Georg Schnéevoigt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Georg Schnéevoigt (born 1872 in Vyborg (today in Russia but at the time part of the Grand Duchy of Finland); died 1947 in Malmö, Sweden) was a Finnish conductor and cellist.

He began his career by performing on the cello all over Europe in the 1890s. He was principal cellist of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1896 to 1902. After this he conducted many orchestras including the Kaim Orchestra (now the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra), the Stockholm Concert Society (today the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra), the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Schnéevoigt was a close friend of composer Jean Sibelius and often performed Sibelius's orchestral music. He discovered the manuscripts of Sibelius's pieces Lemminkäinen and the Maidens, and Lemminkäinen in Tuonela which had been thought lost and gave their first performance [1]. He also made the first recording of Sibelius's Sixth Symphony.

An official 1963 history of the Los Angeles Philharmonic described Schnéevoigt as "flaccid," "paunchy," "phlegmatic," and "plodding," with "little or no sense of direction so far as discipline was concerned", and so emotional that he cried when conducting works by Sibelius.

[edit] External links


Preceded by
Felix Weingartner
Principal conductors, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
1905–1908
Succeeded by
Ferdinand Löwe
Preceded by
none
Principal Conductors, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
1915–1924
Succeeded by
Václav Talich
Preceded by
none
Musical Directors, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
1919–1921
Succeeded by
Ignaz Neumark
Preceded by
Walter Henry Rothwell
Musical Directors, Los Angeles Philharmonic
1927–1929
Succeeded by
Artur Rodziński
Preceded by
Robert Kajanus
Principal Conductors, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
1932–1940
Succeeded by
Armas Järnefelt
In other languages