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Georg Solti
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Sir Georg Solti |
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Sir Georg Solti |
Solti, Sir Georg (shôltē), 1912-97, English conductor, b. Hungary. He made his conducting debut in Budapest (1933) and later led orchestras in Switzerland, Germany, and France. Solti gained fame as music director (1969-91) of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was also principal conductor of the London Philharmonic (1979-83) and several other orchestras.
Bibliography
See his Memoirs (1997).
Dictionary:
Sol·ti (sōl'tē, shōl'-)  , Sir Georg
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Hungarian-born British conductor. He directed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1969-1979) and in 1979 became principal conductor and artistic director of the London Philharmonic.
| Artist: Georg Solti |
- Period: Contemporary (1950- )
- Country: England
- Born: October 21, 1912 in Budapest, Hungary
- Died: September 05, 1997 in Antibes, France
Biography
Solti's interpretations held more than surface excitement. In conducting Beethoven, for example, he long held that the symphonies should be played with all their repeats to maintain their structural integrity, and he carefully rethought his approach to tempo, rhythm, and balance in those works toward the end of his life.Solti began as a pianist, commencing his studies at age six and making his first public appearance at 12. When he was 13 he enrolled at Budapest's Franz Liszt Academy of Music, studying piano mainly with Dohnányi and, for a very short time, Bartók. He also took composition courses with Kodály. Although he aspired to be a concert pianist, upon graduating from the academy when he was 18 he took a job as répétiteur at the Budapest Opera. This practical opera experience enabled him to serve as an assistant at the Salzburg Festival to Bruno Walter in 1935 and Arturo Toscanini in 1936 and 1937. In 1938, he made his own conducting debut -- by all accounts a brilliant performance -- in a Budapest Opera production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. He was Jewish, and rising anti-Semitism drove him to Switzerland in 1939, where he supported himself mainly as a concert pianist; he couldn't obtain a labor permit as a conductor. In 1942 he won the Concours International de Piano in Geneva, but it wasn't until 1944 that he had a serious chance to take up the baton again, in guest appearances with the Swiss Radio Orchestra.
In 1946, the American occupying forces invited Solti to conduct Fidelio at the Bavarian State Opera. Almost immediately Solti was appointed the company's general music director, a post he held until 1952; in that year he assumed the duties of general music director in Frankfurt, conducting opera productions and symphonic concerts. He also began making a name for himself in America, through appearances with the San Francisco Opera, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and, in 1960, the Metropolitan Opera. He had made his London Covent Garden debut in 1959, and in 1961 the Royal Opera House engaged him as music director. Solti greatly improved the company's orchestral standards during his term, which lasted until 1971.
Solti made his most significant contribution during this period on LP, with the first stereo recording (for Decca) of Wagner's entire Ring cycle, completed in 1966. Even greater acclaim followed him as director of the Chicago Symphony, from 1969 to 1991. Yet Solti spent fairly little time in Chicago; as was becoming the norm, he held major simultaneous posts on two continents. He was music advisor to the Paris Opera 1971-1973, music director of the Orchestre de Paris 1972-1975 (a group he took to China in 1974), and principal conductor and artistic director of the London Philharmonic 1979-1983. European guest stints included conducting the Bayreuth Festival's Ring cycle in 1983, marking the 100th anniversary of Wagner's death.
In 1972 he became a British subject and received his official knighthood; under the circumstances, he also sanctioned the pronunciation of his first name as "George," although he retained the German spelling.
