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60-562: The Academy is a non-profit organization, financed by donations; its work is supported by a voluntary board and an advisory board. Originally named the Orchester-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker , it was founded in 1972 by Herbert von Karajan (1908–1989), conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, to train young musicians for the orchestra. Those whose musical education was mostly based on a solo repertoire could improve themselves in

120-557: A Jewish grandfather, she was considered a Vierteljüdin (one-quarter Jewish woman). They divorced in 1958. On 6 October 1958, Karajan married his third wife, Eliette Mouret , a French model born in Mollans-sur-Ouvèze . She had enjoyed a carefree childhood growing up in Provence before being discovered by Christian Dior when she was 18. This laid the foundation for an international modelling career. Karajan first met Mouret in 1957 and

180-423: A computer to prove it. He insisted that this skill was learned, not inherited, and considered it the bedrock of musical interpretations. He cited inconsistencies in rhythmic accuracy and control as "one thing that might make me lose my temper. I can accept a wrong note from an orchestra but when everything is getting faster or slower, that I cannot accept." He once explained to a German journalist why he preferred

240-588: A concert at Carnegie Hall , Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic were confronted by protests and picketers. In 1956, Karajan was appointed principal conductor for life of the Berlin Philharmonic as Furtwängler's successor. From 1957 to 1964, Karajan was artistic director of the Vienna State Opera . He was closely involved with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Salzburg Festival, where he initiated

300-530: A continual force in Karajan's life, not just as a composer, but as a conductor. Karajan recounted their only "proper" meeting, in 1939, to Osborne: [A]t the end [of a performance of Elektra in Berlin] he came and said to me it was the best performance of the opera he had ever heard. I said, "I don't really want to hear this; tell me what was wrong with it." I think he was surprised by my reaction, so he asked me to lunch

360-788: A guest conductor in Bucharest, Brussels, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Paris. In 1938, Karajan made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic . That same year, he made his debut with the Berlin State Opera conducting Fidelio , and then had a major success at the State Opera with Tristan und Isolde . His performance was hailed by a Berlin critic as Das Wunder Karajan (Karajan the miracle). The critic wrote that Karajan's "success with Wagner's demanding work Tristan und Isolde sets himself alongside Wilhelm Furtwängler and Victor de Sabata ,

420-587: A limited season of concerts with the Staatskapelle. By 1944, Karajan was, by his account, losing favour with the Nazi leadership, but he conducted concerts in Berlin as late as 18 February 1945. A short time later, in the closing stages of the war, he and his wife fled Germany for Milan, relocating with the assistance of Victor de Sabata. Karajan's increased prominence from 1933 to 1945 has led to speculation that he joined

480-602: A state-appointed president, an artistic director and a board of trustees. After the end of World War I , the State Academy was again reorganized. President Karl Ritter von Wiener resigned and conductor Ferdinand Löwe was elected director by the teachers. In 1922, Joseph Marx took over. He wanted the Academy to be granted University status. After the Anschluss , many teachers and students were dismissed on racial grounds. In 1941,

540-460: Is Deutsche Grammophon with which he became most associated, making 330 recordings with it. Karajan's 1981 Deutsche Grammophon recording of An Alpine Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic became the first work ever to be pressed on the compact disc format. Even though his repertoire had been extensively covered in analog ( LP record ), he spent the rest of the 1980s making digital recordings , notably rerecording Beethoven's symphonies (Karajan and

600-534: Is a patron of the Salzburg Easter Festival . Karajan had been a passionate sportsman since he was a teenager. He was a keen skier and swimmer and followed a daily yoga ritual. He won several regattas aboard his racing yacht, christened Helisara . He piloted his Learjet and was a great sailing and car enthusiast, particularly fond of Porsches . He ordered a specially configured Porsche 911 Turbo (type 930) with Martini & Rossi livery and his name on

660-665: Is an Austrian university established in 1817 located in Vienna . With a student body of over three thousand, it is the largest institution of its kind in Austria, and one of the largest in the world. In 1817, it was established by the Society for the Friends of Music . It has had several names: Vienna Conservatory , Vienna Academy and in 1909 it was nationalized as the Imperial Academy of Music and

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720-436: Is that he is a composer who cannot really be compared to anyone else. ... And you never come to an end with him. I think it is perhaps also to do with my love of remote places, my love of mountains rather than cities. Layton demystifies this relationship somewhat by observing that: [s]tring tremolandi and pedal points are, of course, among [the similarities between Bruckner and Sibelius], and we hear Brucknerian echoes in

