Year: 2024
News
The program page below deserves a ‘wanted’ poster.
It features Furtwängler conducting the Nuremberg ‘Philharmonischer Verein’ orchestra for a concert on April 7, 1922.
– This concert is not listed among all known performances by Furtwängler.;
– It would be his only appearance as conductor of this orchestra;
– This would have been the only time he conducted the 3rd Symphony (‘Västkustbilder’) by Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg.
It is true that Furtwängler was ‘available’ at this precise period (April 1 in Vienna, April 16 in Rome), during which he was appointed in Berlin and Leipzig as Nikisch’s successor. But there is no trace of this concert in his letters, nor in the newspapers of the time.
Disturbing are the notes written with blue ink: ‘Vertreter’ — ‘Schuricht’ — ‘Wiesbaden’.
Could he have replaced Carl Schuricht? Or vice versa? But nothing about that date is mentioned in his eminent colleague’s concert schedule either. That said, it is certain that Schuricht conducted Atterberg’s symphony in his Wiesbaden stronghold in late 1921/early 1922…
It should be noted that the two local orchestras — of the Theater and of the Philharmonic Association —, that year merged to become the Nuremberg Philharmonic Orchestra. No doubt this is the origin of the ‘vereinigten Orchester’, reunited orchestra, which is mentioned on the document.
The hunt is on…
We have just been informed of the sudden death of Philippe Jacquard on 16 November at the age of 76.
Trained as an engineer with expertise in patent registration, he soon became interested in Furtwängler and joined the SWF. For a long time he acted as General Secretary, bringing his rigour to the management of a growing community of members.
He wrote numerous articles for the association — Furtwängler à Francfort, Les Sortilèges de Brangaene, Les Acoustiques du Titania-Palast, Furtwängler et l’enregistrement, and was involved in drafting and writing circulars, as well as sending them out. It’s fair to say that for several years, the SWF relied heavily on his efforts as General Secretary.
From June 1991, he succeeded Serge Dubois as President of the SWF, a position he held for two years.
With his in-depth knowledge of recording techniques, he has long enlightened SWF members with his expertise in sound quality.
We would like to express our deepest sympathy to his family and friends.
His funeral will be held on 28 November at 10.30am in the Notre-Dame church in Vincennes.
The partnership between the Wilhelm Furtwängler Gesellschaft (Berlin), our sister company, and the publisher musicas.de (Hamburg) has resulted in an outstanding product.
A superb hardback box features three blu-ray DVDs and a book.
The three blu-ray DVDs:
– No. 1 (75′): existing films of Furtwängler’s rehearsals and concerts;
– No. 2 (118′): memories and interviews with Claudio Abbado, Yehudi Menuhin, Hans Bastiaan, Carlo Maria Giulini…
– No. 3 (80′) features the documentary made by Florian Furtwängler (the conductor’s nephew) in 1968.
The DVDs have English and Japanese subtitles.
The lavishly presented, bilingual (German and English) book that accompanies the DVDs is written by our friend Helge Grünewald, President of the WFG. It is rich in information, and includes rare iconography.
This beautiful item, available at the end of November, has a retail price of €100. However, it is being sold to SWF members at the special price of €60.00 + shipping. This promotional offer will expire on 31 December 2024.
To benefit from this attractive offer, simply complete the order form — also available in the online shop —, accessible only to SWF members. By submitting it, an email will be sent directly to the publisher. You will later receive notification from the publisher of the total amount to be paid before shipment.
INFORMATION: Please note that the minutes of the GM held on 9 November are available on the following page Invitations and reports of the Association.
Almost two years ago, we reissued the study Furtwängler in Italy. To illustrate and supplement this document, here is a facsimile programme of the Berlin Philharmonic’s concert at the Teatro Adriano in Rome on January 22, 1941. The January 24 concert will be released in a few weeks’ time.
A valuable archive, thanks to the author of the study, Angelo Scottini.
The orchestra, standing, plays the national anthems. Rome, January 22, 1941
Our new product, described in our October 17th news, is now available in our shop.
Our efforts — those of Christophe Hénault! — focused on the sound rendering, and in particular the processing of dynamics, from the archive provided by the Swedish Radio.
This publication is also an opportunity to highlight our extensive catalog of downloadable products. And this publication comes on the day before our GM: we look forward to seeing you there!
As we wrote some time ago: if the traditional conference has become a thing of the past, an alternative means of expression is now available.
Guilhem Chameyrat, SWF member and member of the association’s board, has published a long and well-documented podcast on Furtwängler and Brahms, considering that such a symbiosis between conductor and composer has never been more striking than this one.
This is a deeply personal point of view, but he defends it brilliantly. The podcast is in French, with English and German subtitles. Here is the link:
https://youtu.be/RxxMptircM0?si=u_Eg9GlTEs3PqONG
A few years ago, the SWF issued a study, Furtwängler in Lübeck (1911-1915), based notably on period letters from Lilli Dieckmann.
Today, we invite you to watch a filmed documentary. It has the same title. It was directed by Ute Neumerkel. We already know her: ten years ago, she interviewed Friederike Kunz, daughter of Wilhelm Furtwängler.
