- Hans Knappertsbusch
Hans Knappertsbusch (
March 12 ,1888 –October 25 ,1965 ) was a German conductor, best known for his performances of the music ofRichard Wagner ,Anton Bruckner andRichard Strauss .Knappertsbusch was born in
Elberfeld , today'sWuppertal . He studiedphilosophy atBonn University and conducting at the Cologne Conservatory withFritz Steinbach . For a few summers, he assistedSiegfried Wagner and Hans Richter at Bayreuth. He began his career with conducting jobs in Elberfeld (1913-1918),Leipzig (1918-1919) andDessau (1919-1922). WhenBruno Walter left Munich for New York, Knappertsbusch succeeded him as General Music Director of theBavarian State Orchestra .Knappertsbusch 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he was a "Muss-Nazi" (someone who was forced to join theNazi Party for career reasons): as a result his Munich contract was revoked. [Norman Lebrecht, "The Maestro Myth", p. 103] In the late 1930s he went toVienna to conduct at theWiener Staatsoper , thus ignoring the Nazis' policy of not allowing German artists to work inAustria . At the same time he became one of the emerging artists of theSalzburg 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 theBayreuth Festival . [cite journal | last= | first= | year=1965 | title=Obituary for Hans Knappertsbusch | journal=The Musical Times | volume=vol. 106 | issue=no. 1474| pages=pp. 971 | accessdate=] He was one of the favorite conductors of theWiener 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.Knappertsbusch died in Munich in 1965. Many of his recordings, including his historic Decca recordings in stereo, have been re-released on CD. His 1951 and 1962 recordings of "
Parsifal " are generally considered definitive of that work. [cite journal | last=Greenfield | first=Edward | year=1965 | title=Review of 1962 Philips recording of "Parsifal" | journal=The Musical Times | volume=vol. 106 | issue=no. 1465| pages=pp. 210 | accessdate=]Notes
References
* john hunt discographies: "kna: concert register and discography of hans knappertsbusch". Short Run Press, Exeter, 2007, ISBN 978-1-90139-522-8
External links
*allmusic|41:33762
* [http://trovar.com/kna.html Hans Knappertsbusch discography]
* [http://www.syuzo.com/kna-archiv/kna-concert.html Hans Knappertsbusch concert database]
* [http://www.syuzo.com/kna/kna-index/discography.html Hans Knappertsbusch discography]
* [http://www.hansknappertsbusch.de Hans Knappertsbusch Life and Work De icon]
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