Solti was regarded as, above all, a superb Wagnerian. His performances and countless recordings of other nineteenth century German and Austrian music were also well-regarded, as were his Verdi and his frequent forays into such twentieth century repertory as Bartók, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky. Solti served as a strong advocate for such new works as Hans Werner Henze's Heliogabalus Imperator, David Del Tredici's Final Alice, and Michael Tippett's Symphony No. 4, all of which he premiered in Chicago. ~ James Reel, All Music Guide
Discography
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| Actor: Sir Georg Solti |
- Born: Oct 21, 1912 in Budapest, Hungary
- Died: Sep 05, 1997 in Antibes, France
- Occupation: Actor, Director
- Active: '80s-'90s
- Major Genres: Music, Theater
- Career Highlights: Immortal Beloved, Falstaff, La Traviata
- First Major Screen Credit: Falstaff (1979)
Biography
Hungarian-born maestro Georg Solti conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 20 years and is responsible for elevating it to a world class ensemble known especially for its recordings. Solti can be seen performing in several documentaries and concert films. He died in his sleep on September 5, 1997, while vacationing in Southern France. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide| Filmography: Sir Georg Solti |
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Der Rosenkavalier (The Royal Opera) Buy this Movie |
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| Wikipedia: Georg Solti |
See also: Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE (pronounced /ˈdʒɔrdʒ ˈʃɒlti/[1]; October 21, 1912 – September 5, 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He holds the record for having received the most Grammy awards, having personally won 31, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[2] He is widely regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century.[3][4]
Contents |
Early career
Solti was born György Stern (Hungarian: Stern György) in Budapest to a Jewish family; his parents are Móric(z) Stern and Teréz Rosenbaum. His cousin was László Moholy-Nagy, the Jewish-Hungarian painter and photographer, who taught at the Bauhaus in Dessau and co-founded the New Bauhaus in Chicago. His father Germanized the name György to Georg and changed his family name to Solti, to shield them from antisemitism.
He learned the piano but at age 14 heard Erich Kleiber conduct Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and he decided immediately he wanted to be a conductor. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, under Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Leo Weiner and Ernst von Dohnanyi.[5] By 1935 he was gaining recognition as a conductor, and made his debut at the Budapest Opera on 11 March 1938 with The Marriage of Figaro, the first time an unconverted Jew had ever conducted there. It was also Solti's last performance there. On that very day, Hitler annexed Austria, and anti-semitism became rife in Hungary under Admiral Miklós Horthy's regime. In 1939, with German invasion imminent, he fled Hungary because of his Jewish ancestry, and moved to Switzerland, where he continued a career as a pianist and won the Geneva International Piano Competition, but he had limited opportunities to develop his conducting. Unfortunately, he never saw his father again.
After the Second World War, during which his father died of natural causes, Solti was music director of the Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich (where he gave the German premiere of Paul Hindemith's opera Mathis der Maler, which had been banned under the Nazi regime) and the Frankfurt Opera (where he gave the German premiere of Alban Berg's Lulu). In 1951 he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival conducting Mozart's Idomeneo.
In 1960 Solti signed a three-year contract (effective in 1962) to be music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, having guest conducted the orchestra in winter concerts in downtown Los Angeles, during the summer at the Hollywood Bowl,[6] and in other Southern California concerts.[7] The orchestra had hoped that Solti would lead the orchestra when it moved into its new home at the still-to-be-completed Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and he even began to appoint musicians to the orchestra. However, Solti abruptly resigned the position in 1961 without officially taking the post after learning that the Philharmonic board of directors failed to consult him before naming then 26-year-old Zubin Mehta to be assistant conductor of the orchestra.[8] Mehta was subsequently named as music director in Solti's place.
In 1961 Solti became music director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, serving in that capacity until 1971. There, Solti's bald head and demanding rehearsal style earned him the nickname, "The Screaming Skull" (after the film of the same name).[9] He thereafter spent much of his time in Britain and the United States.
His first marriage to Hedi Oechsli, in 1946, ended in divorce.[10] His second marriage was to Valerie Pitts, a British television presenter whom he met when she was sent to interview him. They had two daughters, Gabrielle and Claudia. In 1972 he was naturalized as a British Citizen. He had been awarded an honorary knighthood in the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1971, and was known as Sir Georg Solti after his naturalization.
