Hans Knappertsbusch
(12 March 1888 – 25 October 1965)
Knappertsbusch was born in Elberfeld, today's Wuppertal. He studied philosophy at Bonn University and conducting at the Cologne Conservatory with Fritz Steinbach. For a few summers, he assisted Siegfried Wagner and Hans Richter at Bayreuth. He began his career with conducting jobs in Elberfeld (1913-1918), Leipzig (1918-1919) and Dessau (1919-1922). When Bruno Walter left Munich for New York, Knappertsbusch succeeded him as General Music Director of the Bavarian State Orchestra and the Bavarian State Opera, with a life-long contract. Knappertsbusch later refused to join the Nazi party. He incurred the wrath of Goebbels by asking a German diplomat in the Netherlands whether he was a "Muss-Nazi" (someone who was forced to join the Nazi Party for career reasons): as a result his Munich contract was revoked. Hitler himself was involved in the decision to dismiss him. In 1936 Sir Thomas Beecham invited him to Covent Garden to conduct but his permit to leave Germany was withheld. In the late 1930s he went to Vienna to conduct at the Wiener Staatsoper, thus ignoring the Nazis' policy of not allowing German artists to work in Austria. At the same time he became one of the emerging artists of the Salzburg Festival. Knappertsbusch continued to appear in Vienna and Salzburg during the German occupation of Austria. When World War II ended, Knappertsbusch returned to Munich, but continued to guest conduct in Vienna, as well as to make appearances at the Bayreuth Festival. He was one of the favorite conductors of the Wiener Philharmoniker, leading the orchestra in Vienna, Salzburg and on tour abroad, although generally he rarely toured outside the German-speaking world. He disliked long rehearsals, and was sometimes accused of laziness. He was known for conducting very slowly, emphasizing beauty and dignity over liveliness. Knappertsbusch died in Munich in 1965. Many of his recordings, including his historic Decca recordings in stereo, have been re-released on CD. Decca went to Bayreuth in 1951 to record only Parsifal, but with the approval of Wieland Wagner and Knappertsbusch himself, Decca also as an experiment recorded a Ring cycle. The Decca Recording Producer was disappointed with Siegfried and Walküre. However, he liked Götterdämmerung and edited up a version of it but Decca did not release it. His 1951 and 1962 recordings of Parsifal are generally considered definitive of that work. His recorded performances of the same piece from 1954, 1955, 1956, 1963, and 1964 are also available.
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Johannes Brahms
Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
05.1957
Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53
Lucretia West, mezzo-soprano
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
05.1957
Concerto for Piano no. 2, Op. 83
Clifford Curzon, piano
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
21-24.10.1957
Concerto for Violin & Cello, Op. 102
Fritz Sonnleitner, violin
Fritz Kiskalt, cello
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
06.01.1959
Symphony No. 2, Op. 73
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
26.03.1944
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
06.1947
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
13.10.1956
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
18.10.1956
Dresden Staatskapelle
full dress rehearsal
27.11.1959
Dresden Staatskapelle
27.11.1959
Symphony No. 3, Op. 90
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
1942
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
08.09.1944
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
05 or 06.11.1950
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
26.07.1955
Staatskapelle Dresden
04.11.1956
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
09.11.1958
Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra
14.05.1962
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
15.11.1963
Symphony No. 4, Op. 98
Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra
12.12.1952
Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra
08.05.1953
Tragic Overture, Op. 81
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
26.07.1955
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
05.1957
Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
05.1957
Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra
10.05.1963
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
15.11.1963
Hans Knappertsbusch
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