Wolfgang Sawallisch

Wolfgang Sawallisch (pronounced [ˈvɔlfgaŋ zaˈvalɪʃ]) (born 26 August 1923) is a retired German conductor and pianist.

Contents

Biography

Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for conducting.[1] He began his career at the opera house in Augsburg in 1947.[2] There he became first coach and later principal conductor: in 1952-53 he was personal assistant to Igor Markevitch at the International Summer Academy Mozarteum, Salzburg.[1]

When he debuted at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus conducting Tristan und Isolde in 1957, he was the youngest conductor ever to appear there.

From 1960 to 1970 he was Principal Conductor of the Vienna Symphony. From 1971 to 1992, Sawallisch was Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera, and for several years from 1983, concurrently was the general manager of the company.

From 1993 to 2003 he was Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and is currently its Conductor Laureate. He is also Honorary Conductor Laureate of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo. He was the recipient of a Suntory Music Award in 1993.

After his tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Sawallisch returned for guest-conducting appearances in Philadelphia and at Carnegie Hall.[3] However, ill health related to orthostatic hypotension prevented Sawallisch from conducting in subsequent years.[4] In an article from The Philadelphia Inquirer of August 27, 2006, Sawallisch himself stated his retirement from the concert podium:

"It can happen without announcement that my blood pressure is too low. This instability gives me the necessity to finish my career after 57 years of concert and opera conducting."[5]

Sawallisch and his wife Mechthild were married for 46 years until her death in 1998.[6] They had a son, Jörg. Sawallisch is an honorary member of The Robert Schumann Society. In 2003, Sawallisch helped to establish a music school in Grassau, Bavaria, naming the school the Wolfgang Sawallisch Stiftung (Wolfgang Sawallisch Foundation).

Prominent interpretations

Sawallisch has been acclaimed as an interpreter of the music of Richard Strauss.[7][8][9] As a pianist, he has accompanied a number of prominent singers in lieder, including Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dame Margaret Price. He has also been acclaimed for his interpretations of the symphonies of Anton Bruckner.[10]

Sawallisch has also recorded, as piano accompanist, Franz Schubert's Winterreise and Robert Schumann's Liederkreis and other songs with Thomas Hampson. One of his most celebrated live concert appearances as a pianist was on 11 February 1994 in Philadelphia, when Sawallisch substituted for the Philadelphia Orchestra at an all-Wagner concert on the night that a severe snow storm prevented much of the orchestra from arriving at the Academy of Music.[11][12][13]

Recording highlights

His other recordings for EMI include highly regarded issues of Richard Strauss's Capriccio and the four symphonies of Robert Schumann with the Dresden Staatskapelle. He made a quadrophonic stereo album (probably the only one ever made) of Mozart's The Magic Flute in 1973 for EMI, starring Peter Schreier as Tamino, Walter Berry as Papageno, Edda Moser as the Queen of the Night, Anneliese Rothenberger as Pamina, and Kurt Moll as Sarastro. Other recordings (EMI, Orfeo, Phillips, and Sony) include:

One of his final concert and recording projects in Philadelphia focused on the music of Robert Schumann.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b Antonin Dvořák Symphony No. 4, Op. 88 (Philharmonia Orchestra), Columbia Records LP 33 SX 1034, sleevenote
  2. ^ Stephen Moss (19 May 2000). "Old school titan". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/friday_review/story/0,,222312,00.html. Retrieved 2007-08-08. 
  3. ^ Anthony Tommasini (15 January 2004). "Channeling Bruckner, Maestro Illuminates Elusive Score". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E7DB1030F936A25752C0A9629C8B63. Retrieved 2007-08-08. 
  4. ^ Ben Mattison (31 March 2006). "Report: Wolfgang Sawallisch Has Retired". Playbill Arts. http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/4251.html. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
  5. ^ Peter Dobrin, "At home with the maestro". Philadelphia Inquirer, 27 August 2006.
  6. ^ James R. Oestreich (4 May 2003). "A 79-Year-Old Champion of Youth". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E0D6133CF937A35756C0A9659C8B63. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
  7. ^ Edward Rothstein (17 May 1995). "A Cheery, Old-World 'Ariadne'". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFD6113EF934A25756C0A963958260. Retrieved 2007-08-08. 
  8. ^ Anne Midgette (5 August 2001). "Music: A Musical Capital Looks to America". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E7DB1F3DF936A3575BC0A9679C8B63&sec=travel&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2007-08-08. 
  9. ^ Paul Horsley (1 April 2003). "A Hero's Tenure". Playbill Arts. http://www.playbillarts.com/features/article/199.html. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
  10. ^ Anthony Tommasini (15 January 2004). "Channeling Bruckner, Maestro Illuminates Elusive Score". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E7DB1030F936A25752C0A9629C8B63. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
  11. ^ Lesley Valdes and Peter Dobrin (13 February 1994). "Snow or no snow, the show went on". Philadelphia Inquirer. 
  12. ^ Tom Di Nardo (28 February 1994). "Bons mots instead of notes from Maestro". Philadelphia Daily News. 
  13. ^ Nadine Brozan (15 February 1994). "Chronicle". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E4D81E38F936A25751C0A962958260. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
  14. ^ Allan Kozinn (19 October 2002). "Back to Schumann, With Care and Passion". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E1DF103DF93AA25753C1A9649C8B63. Retrieved 2007-08-08. 

External links

Ferdinand Löwe (1900) · Wilhelm Furtwängler (1920s) · Oswald Kabasta (1933) · Hans Swarowsky (1945) · Herbert von Karajan (1948) · Wolfgang Sawallisch (1960) · Josef Krips (1970) · Carlo Maria Giulini (1973) · Gennady Rozhdestvensky (1980) · Georges Prêtre (1986) · Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (1991) · Vladimir Fedoseyev (1997) · Fabio Luisi (2005)

Franz Lachner (1836) · Hans von Bülow (1867) · Franz Wüllner (1870) · Hermann Levi (1872) · Richard Strauss (1894) · Hermann Zumpe (1901) · Felix Mottl (1904) · Bruno Walter (1913) · Hans Knappertsbusch (1922) · Clemens Krauss (1937) · Hans Knappertsbusch (1945) · Georg Solti (1946) · Rudolf Kempe (1952) · Ferenc Fricsay (1956) · Joseph Keilberth (1959) · Wolfgang Sawallisch (1971) · Peter Schneider (1992) · Zubin Mehta (1998) · Kent Nagano (2006)

Ernest Ansermet (1918) · Paul Kletzki (1967) · Wolfgang Sawallisch (1972) · Horst Stein (1980) · Armin Jordan (1985) · Fabio Luisi (1997) · Pinchas Steinberg (2002) · Marek Janowski (2005)

Karl von Perfall (1867) • Ernst von Possart (1895) • Clemens von Franckenstein (1912) • Clemens Krauss (1937) • Georg Hartmann (1947) • Rudolf Hartmann (1952) • Günther Rennert (1967) • August Everding (1977) • Wolfgang Sawallisch (1983) • Peter Jonas (1993) • Kent Nagano (2006) • Nikolaus Bachler (2008)

Fritz Scheel (1900-1907) · Karl Pohlig (1908-1912) · Leopold Stokowski (1912-1938) · Eugene Ormandy (1936-1980) · Riccardo Muti (1980-1992) · Wolfgang Sawallisch (1993-2003) · Christoph Eschenbach (2003-2008)