Solti was a great supporter and mentor to many young musicians, including the Hungarian soprano Sylvia Sass, with whom he recorded Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Bartók's "Bluebeard's Castle." In addition, in 1994, Solti directed the "Solti Orchestral Project" at Carnegie Hall, a training workshop for young American musicians.[11][12]
Chicago Symphony
Solti was music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) from 1969 until 1991, when he was made the only Music Director Laureate in that orchestra's history. Before Solti took over as the CSO's music director, CSO violinist Victor Aitay described Solti's work style as follows:
Usually conductors are relaxed at rehearsals and tense at the concerts. Solti is the reverse. He is very tense at rehearsals, which makes us concentrate, but relaxed during the performance, which is a great asset to the orchestra.[13]
In total, Solti conducted 999 performances with the CSO. His 1,000th performance was scheduled to be in October 1997, around the time of his 85th birthday.[14] The City of Chicago renamed the block of East Adams Street adjacent to Symphony Center as "Sir Georg Solti Place" in his memory.
Solti consolidated the reputation of the CSO as one of the great orchestras of the world, while reiteratively reminding everyone how much he owed to the pioneering work of Fritz Reiner, who never toured the orchestra abroad. Solti took the CSO on its first tour to Europe in 1971.[15] Solti's recordings with the CSO included the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner, and Gustav Mahler. Solti recorded complete operas with the CSO as well, including:
- Moses und Aron by Arnold Schoenberg
- Otello by Giuseppe Verdi (also performed live at Carnegie Hall)[16]
- Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner[17][18]
Later career
In addition to his tenure in Chicago, Solti was music director of the Orchestre de Paris from 1972 until 1975. From 1979 until 1983 he was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. During this time with the London Philharmonic he performed and recorded many works by Elgar including the two symphonies, the Violin Concerto with Kyung Wha Chung and the Cello Concerto with Julian Lloyd Webber. In 1983 he conducted Wagner's Ring Cycle at Bayreuth for the only time. For the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, Solti formed the World Orchestra for Peace, which consisted of musicians from 47 orchestras around the world.
Solti continued to add new works to his repertoire in the latter days of his career, voicing particular enthusiasm for the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, whom he admitted he failed to appreciate fully during the composer's lifetime. His commercial recordings of Shostakovich symphonies included Nos. 1 (Concertgebouw Orchestra), 5 (VPO), 8, 9 (twice : VPO & Carnegie Hall Project),10, 13 and 15 (all CSO).
Solti never truly retired, and his sudden death of a heart attack on 5 September 1997 in Antibes, France, meant that several years of planned performances and recording projects would never be realized. According to his last wish, Solti rests in Hungarian soil. After a state funeral, he was placed beside the remains of Bartók: his one-time tutor and mentor. After Solti's death, his widow and daughters began the Solti Foundation to assist young musicians. In 2002 a website dedicated to Solti was launched, under the instigation of Lady Solti.[19]
Solti co-wrote his memoirs with Harvey Sachs, published in the UK under the title Solti on Solti,[20], Memoirs[21] in the USA, and Emlékeim in Hungary, and the book appeared in the month after his death. His life has also been documented in a film by Peter Maniura entitled Sir Georg Solti: The Making of a Maestro.
In September 2007 as a tribute on the 10th anniversary of Solti's death, a recording of his last concert was released on Decca, a performance with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5.[22]
Recordings
Solti was as enthusiastic making music in the recording studio as in the opera house or concert hall. He developed a long and productive partnership with the legendary producer John Culshaw at Decca. Products of this partnership included the first ever complete studio recording of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Vienna Philharmonic (VPO). No less distinguished and equally groundbreaking were his studio recordings of the operas of Richard Strauss, which, like his Wagner recordings, have been remastered and released on CD where they are still praised for their musicianship and expert production values.[23] His performances and recordings of works by Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler and Béla Bartók were also widely admired. In addition to his recordings with the CSO, Solti recorded other repertoire with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic, such as the two symphonies of Edward Elgar, selected symphonies of Tchaikovsky, William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, Michael Tippett's Symphony No. 4 and Byzantium, and the Da Ponte/Mozart operas.