780-475: Is this sense of the Urwald , the primaeval forest, the feeling of elemental power, that one is dealing with something profound." When pressed about this connection toward the end of his life by his biographer Osborne, Karajan echoed some of these sentiments, saying: There is in both [Bruckner and Sibelius] a sense of the elemental. But I have often asked myself what it is that drew me to Sibelius's music and I think it

840-462: Is tolerated if the results are successful." Indeed, James Galway , who served as principal flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic from 1969 to 1975, recalled that "he [Karajan] achieved most of what he wanted through charm". But there were reasons for many of Karajan's eccentricities. Conducting with his eyes closed, for instance, was a consequence of memorizing scores; keeping his eyes closed helped him keep focus. Karajan's method of score study, too,

900-576: The 12 London Symphonies as some of the finest he knew, and his multiple Beethoven cycles are still staples. Yet Karajan's real interests seem to have lain in the period from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries. Principal among these were his fascinations with the composers Anton Bruckner and Jean Sibelius . In a 1981 interview with Gramophone ' s Robert Layton, Karajan remarked that he felt "a much deeper influence, affinity, kinship—call it what you like—[in Sibelius's music] with Bruckner. There

960-892: The NHK Symphony Orchestra , the New York Philharmonic , the Concertgebouw Orchestra , the Orchestre de Paris , the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala, Milan and the Staatskapelle Dresden ), but the vast majority of his recordings were made with the Berlin and Vienna orchestras. He also left a considerable legacy of recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra , his last performance being in 1960. Although he made recordings with several labels, notably EMI , it

1020-721: The Salzburg Festival with the Walpurgisnacht Scene in Max Reinhardt 's production of Faust . In Salzburg in 1934, Karajan led the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time, and from 1934 to 1941, he was engaged to conduct operatic and orchestra concerts at the Theater Aachen . Karajan's career received a significant boost in 1935 when he became Germany's youngest Generalmusikdirektor , at Aachen, and performed as

1080-646: The Society for the Friends of Music was formed, with the foremost aim of establishing a conservatory. The Vienna Conservatory was founded in 1817. It was meant to be modeled on the Paris Conservatory , but, due to a lack of funds, it began solely as a singing school. Antonio Salieri was the Conservatory's first director. In 1819, it hired violinist Joseph Böhm , and by 1827 offered courses in most orchestral instruments. The Conservatory's finances were very unstable. Tuition fees were introduced in 1829, but by 1837

1140-442: The concertmaster or section leader ; regularly takes part in orchestral rehearsals and concerts; becomes familiar with chamber music, of which the repertoire includes classic, romantic and classic modern works; and is trained to prepare for auditions. Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan ( German: [ˈhɛʁbɛʁt fɔn ˈka(ː)ʁajan] ; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan ; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989)

1200-407: The Academy became a Reich University (Reichshochschule). After World War II , the institution became a State Academy again. In the process of Denazification , fifty-nine teachers were dismissed; by November 1945, sixteen were reinstated. Only five of the teachers dismissed in 1938 were reinstated. By laws introduced in 1948 and 1949 the institution was granted the status of "Art Academy". In 1970,

1260-770: The Berlin Philharmonic's 1977 analog recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 won the Grand Prix du Disque , while their 1984 digital recording of it was not particularly critically acclaimed yet sold considerably more). In the mid-1990s, Deutsche Grammophon released the Karajan Gold series, remixes of Karajan's 1980s digital recordings enhanced by 24-bit processing. Karajan filmed performances of his work for both Unitel and his own company, Telemondial. University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (German: Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien , abbreviated MDW )

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1320-736: The Berlin to the Vienna Philharmonic: "If I tell the Berliners to step forward, they do it. If I tell the Viennese to step forward, they do it, but then they ask why." Karajan was a noted interpreter of virtually every standard of the classical repertoire, from the Baroque era to the 20th century. He was an admirer of Glenn Gould 's interpretations of Bach , performing the D minor Keyboard Concerto with him on one occasion. The eminent Haydn scholar H. C. Robbins Landon considered Karajan's recordings of

1380-460: The Conservatory Bopp offered teaching positions to Franz Schreker and Arnold Schoenberg . Schoenberg declined the offer, but Schreker accepted it. His teaching duties were carried through with great success and by January 1913 he was awarded a full professorship. Bopp was also instrumental in the 1909 nationalization of the Conservatory. The administration of the Academy was now assigned to

1440-550: The Conservatory, remained in control of the institution. However, by a January 1, 1909, imperial resolution the school was nationalized and became the Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts ( k.k. Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst ). (Until then its name was the Konservatorium der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde .) Until 1844, when Gottfried Preyer , professor of harmony and composition became director,

