Rudolf Schwarz CBE (29 April 1905, Vienna – 30 January 1994, London) was a Jewish Austrian conductor who became a British citizen and spent the latter half of his life in England.
Contents |
Schwarz was born in a Jewish family in Vienna and studied with the composers Hans Gál and Richard Strauss.[1] Having played viola in the Vienna State Opera orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic in 1922, he made his conducting debut in Düsseldorf in 1924.
After opera experience in Düsseldorf, Schwarz moved to Karlsruhe in 1927 as first conductor at the State Theatre alongside Josef Krips and Joseph Keilberth. There he conducted all Wagner operas except Tristan und Isolde, and also gave symphony concerts. The Civil Service Law of 7 April 1933 meant that he was dismissed by the Nazis because he was Jewish.[2][1]
In 1936 he became a director of the Kulturbund Deutscher Juden (JKB) in Berlin, a German-Jewish cultural organization backed by the Nazi Propaganda Ministry of Joseph Goebbels[2] which allowed Jewish artists to perform for Jewish audiences. He also conducted in Gothenburg between 1936 and 1938. He was imprisoned by the Nazis, in 1939 to 1940, and when the JKB was dissolved in 1941 he was deported to Auschwitz, from where his release was secured by Wilhelm Furtwängler’s wife Zitla. Then however he was sent to Sachsenhausen and ended up in Belsen concentration camp in 1945[3]. While at Auschwitz he suffered a broken shoulder-blade, which inhibited his gestures as a conductor in later life.[1] The effects of this injury on his conducting style can be seen in a DVD of him conducting the finale of the Brahms Violin Concerto with Oistrakh in May 1958.[4]
It is not clear why Schwarz did not attempt to leave Germany in 1939. Possible explanations include the security of his employment with JKB and the difficulty of finding work elsewhere.[5]
After the end of World War II Schwarz was taken to Sweden to recover from typhoid,[6] and there met his future second wife Greta. He was preparing to go to America when in 1947 his brother in London sent him an advertisement for a post in Bournemouth. After the trial concerts the orchestra voted unanimously for his appointment in 1947 to lead the newly-reformed Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra, and was central to its rebuilding, with notable performances of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Mahler's Song of the Earth with Kathleen Ferrier and Richard Lewis and Bax's 3rd Symphony at the Festival Hall in 1951.[7] The workload however was immense: Schwarz was required to lead 150 concerts in his first season.
He was praised by Thomas Beecham as an "able conductor" for his work with the Bournemouth orchestra,[8] and subsequently held Principal Conductor positions with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1951-1957) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. While at the BBC orchestra he was praised for his efforts "to reach the truth of the music".[9] However in the 1961-1962 season his interpretation of Mahler's Symphony No. 9 was criticized in the press as "blatant misrepresentation", and as moving "from bad to worse".[9] In addition to press criticism, Schwarz had to contend with the appointment in 1959 of William Glock as Director of Music at the BBC. Conflict between Glock and Schwarz over such matters as style and repertoire may have contributed to the conductor's departure from the organization in 1962.[3]
In 1964 Schwarz was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Northern Sinfonia, where he served until 1973.[10] Schwarz returned to Bournemouth as a regular guest from 1970 to 1979, and also held guest appointments in Bergen, and with the English Opera Group and National Youth Orchestra. In June 1973 he was appointed a CBE[11].
Schwarz's work with the Northern Sinfonia was praised by many of the musicians who played under him: violinist Martin Hughes said that his "sense of rhythm, structure and tempo was exceptional"[1] and clarinettist George McDonald reflected that "he made the Sinfonia listen to themselves -- blend with each other ... he helped form the Orchestra's style and gave them musical discipline."[1]
Oboist Janet Craxton praised his selflessness, while David Patmore considers that he "may not have been a great conductor, but he certainly was a great musician".[3]
In later life, Schwarz was acknowledged as a "formative influence" by Simon Rattle, teaching the younger conductor "the paramount importance of imposing his pulse on the music he played".[12] According to Rattle, Schwarz never "gave any interpretation that didn’t have a real truth about it".[3]
Schwarz's 1958 recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 with the London Symphony Orchestra originally for the Everest label has been highly praised.[13][14] In addition he conducted for many concerto recordings, as well as the Dvorak Slavonic Dances (BBCSO), and Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies (Philharmonia). He started and ended his recording career with the Bournemouth orchestra: several overtures in the early 50s and an LP of Schubert overtures in 1980 (all EMI). There are further broadcast recordings by Schwarz in the British Library Sound Archive.
| Preceded by Montague Birch |
Principal Conductors, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra 1947–1951 |
Succeeded by Charles Groves |
| Preceded by none |
Artistic Directors, Music Directors and Principal Conductors, Northern Sinfonia 1964-1973 |
Succeeded by Christopher Seaman |
|
|||||
|
|||||