In addition, Solti collaborated with Dudley Moore to create a 1991 television series, Orchestra!, which was designed to introduce audiences to the symphony orchestra.
Recordings with the Chicago Symphony
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Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (August 2008) |
- Bach, B minor Mass
- Bach, St. Matthew Passion
- Bartok, Concerto for Orchestra (1981)
- Bartok, Dance Suite (1981)
- Bartok, Piano Concertos #1 - 3 /w Ashkenazy
- Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust
- Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, Liszt "Les Preludes"
- Beethoven, Fidelio
- Beethoven, Missa Solemnis
- Beethoven, complete Symphonies #1 - 9
- Beethoven, Piano Concertos #1 - 5 /w Ashkenazy
- Brahms, Symphonies #1-4
- Brahms, Ein Deutsches Requiem
- Bruckner, Symphonies #0-9[24]
- Debussy, La mer / Nocturnes / Prelude à l'après-midi d'un faune
- Dvorak, Symphony #9
- Handel, Messiah
- Mephisto Magic (works by Liszt, Bartok, Weiner & Kodaly)
- Mahler, complete Symphonies #1 - 9
- Mussorgsky, Khovanshchina Prelude (1998)
- Mussorgsky (orchestrated by Ravel), Pictures at an Exhibition
- Mussorgsky (orchestrated by Shostakovich), Songs and Dances of Death with Sergei Aleksashkin (1998)
- Prokofiev, Symphony No. 1 (1982)
- Schoenberg, Moses und Aron (1984)
- Shostakovich, Symphony No. 8 (1989)
- Shostakovich, Symphony No. 15 (1998)
- Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra and other tone poems
- Stravinsky, Symphony Nos. 1 - 3
- Stravinsky, Petrushka/Jeu de Cartes
- Stravinsky, Rite of Spring
- Tchaikovsky, 1812 Overture, Romeo & Juliet Overture & The Nutcracker Suite
- Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 / Dohnanyi, "Variations on a Nursery Song" with Andras Schiff (1986)
- Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4 (1984)
- Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake, excerpts (1987)
- Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5 (1987)
- Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique"
- Verdi, Otello
- Wagner, Der fliegende Hollander (1976)
- Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg (1995)
- Wagner, Tannhäuser Overture (1977)
- Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, Prelude and Liebestod (1977)
Awards and recognition
- Sonning Award (1992; Denmark)
- Sir Georg Solti holds the record for having received the most Grammy awards. He personally won 31 Grammys, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and is listed for 38 Grammys (6 went to the engineer and 1 to a soloist); he was nominated an additional 74 times before his death in 1997.
- In 2007 his widow Valerie, Lady Solti was made a Cultural Ambassador of Hungary, an honorary title granted by the Hungarian state.
- He was a recipient of Yale University's Sanford Medal.
- In 1987, a bust of Solti was dedicated in Chicago's Lincoln Park outside the Lincoln Park Conservatory. It was moved to the Solti Garden in Grant Park in 2006.[25]
References
- ^ According to the BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names, the name Georg Solti is pronounced in English as George Shollti, the Sholl- part rhyming with the word doll.
