Karl Böhm | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Photo from the 1950s | |
| Born | (1894-08-28)28 August 1894 |
| Died | 14 August 1981(1981-08-14) (aged 86) |
| Occupation | Conductor |
| Spouse | Thea Linhard |
| Children | Karlheinz Böhm |
| Signature | |
 | |
Karl August Leopold Böhm (28 August 1894 – 14 August 1981) was anAustrianconductor. He was best known for his performances of the music ofMozart,Wagner, andRichard Strauss.
Karl Böhm was born inGraz,Styria, Austria. The son of a lawyer, he studied law and earned a doctorate in this subject before entering the music conservatory in his home town of Graz.[1] He later enrolled at theVienna Conservatory, where he studied underEusebius Mandyczewski, a friend ofJohannes Brahms.[1]
In 1917, Böhm became a rehearsal assistant in his home town, making his debut as a conductor inViktor Nessler'sDer Trompeter von Säckingen in 1917.[1] He became the assistant director of music in 1919, and the following year, the senior director. On the recommendation ofKarl Muck,Bruno Walter engaged him at theBavarian State Opera, Munich in 1921.[2] An early assignment here was Mozart'sDie Entführung aus dem Serail, with a cast which includedMaria Ivogün,Paul Bender, andRichard Tauber.[3] In 1927, Böhm was appointed as chief musical director inDarmstadt. In 1931, he was appointed to the same post at theHamburg State Opera, a position he held until 1934.[2]
| External audio | |
|---|---|
 You may hear Karl Böhm conductingLudwig van Beethoven'sPiano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 withWalter Gieseking and the Saxon State Orchestra in 1939Here on archive.org |
In 1933, Böhm conducted in Vienna for the first time, inTristan und Isolde by Wagner. In 1934, he succeededFritz Busch, who had gone into exile, as head of Dresden'sSemper Opera remaining there until 1942. This was an important period for him, in which he conducted the first performances of works byRichard Strauss:Die schweigsame Frau (1935) andDaphne (1938), which is dedicated to him.[2] He also conducted the first performances ofRomeo und Julia (1940) andDie Zauberinsel (1942) byHeinrich Sutermeister, and Strauss'sHorn Concerto No. 2 (1943).
Böhm first appeared at theSalzburg Festival in 1938,[2] conductingDon Giovanni, and thereafter he became a permanent guest conductor. He secured a top post at theVienna State Opera in 1943, eventually becoming music director. On the occasion of the 80th birthday of Richard Strauss, on 11 June 1944, he conducted the Vienna State Opera performance ofAriadne auf Naxos.
After he had completed a two-year post-wardenazification ban, Böhm ledDon Giovanni atLa Scala, Milan (1948) and gave a guest performance in Paris with the Vienna State Opera company (1949). From 1950 to 1953 he directed the German season at theTeatro Colón inBuenos Aires, and he conducted the first performance in Spanish ofWozzeck byAlban Berg, translated for the occasion. In 1953 he was responsible for the first performance ofGottfried von Einem's workDer Prozess. From 1954 to 1956 he directed the Vienna State Opera at its reconstructed home. He additionally resumed ties post-war inDresden, at the Staatskapelle.
In 1957, Böhm made his debut with theMetropolitan Opera in New York, conductingDon Giovanni, and quickly became one of the favorite conductors ofRudolf Bing's tenure at the Met, conducting 262 performances there, including the Met premieres ofWozzeck,Ariadne auf Naxos andDie Frau ohne Schatten, which was the first major success in the Met's new house atLincoln Center in 1966. Böhm led many other major new productions in New York, includingFidelio for the 1970Beethoven bicentennial,Tristan und Isolde (including the Met debut performance ofBirgit Nilsson in 1959),Lohengrin,Otello,Der Rosenkavalier,Salome, andElektra. His repertoire there also includedLe nozze di Figaro,Parsifal,Der fliegende Holländer,Die Walküre, andDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Böhm made his debut at theBayreuth Festival in 1962 withTristan and Isolde, which he conducted until 1970. In 1964, he led Wagner'sDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg there, and from 1965 to 1967 the composer'sDer Ring des Nibelungen cycle, which was the last production byWieland Wagner. His Wagner conducting divided opinion; the recording producerJohn Culshaw wrote that Böhm's 1966Walküre "was conducted with a stupefying indifference, as if the conductor could not wait to get back to Salzburg or wherever he was going for his next engagement”,[4] butGrove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians praises Böhm 's Bayreuth performances for "finely display[ing] his qualities".[1]The Times took a middle view, finding his Wagner "light and positive" but "somewhat reluctant to let the drama find its full weight and depth".[2] Performances of theRing andTristan were recorded live and issued on record. In 1971 he conducted Wagner'sThe Flying Dutchman at Bayreuth.
