Obscure Non-Prog Music Facts

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One hundred years ago, in 1913, the first complete recording of a symphony was made-Beethoven's Fifth, conducted by Artur Nikisch with the Berlin Philharmonic. It has been issued on CD on the Dutton label.

Nikisch was considered by many to be THE conductor of his day, until his death in the early 1920s. He conducted the world premiere of Bruckner's 7th Symphony in Leipzig, and the composer was present.

Nikisch was also interested in Mahler's music, and even conducted the first music from his 3rd Symphony, the inner movements, before the composer conducted the whole symphony later on.

Professor Hans Richter, another celebrated conductor, became very important in the late 19th, and first decade of the 20th Centuries. He conducted the world premieres of Bruckner's 4th and 8th Symphonies, and Elgar's First Symphony.
He retired around 1911, and unfortunately left no recordings.

American conductor Theodore Thomas, who died in the first decade of the 20th Century, was enormously important, being the director of many US concert premieres, including Bruckner's 4th and 7th Symphonies. He sometimes premiered musical works even before they had been done in Europe.

Leopold Stokowski had also a giant list of world premiere performances under his direction, including the American premieres of Elgar's Second Symphony, and Mahler's 8th Symphony and Das Lied Von Der Erde.

Edited by presdoug - April 23 2013 at 19:27

German conductor Ernst Praetorius, who fell from favor in Nazi Germany for conducting so called "degenerate music", landed in Turkey. He became an important musical figure there, conducting the first performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in the country. Back in Germany, he was renowned for conducting the first recording of Bruckner's Second Symphony in 1937.

In the DRA (Deutsche Rundfunk Archiv) are the very first recordings made of Bruckner's first three numbered symphonies.

Famous singer Lotte Lehmann's brother Fritz Lehmann was a conductor.



Edited by presdoug - July 23 2013 at 16:29

The.Crimson.King wrote: presdoug wrote: German conductor Ernst Praetorius, who fell from favor in Nazi Germany for conducting so called "degenerate music", landed in Turkey. He became an important musical figure there, conducting the first performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in the country. Back in Germany, he was renowned for conducting the first recording of Bruckner's Second Symphony in 1937. I recommend an excellent book titled "The Devil's Muse".  It tells the story of Nazi persecution of musicians beginning when they achieved power in the early 1930's.  I have this book to thank for my discovery of Arnold Schoenberg.  When I read that the Nazi's determined his music was "degenerate" I decided that I just had to hear it!  Later, when I connected the dots between Schoenberg's creation of 12 tone serial music, Anton Webern, and Frank Zappa, Zappa's orchestral music finally made sense to me.  If interested, I'd also highly recommend hearing Schoenberg's 12 tone based opera "Moses and Aron" (he purposely misspelled "Aron" that way so the title would have 12 letters...he was one clever man and a brilliant composer)

Thanks, that sounds like a very interesting book, i will hunt for a copy. I like Schoenberg a lot,especially his Gurrelieder, Ode to Napoleon, and Pierrot Lunaire. I will investigate this opera as well. I had not known he influenced Zappa.
           I would suggest to you a book called Trial of Strength by Fred K. Preiberg, about the rocky course the career of conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler took when his genius collided with Nazi Germany.

Edited by presdoug - July 24 2013 at 07:34

That is interesting about Webern. My favorite composer Anton Bruckner was "tarred with the Nazi brush", unfortunately. Hitler loved his symphonies, especially the 7th. But Bruckner, a devout Catholic, though devoted to Wagner's music, was not anti-semitic, and his music was never banned in Israel, and rightly so. It was Wagner's orchestral sound that Bruckner was so keenly interested in, really.
           Another book which i have not read that sounds interesting is called "The Devil's Music Master", a biography of Furtwangler and what he went through. The conductor wanted to defeat the Nazis, "from within". Somewhat naive, but a noble quest.
        Yeah, Wagner's anti-semitic rants are thoroughly repulsive.
       

Thanks, you have made some very important points. Furtwangler was an incredibly courageous man, who lived in difficult times. More people should read about his amazing career, and the immense hurdles he faced. His wife Elisabeth just died fairly recently at the age of 102, i believe.

Edited by presdoug - July 24 2013 at 19:42

There is also a book which i haven't read called "The Twisted Muse", which deals with music and musicians in Nazi Germany.

You know, i think the truth does lie somewhere in the middle. In my final judgement, i am sympathetic to Furtwangler.
      During the Hindemith affair in the thirties, when he had the unfortunate experience of conducting that composer when Goering was in the audience, he indeed resigned his post as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic in protest, after the regime had directed him not to conduct Hindemith. His letter in protest was publicly published.
           On the not so good side, i have video footage of him conducting in Germany with giant Nazi swastikas hung behind the orchestra.
             He left for Switzerland because he was going to be arrested by Himmler, because of his helping of jews to safety. There is that famous quote from Himmler himself-"There isn't a jewish hand that hasn't been shaked by Furtwangler". He had to flee! The Nazis also threatened his mother, which must have been difficult.
            Furtwangler had a jewish secretary, Berta Geissmar, whom he highly valued.
       yeah, i guess i have mixed feelings about Furtwangler, but i come out in support of him in the final analysis.

Edited by presdoug - July 30 2013 at 14:14

You know you have made some good points. Furtwangler is very special to me for his inspired devotion to Bruckner's music, a composer he felt was misunderstood. And his Beethoven and Wagner recordings are also second to none.
   I consider those recordings during the Nazi era by him to be "a light in the darkness". Something spiritual and noble amid the madness of Nazism.

The Nazis were parasites to a certain extent, and tried oh so hard to "typify" what it was to be German, and it must have turned real German's stomachs sick to have to live amidst their ploys and power games. It is really something to hear the music recordings, and even see the concerts in the DVD "Great Conductors Of The Third Reich" (don't really like that title). What a godsend some of those music nights must have been to Germans who were psychologically and physically at the end of their tether.
Just goes to show you the great healing power of music.
The Nazis could not fully take that away!

..or it could be (ref: Malcolm McLaren, Johnny Lydon et al): "we know a good bandwagon when we see one"