- ^ MUSIC: THE GRAMMYS/CLASSICAL; Fewer Records, More Attention
- ^ http://www.montblanc.com/products/84.php
- ^ http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/-strse-1489/Sir-Georg-Solti-Making/Detail.bok
- ^ "Books / Livres". La Scena Musicale 3 (8). June 1998. http://www.scena.org/lsm/sm3-8/sm3-8Books.html. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ Pulcinella Suite
- ^ Santa Barbara Community Arts Music Association (CAMA) concert archives 1950-60
- ^ "Buffie & the Baton". Time. 14 April 1961. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872266,00.html. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
- ^ "Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, Dies". BBC Politics 97. September 1997. http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/news/09/0906/solti.shtml. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
- ^ Steven Rubin (25 April 1971). "Solti? That's How You Spell Chicago". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/02/home/solti-chicago.html. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ Bernard Holland (15 June 1994). "Georg Solti, Teacher, Leads Carnegie's Orchestral Workshop". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03EFDE163DF936A25755C0A962958260. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ James R. Oestreich (24 June 1994). "Master and Pupils Mesh As Solti Project Concludes". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9805E0D71E3DF937A15755C0A962958260. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ "Into the Fray". Time. 11 April 1969. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900761-1,00.html. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
- ^ Anthony Tommasini (21 September 1997). "Living an Adventure to the End". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/21/arts/classical-music-living-an-adventure-to-the-end.html?scp=8&sq=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
- ^ John von Rhein, "10 years after Solti's death, impact still felt at CSO". Chicago Tribune, 2 September 2007.
- ^ Donal Henehan (18 April 1991). "Pavarotti, Struggling With a Cold And a Handkerchief, as Otello". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7D91338F93BA25757C0A967958260. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ James R. Oestreich (26 September 1995). "2-Day 'Meistersinger' By Chicago Symphony". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7DA153FF935A1575AC0A963958260. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ Anthony Tommasini (13 January 1997). "Two Proven Wagnerians Who Are Still Evolving". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05E3D6123DF93BA35755C0A961958260. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ Martin Cullingford (18 October 2002). "New Solti website explores conductor's craft". Gramophone. http://www.gramophone.co.uk/newsMainTemplate.asp?storyID=1474&newssectionID=1. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ Solti, Georg; Sachs, Harvey (1997). Solti on Solti. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 0701166304.
- ^ Solti, Georg; Sachs, Harvey (1997). Memoirs. New York: Alfred Knopf. ISBN 067944596X.
- ^ Andrew Clements (31 August 2007). "Mahler: Symphony No 5, Zurich Tonhalle Orch/ Solti". The Guardian. http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/andrewclements/story/0,,2159223,00.html. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
- ^ Andrew Clements (15 January 1999). "By Georg...". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/friday_review/story/0,,322215,00.html. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ Listing at Amazon.co.uk
- ^ "Sir George Solti Bust (in Grant Park)". Explore Chicago. City of Chicago. 2008. http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/things_see_do/attractions/park_district/sir_george_solti_bust.html. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
External links
- Georg Solti official website
- The Solti Foundation official website
- Georg Solti at Allmusic
- Two Interviews with Sir Georg Solti by Bruce Duffie, The Instrumentalist magazine, October 1995
- Tourdates.co.uk page on Richard Stoltzman and Sanford Medal, Solti mentioned as past recipient
- Grammy Award search results page on Solti
| Preceded by Paul Kletzki |
Music Director, Dallas Symphony Orchestra 1961-1962 |
Succeeded by Donald Johanos |
| Preceded by Rafael Kubelík |
Music Director, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 1961-1971 |
Succeeded by Colin Davis |
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Mentioned in
- Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 (1978 Music Film)
- Eugene Onegin (1991 Theater Film)
- La Damnation De Faust (Music Film)
- Rossini / Strauss / Liszt (Music Film)
- Sir Georg Solti (Classical Artist)
- Herbert Von Karajan - His Legacy for Home Video: Giuseppe Verdi - Falstaff (1982 Music Film)
- Orchestra!, Vol. 1 (1991 Music Film)
- Orchestra!, Vol. 2 (1991 Music Film)
- Orchestra!, Vol. 3 (1991 Music Film)
- Hansel und Gretel (1981 Music Film)
- Sir Georg Solti/Chicago Symphony Orcestra: Beethoven Symphony No. 1/Schubert Symphony Nos. 6 & 8 (1978 Music Film)
- Falstaff (1979 Theater Film)
- Georg Solti in Rehearsal (1966 Music Film)
- Mozart: Requiem (1991 Music Film)