1500-531: The Easter Festival, which remained tied to the Berlin Philharmonic's music director after his tenure. In his later years, Karajan suffered from heart and back problems, needing surgery on the latter. He resigned as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic on 24 April 1989. His last concert was Bruckner's 7th Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic. He died of a heart attack at his home in Anif on 16 July 1989 at

1560-553: The International Beethoven Piano Competition. It also presents an acclaimed students’ film festival every two years. The MDW may be considered a "feeder" institution to all major orchestras in Austria, with a particular association with the Vienna Philharmonic . Calls for a music conservatory in Vienna started in 1808. In 1811 an "outline for a music education institution" for Vienna was published. A year later

1620-535: The Nazi Party discovered Karajan's double membership in Munich and declared the first accession invalid. The second was made retroactive to 1 May 1933. During the entire Nazi era he "never hesitated to open his concerts with the Nazi favorite ' Horst-Wessel-Lied ', but "always maintained he joined strictly for career reasons." His enemies called him "SS Colonel von Karajan". In 1933, Karajan made his conducting debut at

1680-534: The Nazi Party solely to advance his career. Critics such as Jim Svejda have pointed out that other prominent conductors, such as Arturo Toscanini , Otto Klemperer , Erich Kleiber , and Fritz Busch , fled Germany or Italy at the time. Richard Osborne noted that among the many significant conductors who continued to work in Germany during the war years— Wilhelm Furtwängler , Carl Schuricht , Karl Böhm , Hans Knappertsbusch , Clemens Krauss and Karl Elmendorff —Karajan

1740-578: The Nazi Party twice. The first time this happened was on 8 April 1933 in Salzburg. He paid the admission fee, received the membership number 1607525 and moved to Ulm. It is said that this accession was never formally carried out. It is also certain that Karajan rejoined the Nazi Party in Aachen in March 1935, this time receiving the membership number 3430914. After the annexation of Austria, the responsible Reich Treasurer of

1800-598: The Performing Arts . In 1998, the University assumed its current name to reflect its university status, attained in a wide 1970 reform for Austrian Arts Academies . With a student body of more than 3000, the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien (MDW) is one of the largest arts universities in the world. The University consists of 25 departments including the Max Reinhardt Seminar , Vienna Film Academy and

1860-530: The Prussian State Orchestra. He then became music director of the Staatskapelle Berlin, with which he toured Rome with extraordinary success. The next year, his contract in Aachen was discontinued. His marriage to Anita Gütermann (with one Jewish grandparent) and the prosecution of his agent Rudolf Vedder also contributed to his temporary professional decline, leaving him few engagements beyond

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1920-665: The Wiener Klangstil. MDW facilities include the Schönbrunn Palace Theater, Antonio Vivaldi Room, Salesian Convent, St. Ursula Church, Lothringerstrasse (Franz Liszt Room) and the Anton Von Webern Platz (university main campus). Modern film studios were completed on the university campus in 2004, offering the Vienna Film Academy modern equipment. The University organizes around 10 competitions, including

1980-493: The age of 81. Karajan believed in reincarnation and said he would like to be reborn as an eagle so he could soar over his beloved Alps. Even so, on 29 June 1985, he conducted Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Coronation Mass during a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica , on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul , and with his wife and daughters received Holy Communion from

2040-511: The back. One of Karajan's signature skills as a conductor was his ability to extract exquisite sounds from orchestras. His biographer Roger Vaughan observed this phenomenon while listening to the Berlin Philharmonic play in 1986, after nearly 30 years under Karajan's direction, noting that "what rivets one's attention is the beauty and perfection of the sounds. The softest of pianissimos commands rapt attention. The smooth crescendos peak exactly when they should. The breaks are sliced clean, without

2100-453: The community of the orchestra's musicians. In May 2017, at a meeting of the orchestra, it was agreed that the Academy would be renamed after Herbert von Karajan. About a third of the current members of the Berlin Philharmonic have come through from the Academy. The two-year course, available for players of all orchestral instruments, is at the same time a postgraduate course and an internship. The student receives personal tuition, usually from

2160-670: The conducting ban. With the Vienna Philharmonic and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde , he performed Johannes Brahms 's A German Requiem for a gramophone production in Vienna. In 1949, Karajan became artistic director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna. He also conducted at La Scala in Milan. His most prominent activity at this time was recording with the newly formed Philharmonia Orchestra in London, helping to build them into one of

