Leo Borchard

Lew Ljewitsch "Leo" Borchard (March 31, 1899 – August 23, 1945) was a Russian conductor and briefly musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic.

He was born in Moscow to German parents, and grew up in Saint Petersburg where he received a solid musical education. In 1920, after the Russian Revolution, he emigrated to Germany. Otto Klemperer engaged him as his assistant at the Kroll Opera in Berlin (Klemperer, lacking confidence in his own abilities, expected Borchard to critique his conducting technique). [cite book
pages=385
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=WVTSGoGfmuMC&pg=PA385&vq=borchard&dq=%22Otto+Klemperer,+His+Life+and+Times%22&sig=VdSpmYgmDlf0c6v70Y30WuHSwos
title=Otto Klemperer, His Life and Times: Volume 1, 1885-1933
isbn=0521244889
first=Peter
last=Heyworth
year=1983
publisher=Cambridge University Press] He conducted the Berlin Philharmonic for the first time in January 1933. In 1935, he was banned by the Nazi regime as politically unreliable.

During World War II he was a Resistance activist, remaining in Berlin. On 26 May 1945, two and a half weeks after Germany's unconditional surrender, he conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in a concert featuring Tchaikovsky's "Symphony No. 4" to great public acclaim. One week later he was appointed musical director of the orchestra by the Soviet official Nikolai Bersarin, replacing Wilhelm Furtwängler who was in exile in Switzerland. His anti-Nazi credentials and command of the Russian language enabled him to enjoy a close relationship with the occupiers. [cite book
pages=75
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Yx6UUD6M1LEC&pg=PA75&vq=borchard&dq=%22Settling+Scores:+German+Music,+Denazification,+%26+the+Americans%22&sig=wqGTW-nCvQ1z5D9xajUSTHZOwhQ
first=David
last=Monod
title=Settling Scores: German Music, Denazification, & the Americans, 1945-1953
publisher=University of North Carolina Press
isbn=0807829447
year=2005]

Borchard was killed on 23 August 1945. His British driver misinterpreted an American sentry's signal to stop and the soldier shot him dead. [citation
contribution=Victors and Vanquished: Americans as Occupiers in Berlin. 1945-1949
first=William
last=Stivers
pages=161
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=p5agK7lACykC&pg=PA161&vq=borchard&dq=%22Armed+Diplomacy%22&sig=tt9fzhjhj10t-C3sIVYds75D20k
editor-last=Combat Studies Institute
title=Armed Diplomacy: Two Centuries of American Campaigning
isbn=1428916504
year=2004
publisher=Combat Studies Institute Press
location=Fort Leavenworth, KS]

Notes

References

*cite web | author=Gary Lemco | title=Leo Borchard conducts Berlin Philharmonic | url=http://www.audaud.com/audaud/MAR05/reissues/recds1.html | work=Audiophile Audition | month=March | year=2005 | accessdate=2007-08-17