This exciting new documentary is narrated in German, but with English subtitles. Richly documented (with unpublished iconography) and illustrated with sound excerpts borrowed from the conductor’s discography, it tells the story of a journey — that of the young conductor in the Hanseatic city — through the reading of period correspondence and rare documents.
This documentary can be enjoyed by everyone. Go on, you won’t regret it!
Did you really believe that Mozart only composed 41 symphonies? Well, he didn’t! And to prove it, please take a look at the programme here below.
You will discover that on October 15, 1939, leading the Vienna Philharmonic, it is said that Furtwängler conducted Symphony No. 47 by the Salzburger genius. A premiere, no doubt!
But it won’t take you long — looking closely at the Köchel number and the key — to rectify what seems to be a brilliant typo. It is indeed the Symphony n° 39.
That said, the audience at the concert probably smiled. What about the conductor?
He probably paid no attention. Because every newspaper the next day informed us that he conducted… Haydn’s 88th, not Mozart!
And as if that weren’t enough, the journalist from the Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung of the 17th reported on the event that Furtwängler had superbly conducted the Symphony… “The Clock” (in fact the 101st)… and marvelled at the “tick-tock” he thought he recognized in the 4th movement. A “tick-tock” in the 88th? A parcel bomb perhaps?
The archives of the VPO were informed of this. When they checked the archived programme, they discovered a slip of paper in the booklet announcing the change of musical work. The VPO, as we did, updated its database.
The General Meeting of the Société Wilhelm Furtwängler will be held
on Saturday, November 9, 2024, 3 p.m.
At Forum 104, salle Olivier (1st floor)
104, rue de Vaugirard, (F) 75006 PARIS
subway: Rennes, Falguière (line 12) – Montparnasse (lines 4, 6, 12)
Herewith, for members (page ‘Invitations and reports‘):
– the GM notice, including the agenda
– a document to appoint a proxy.
NEW: fully digital, it only takes a few clicks!
We hope to see many of you at this meeting. If you are unable to attend this meeting, please fill in the proxy form, which can be edited until November 8. This is vital to ensure the GM is able to deliberate properly.
Coming November 8: SWF D16
Lohengrin is not one of Wagner’s operas most conducted by Furtwängler, unlike Tristan or Die Meistersinger. But one legendary production remains: that of Bayreuth 1936. The year of the Olympic Games was also the year of the conductor’s triumphant return to the sacred hill, as he conducted a complete Ring and five performances of Parsifal.
All festival attendees and commentators were unanimous in their praise for the overall production of Lohengrin, and the high standard of the cast.
The July 19 performance was broadcast by many radio stations around the world. The Swedish radio recorded excerpts from Act 3, to our great delight, and the discs have survived. Reissued several times, we now present them restored from the sources provided in high definition by the Swedish radio.
Only thirty minutes or so! But let’s not deny ourselves the pleasure of hearing the fabulous Franz Völker, the greatest Lohengrin before Sandor Konya (in the late ’50s), the charming Maria Müller (Elsa), as well as Margarete Klose’s exceptional and terrifying Ortrud.
What about sound? One can hardly expect miracles. The most important restoration work involved processing the levels, as the sound engineer — when transmitting in Germany? when engraving in Sweden? — had fairly “played with the potentiometer”! At least Christophe Hénault’s work is faithful to the source and makes the most of the document!
Please consider this excerpt from the Prélude of Act 3 (here in mp3).
The full download — with a digital booklet featuring period photos — will be available on November 8, priced at €6. It will be available online for streaming in mid-December.
Furtwängler and two of his assistants for Lohengrin :
conductor Erich Riede (left) and choirmaster Friedrich Jung.
To associate Furtwängler with Shostakovich is not commonplace. But that would be forgetting that once — just once — Furtwängler served the composer, who was described at the time as a “Soviet”.
On January 29, 1950 (from the 28th at the public dress rehearsal), Furtwängler and the Vienna Philharmonic performed the 9th Symphony, premiered five years earlier by Mravinsky in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). This was a major premiere for the Austrian capital’s philharmonic concerts. The performance was broadcast, but no trace of the recording seems to have survived.
Here is the facsimile of the programme, where Max Graf provides a comprehensive commentary.
The French are often accused of having little interest in classical music. However…
The weekly magazine Ici… Radio-Cité, ran a contest in May 1938: Radio-Cité listeners were asked to rank the three best recent broadcasts, and the person (out of 813 responses!) who gave “the trifecta” was given a prize.
The broadcast that comes out on top is that of the concert by the Berlin Philharmonic and Furtwängler at the Paris Opéra on May 8, 1938.
For the record, the concert featured the overture to Cherubini’s Anacreon, Schumann’s 4th Symphony, the overture to Schubert’s Rosamunde, the 2nd suite from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, and Strauss’ Don Juan.
Radio-Cité, a station closely linked to the Publicis group, broadcast on medium wave — 280.9 m — with a 2kW transmitter located in Argenteuil. It went off the air on June 13, 1940.
(Source: Gallica)