourt established a joint project with conductorGustav Leonhardt to record all ofJ.S. Bach's cantatas. TheTeldec Bach cantata project was eventually completed in 1990 and was the only cantata cycle to use an all-male choir and soloist roster, with the exception of cantatas nos.51 and199, which were intended for a female soprano voice. He also made the first recordings in historically informed performance of Bach'sMass in B minor (1968) andSt Matthew Passion (1970). In 2001, an acclaimed andGrammy Award winningrecording of theSt Matthew Passion with theArnold Schoenberg Choir was released, which included the entire score of the piece in Bach's own hand on aCD-ROM. This was his third recording of the work.[11]
In 1992, Harnoncourt debuted at theSalzburg Festival conducting a concert with theChamber Orchestra of Europe. In the following years, he led several concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Concentus Musicus. Harnoncourt also served as the conductor for major opera productions of the Festival:L'incoronazione di Poppea (1993), Mozart'sLe nozze di Figaro (1995 and 2006),Don Giovanni (2002, marking alsoAnna Netrebko's international breakthrough as Donna Anna, and 2003) andLa clemenza di Tito (2003 and 2006), and Purcell'sKing Arthur (2004).[17] In 2012, Harnoncourt conducted a new production ofDie Zauberflöte staged byJens-Daniel Herzog.[18]
Harnoncourt made his guest-conducting debut with theConcertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam in 1975. He continued as a guest conductor with the orchestra, including in several opera productions and recordings.[19] In October 2000, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (KCO) named him theirHonorair gastdirigent (Honorary Guest Conductor). His final appearance with the KCO was in October 2013, leading Bruckner'sSymphony No. 5.
Other recordings outside of the baroque and classical era repertoire included his 2002 recording of Bruckner'sSymphony No. 9 with the Vienna Philharmonic. An accompanying second CD contained a lecture by Harnoncourt about the symphony with musical examples, including the rarely heard fragments from the unfinished finale. In 2009, Harnoncourt recorded Gershwin'sPorgy and Bess, taken from live performances at Graz. He was a conductor for theRudolf Buchbinder's recording ofWolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano concertos No. 23 & 25.
On 5 December 2015, one day before his 86th birthday, Harnoncourt announced his retirement via his website. "My bodily strength requires me to cancel my future plans," he wrote in a hand-written letter inserted into the program on his 86th birthday of a concert by the Concentus Musicus Wien.[20]
Harnoncourt was the focus of the annual festival of classical musicStyriarte, founded in 1985 to tie him closer to his hometown,Graz. He programmed the festival for 31 years. Events have been held at different venues in Graz and in the surrounding region.[21]
Harnoncourt died on 5 March 2016 in the village ofSankt Georgen im Attergau, north east ofSalzburg.[23] His widow Alice, their three adult children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren survived him. Alice died in July 2022.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt,Frans Brüggen,Leopold Stastny, Herbert Tachezi. Johann Sebastian Bach:Gamba Sonatas — Trio Sonata in G major. Viola da gamba: Jacobus Stainer; Cello: Andrea Castagneri; Flute: A.Grenser; Harpsichord: a copy after Italian builders by Martin Skowroneck. Label: Telefunken.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt,Gustav Leonhardt, Leonhardt-Consort (Orchestra),Concentus musicus Wien (Orchestra), Alan Curtis, Anneke Ulttenbosch, Herbert Tachezi. Johann Sebastian Bach: Harpsichord Concertos BWV 1052, 1057, 1064. Violin, continuo, harpsichord. Label: Teldec
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Franz Schubert.Symphonies. Label: Ica Classics.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Rudolf Buchbinder (fortepiano). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.Piano concertos No. 23&25 Played on aWalter fortepiano replica byPaul McNulty. Label: Sony.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Chamber Orchestra of Europe,Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano). Ludwig van Beethoven.Piano Concertos Nos. 1–5. Label: Teldec Classics.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Chamber Orchestra of Europe,Gidon Kremer (violin),Martha Argerich (piano). Schumann:Piano Concerto and Violin Concerto. Label: Teldec Classics
^HistoricallyJohann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt;[2][3] Regarding personal names and titles: Until 1919,Graf was a title, translated asCount, not a first or middle name. The female form wasGräfin. In Austria, with the passage of the ″Adelsaufhebungsgesetz″ of 3 April 1919, both nobility itself and all titles of nobility were abolished. Unlike Germany, noble titles in Austria were not part of the name.
^Registration information from the Austrian central registration register (Meldeauskunft aus dem Zentralen Melderegister gemäߧ 18 Abs. 1 Meldegesetz [1991]):Familienname oder Nachname: Harnoncourt / Vorname: Johann Nikolaus / Geburtsdatum: 6 December 1929. Retrieved on 7 March 2016
^abMunzinger-Archiv GmbH, Ravensburg."Nikolaus Harnoncourt". Retrieved12 February 2020. (Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt (adelshistorisch: Johann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt) wurde am 6. Dez. 1929 in Berlin geboren. Die Familie seines Vaters stammt aus luxemburgisch-lothringischem Uradel und führte bis zum Adelsaufhebungsgesetz den Grafen-Titel.)
Gratzer, Wolfgang (ed.) (2009).Ereignis Klangrede. Nikolaus Harnoncourt als Dirigent und Musikdenker (klang-reden 3), Freiburg/Br.: Rombach.ISBN978-3-7930-9551-4
Official catalogueNikolaus Harnoncourt. Die Universität Mozarteum Salzburg ehrt den Dirigenten und Musikdenker. Salzburg: Universität Mozarteum 2008
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