Karl Böhm

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(b Graz, 28 Aug 1894; d Salzburg, 14 Aug 1981). Austrian conductor. After study at Graz and Vienna he conducted at the Graz Opera from 1917. He moved to the Munich Staatsoper (1921), under Muck and Walter, and in 1927 became music director at Darmstadt. A long association with the Vienna PO began in 1933. The following year he became director of the Dresden Staatsoper, where he gave the premières of Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau and Daphne; in 1936 he took the company to Covent Garden. He was director of the Vienna Staatsoper (1943-5, 1954-6) and conducted at Salzburg, Bayreuth and the Met. As an orchestral conductor he was heard most in the Viennese Classics, Bruckner, Brahms and Berg. His interpretations were direct, fresh and well balanced, avoiding sentimentality and mannerism.

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• Born: August 28, 1894 in Graz, Austria
• Died: August 14, 1981 in Salzburg, Austria

Biography

Karl Böhm was one of the greatest conductors of the twentieth century in the German tradition. He studied music as a child and continued to work and study in music while serving in the Austrian Army during World War I -- and while completing a doctorate in law. He coached singers at the Graz Opera and was permitted to conduct a performance of Nessler's Der Trompeter von Sackingen. He never had conducting lessons, but made close studies of the work of both Bruno Walter and Carl Muck.

In 1921 he was hired by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and then he became Generalmusikdirektor in both Darmstadt (1927) and Hamburg (1931-1933). He gained a reputation for his fine performances of Mozart, Wagner, and Richard Strauss, as well as his championing of modern German music, including operas by Krenek and Berg. Böhm debuted in Vienna in 1933, leading Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. In 1934 he became director of the Dresden State Opera, Richard Strauss's favorite theater. There, Böhm conducted premieres of Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau (1935) and Dafne (1938). He remained at the helm in Dresden through 1943, at which point he became director of the Vienna State Opera (1943-1945). Richard Strauss was not in official favor, and Joseph Goebbels banned any recognition of the great composer's 80th birthday in 1944. However, Böhm participated in a de facto observance, as a large number of Strauss's orchestral and operatic works "just happened" to be played about the time of the birthday.

After the war, Böhm was forbidden to perform until he underwent "de-Nazification," a procedure whereby prominent Austro-Germans were investigated for complicity in Nazi crimes. He was eventually cleared of any suspicion, and was permitted to resume work in 1947.

Böhm oversaw the German repertory at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (1950-1953), and again served as director of the Vienna State Opera (1954-1956). He debuted in the USA at New York's Metropolitan Opera with Mozart's Don Giovanni in 1957, and took prominent German orchestras and opera companies on tour. The Vienna Philharmonic bestowed on him the title "Ehrendirigent," and he was proclaimed Generalmusikdirector of Austria. He left a legacy of many great recordings, including a complete Wagner Ring cycle considered by many critics to be the best. While his Wagner and Strauss were sumptuously Romantic, his Mozart was scrupulously Classical in approach. ~ Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide

Discography

Così fan tutte Buy this CD	Mozart: Clarinet Concerto; Oboe Concerto; Bassoon Concerto Buy this CD	Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 88, 89 & 92 "Oxford" Buy this CD	Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen [Box Set] Buy this CD	Beethoven: Symphonie No. 6 "Pastorale"; Schubert: Symphony No. 5 Buy this CD
Mozart: Klarinettenkonzert; Konzert für Flöte & Harfe Buy this CD	Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Buy this CD	Mozart: Symphonien Nos. 35-41 Buy this CD	Richard Strauss: Daphne Buy this CD	Richard Strauss: Daphne Buy this CD

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