2220-598: The conservatory and continued his studies at the Vienna Academy , studying piano with Josef Hofmann (a teacher with the same name as the pianist ) and conducting with Alexander Wunderer and Franz Schalk . Karajan made his debut as a conductor in Salzburg on 22 January 1929. The performance got the attention of the general manager of the Stadttheater in Ulm and led to Karajan's first appointment as assistant Kapellmeister of

2280-474: The destabilization of his position, Karajan attempted to join the Nazi Party in Salzburg in April 1933, but his membership was later declared invalid because he somehow failed to follow up on the application and that Karajan formally joined the Nazi Party in Aachen in 1935, implying that he was not eager to pursue membership. More recent scholarship clears up this confusion: ...the truth is that Karajan actually joined

2340-410: The development section of the first movement of Kullervo , written only a year or so after Sibelius first heard Bruckner's Third Symphony in Vienna. Yet the most potent assessment of Karajan's interpretation of Sibelius's music came from Sibelius himself, who, according to Legge, said, "Karajan is the only conductor who plays what I meant." Karajan was also a prolific opera conductor, championing

2400-501: The director of the Conservatory was not a member of faculty, but a member of the Society for the Friends of Music. Joseph Hellmesberger Sr. was director from 1851 to 1893. From 1907 Wilhelm Bopp had been the director of Conservatory. The Conservatory was still dominated by the aging Robert Fuchs and Hermann Grädener , both of whom, but especially Fuchs, Bopp considered to be anachronistic and out of touch. In 1912, attempting to rejuvenate

2460-439: The establishment of Saxony's cloth industry, and both were ennobled for their services by Frederick Augustus III on 1 June 1792, thus adding the prefix " von " to the family name. This usage disappeared with the abolition of Austrian nobility after World War I. The surname Karajánnis became Karajan . Although traditional biographers ascribed a Slovak and Serbian or simply a Slavic origin to his mother, Karajan's family from

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2520-538: The greatest opera conductors in Germany at the present time". Receiving a contract with Deutsche Grammophon that same year, Karajan made the first of numerous recordings, conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin in the overture to The Magic Flute . Karajan's career continued to thrive at the beginning of the war. In 1939, the Berlin State Opera appointed him State Kapellmeister and conductor of concerts by

2580-565: The hand of the Pope. By the end of his life he had reconciled with the Catholic Church, and requested a Catholic burial. Karajan was married three times. Karajan married his first wife, Elmy Holgerloef, an operetta singer, on 26 July 1938. He first worked with her on a 1935 New Year's Eve gala production of Strauss's Die Fledermaus . They divorced in 1942. Elmy died of heart failure in 1983. A statement from his Salzburg office stated that Karajan

2640-409: The institution was bankrupt. The state eventually funded the Conservatory from 1841 to 1844 and from 1846 to 1848. In 1848 political unrest caused the state to discontinue funding, and the Conservatory did not offer courses again until 1851. With support from the state and the city, finances again stabilized after 1851. Despite growing state subsidies, The Society for the Friends of Music, which founded

2700-616: The maternal side, through his grandfather who was born in the village of Mojstrana , Duchy of Carniola (today in Slovenia ), was Slovene . Aromanian heritage has also been claimed. Through the Slovene line, Karajan was related to the Slovenian-Austrian composer Hugo Wolf . He also seems to have known some Slovene . Herbert Ritter von Karajan was born in Salzburg , Austria-Hungary ,

2760-695: The mid-1950s until his death. Part of the reason for this was the large number of recordings he made and their prominence during his lifetime. By one estimate, he sold an estimated 200 million records. The Karajans were of Greek ancestry. Herbert's great-great-grandfather, Georg Karajan (Geórgios Karajánnis, Greek: Γεώργιος Καραγιάννης ), was born in Kozani , in the Ottoman province of Rumelia (now in Greece), leaving for Vienna in 1767, and eventually Chemnitz , Electorate of Saxony . Georg and his brother participated in

2820-418: The next day. He said, "You have made the music very clear, the fp here, the accent there; but these are not at all important. Just wave your stick around a bit!" He made a gesture like stirring a pudding. But what he meant was, let the music flow more naturally. Karajan conducted and recorded prolifically, mainly with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. He conducted other orchestras (including

2880-471: The phrasing and the words—always with Italian singers, which was unheard of in Germany then. I don't think I ever opened the score. It was so in my ears, I just knew it. Karajan went on to make two recordings of Falstaff —one for EMI/HMV in 1956 and another for Philips in 1980—and his colleague Otto Klemperer hailed the Vienna State Opera production as "really excellent". Strauss was likewise