Late in life, he began a guest-conducting relationship with theLondon Symphony Orchestra (LSO) in a 1973 appearance at the Salzburg Festival.[5] Several recordings were made with the orchestra forDeutsche Grammophon. Böhm was given the title of LSO President, which he held until his death. He twice conducted at theRoyal Opera House, Covent Garden in the 1970s:Le nozze di Figaro in 1977 andCosì fan tutte in 1979.[6]
Böhm died inSalzburg, at age 86. He conducted the premieres of Strauss's late worksDie schweigsame Frau (1935) andDaphne (1938), of which he is the dedicatee, recorded all the major operas (but often made cuts to the scores), and regularly revived Strauss's operas with strong casts during his tenures in Vienna and Dresden, as well as at the Salzburg Festival.
Böhm was praised for his rhythmically robust interpretations of the operas and symphonies ofMozart, and in the 1960s he was entrusted with recording all theMozart symphonies with theBerlin Philharmonic. His brisk, straightforward approach toWagner won adherents, as did his readings of the symphonies ofBrahms,Bruckner, andSchubert. His complete recordings of the Beethoven symphonies with theVienna Philharmonic in 1971 was also highly regarded. On a less common front, he championed and recordedAlban Berg's avant-garde operasWozzeck andLulu before they gained a foothold in the standard repertory. Böhm mentioned in the notes to his recordings of these works that he and Berg discussed the orchestrations, leading to changes in the score (as he had similarly done, previously, with Richard Strauss). He was described by one critic as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century.[7]Grove says of him:
Mozart, Wagner and Richard Strauss are the composers with whom his name is most closely associated, followed by Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner, Brahms and Berg. Böhm’s musical approach, expressed in strictly functional gestures, was direct, fresh, energetic and authoritative, avoiding touches of romantic sentimentality or self-indulgent virtuoso mannerisms ... He was widely admired for his skilful balance and blend of sound, his feeling for a stable tempo and his sense of dramatic tension.[1]
He received two exclusive titles: "Ehrendirigent" of the Vienna Philharmonic and Austrian "Generalmusikdirektor".[1] He was widely fêted on his 80th birthday ten years later; his colleagueHerbert von Karajan presented him with a clock to mark that occasion.
Böhm was married to thesopranoThea Linhard.[2] His sonKarlheinz Böhm was a successful actor.[8]
Although Böhm never joined the Nazi party, in public and in private he continually expressed strong support for Hitler and his regime. The extent to which this was a matter of conviction rather than careerism is uncertain and the subject of much speculation. Böhm's son maintained that his father was warned that if he defected from Nazi Germany, every member of his family would be sent to a concentration camp,[9] but Böhm's support of the Nazis predated their rise to power.[10] The historian Michael H. Kater records that while Böhm was music director in Dresden (1934–43) he "poured forth rhetoric glorifying the Nazi regime and their cultural aims".[11] Kater ranks Böhm in that group of artists in whom "we also find conflicting elements of resistance, accommodation, and service to the regime, so that in the end they cannot be definitively painted as either Nazis or non-Nazis."[11] Kater also argues that Böhm's move to the Dresden Opera in 1934, where he replacedFritz Busch after the latter's "politically motivated" dismissal by Nazi authorities, as evidence of Böhm's "extreme careerist opportunism at the expense of personal morality" and was facilitated directly by Hitler, who obtained an early release for Böhm from his previous contract.[11] Kater contrasts this conduct with Böhm's "aesthetically faultless and sometimes politically daring" choice of repertory, and his collaborations with anti-Nazi directors and designers, which "could have been interpreted by enemies of the Nazi regime as a brave attempt to preserve the principle of artistic freedom".[11] In 2015, theSalzburg Festival announced that it would affix a plaque in its Karl Böhm refreshment lobby (Karl-Böhm-Saal) acknowledging the conductor's complicity with Nazi Germany: "Böhm was a beneficiary of the Third Reich and used its system to advance his career. His ascent was facilitated by the expulsion of Jewish and politically out-of-favor colleagues".[n 1]
Böhm recorded extensively forDeutsche Grammophon, but also made recordings withDecca andEMI. He is primarily known for his recordings of Mozart. He recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and Staatskapelle Dresden. His recordings of the complete Mozart symphonies were one of the first to be commercially released.[13] Some of his most famous recordings include those of operas, such as Mozart'sCosi fan tutte with EMI and Wagner'sTristan und Isolde with DG.
.jpg)
Böhm's awards include: 1943:War Merit Cross, 2nd class without swords (Kriegsverdienstkreuz II. Klasse ohne Schwerter); 1959:Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria;[16] 1960:Grand Merit Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany (Großes Verdienstkreuz); 1964: Honorary Ring of Vienna; 1967:Berlin Art Prize; 1970:Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art;[17] 1976: Commander of theLegion of Honour; Honorary Ring of Styria; and 2012: Gramophone Magazine Hall of Fame.[18]
Vienna Staatsoper Directors | ||
|---|---|---|
|  | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