2940-561: The second son of physician (surgeon) and senior consultant Ernst von Karajan (1868–1951) and Marta (née Martha Kosmač; 1881–1954) (married 1905). He was a child prodigy at the piano. From 1916 to 1926, he studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Franz Ledwinka (piano), Franz Zauer (harmony), and Bernhard Paumgartner (composition and chamber music). He was encouraged to concentrate on conducting by Paumgartner, who detected his exceptional promise in that regard. In 1926, Karajan graduated from

3000-454: The slightest ragged edge." Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Karajan's conducting style was his propensity to conduct with his eyes closed. This is highly unusual for a conductor, as eye contact is generally regarded as of paramount importance to the conductor's communication with the orchestra. Yet, as Vaughan remarked: "[h]ere is one of the fascinating aspects of conducting: there are no rules, only guidelines. The most eccentric approach

3060-502: The theater. His senior colleague in Ulm was Otto Schulmann . After Schulmann was forced to leave Germany in 1933 with the Nazi Party takeover, Karajan was promoted to first Kapellmeister . In the postwar era, Karajan maintained silence about his Nazi Party membership, which gave rise to a number of conflicting stories about it. One version is that because of the changing political climate and

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3120-544: The works of Wagner , Verdi , Richard Strauss and Puccini . Verdi's last opera, Falstaff , was something of a mainstay throughout Karajan's career. In his conversations with Osborne, Karajan recalled that, in the 1930s, when Italian opera was still something of a rarity in Austria and Germany: [M]y training in Verdi's Falstaff came from Toscanini. There wasn't a rehearsal in either Vienna or Salzburg at which I wasn't present. I think I heard about thirty. From Toscanini I learnt

3180-750: The world's finest. Starting from this year, Karajan began his lifelong attendance at the Lucerne Festival . In 1951 and 1952, Karajan conducted at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus . During its 1955 tour of the United States, Karajan's past membership in the Nazi Party led to the Berlin Philharmonic's concerts being banned in Detroit, and Philadelphia Orchestra music director Eugene Ormandy refused to shake Karajan's hand. Upon arriving in New York City for

3240-412: Was "very shocked, affected, and deeply upset by the news. He had never forgotten her; she had been a part of his life." Karajan did not attend her funeral in Aachen. On 22 October 1942, at the height of the Second World War , Karajan married his second wife, Anna Maria "Anita" Sauest, born Gütermann  [ de ] , the daughter of a well-known manufacturer of yarn for sewing machines. Having had

3300-433: Was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era , he debuted at the Salzburg Festival , with the Vienna Philharmonic , the Berlin Philharmonic, and during World War II he conducted at the Berlin State Opera . Generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he was a controversial but dominant figure in European classical music from

3360-416: Was deeply taken with her. Their first daughter, Isabel , was born on 25 June 1960. In 1964, their second daughter, Arabel, was born. After Karajan's death, Eliette continued his musical legacy by founding of the Herbert von Karajan Centre in Vienna, now in Salzburg and known as the Eliette and Herbert von Karajan Institute . Her numerous projects focus particularly on the development of young people, and she

3420-471: Was listed on the Gottbegnadeten list (God-gifted list of artists exempt from mobilisation ). Karajan's denazification tribunal, held in Vienna on 15 March 1946, cleared him of illegal activity during the Nazi period. The Austrian denazification examining board discharged Karajan on 18 March 1946, and he resumed conducting shortly thereafter. Years later, former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said of Karajan's Nazi party membership card, "Karajan

3480-411: Was obviously not a Nazi. He was a Mitläufer ." In 1946, Karajan gave his first postwar concert in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic , but was banned from further conducting by the Soviet occupation authorities because of his Nazi party membership. That summer he participated anonymously in the Salzburg Festival. On 28 October 1947, Karajan gave his first public concert following the lifting of

3540-409: Was one of the youngest and thus one of the least advanced in his career. He was allowed to conduct various orchestras and was free to travel, even to the Netherlands to conduct the Concertgebouw Orchestra and make recordings there in 1943. He conducted for an audience of 300 Nazi armaments officials at a conference convened by Albert Speer in Linz, Austria, on 24–25 June 1944. In September 1944, he

3600-477: Was somewhat unusual, as noted by his friend Walter Legge , who remarked: He is one of the few conductors I have known who has never made a mark in a score. He will absorb a score quietly sitting on the floor, like a relaxed Siamese cat. Over the years he has learned how completely to relax the body so the mind is absolutely free to do what it wants. Karajan was also known for his preternaturally keen sense of tempo, even going so far as to have himself tested against

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