As you may have noticed, the SWF hasn’t hosted a lecture in a long time, and the few that were scheduled over a year ago had to be cancelled.

There are several reasons for this. First and foremost, the death of Sami Habra, our keynote speaker for almost fifty years, has deprived us of an exceptional speaker and a number of lecture topics. The COVID has also come and gone, and the problem of finding a venue in the Paris region at an affordable price is another reason. But the main reason is undoubtedly the present time. Fewer and fewer members were coming to these meetings, and the reproach of “Parisianism” was recurrent.

The transition to digital technology, which began 7 years ago, is a wonderful opportunity to provide lectures for as many people as possible. We recently presented a video on Bruckner’s 8th Symphony. We will be renewing and developing this approach, whether by interviewing a well-known figure or organising a round-table discussion.

The end of face-to-face lectures? Not necessarily, if the right opportunity comes along.

In any case, it marks the end of a systematism, and the birth of a new sharing tool.

The main amphiteatre of the Sorbonne

We regularly publish facsimiles of programmes of concerts given by Furtwängler as conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra.

Here is the programme for 25 October 1951 at the Albert Hall, with Dame Myra Hess, an English pianist. Although in France, for example, her name is less familiar than many of her contemporaries, her memory is still very much alive in the hearts of English music lovers.

Roger Smithson provides us with some details.

While vintage newspapers have brought to light concerts that had escaped the census, one must remain cautious and cross-reference such discoveries with other sources.

For example, the Frauenfreude-Mädchenglück, a Czech German-language periodical, in its January 23, 1929 issue, announced a concert by the Vienna Philharmonic at Prague’s Lucerna Hall on Monday February 18, with Furtwängler conducting. This visit would have followed the series of fifth subscription concerts at the Musikverein, on the 16th and 17th. It would have included the second half of the program — Mahler’s First Symphony — while the first half would have featured Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 and Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration. How can you possibly believe that this concert is not actually taking place when you read the last sentence of the concert announcement: tickets are now on sale!

As this Prague escapade is missing from the list of concerts that can be consulted on the Wiener Philharmoniker website, we contacted the Wiener Philharmoniker Archives, and the answer came quickly: although Furtwängler mentions this series of concerts and the Prague concert in a letter dated January 8, this concert does not appear on any of their lists, nor in the printed programs.

The concert was therefore cancelled, but the reason for this remains unknown.

This photo appears on our site, and it seems to tell a story: the meeting of two giants.

The episode takes place during the Berliner’s January/February 1932 European tour with Furtwängler, whom photographer Erich Salomon — mentioned earlier in our pages — accompanied. On the ferry that carried them overnight (February 8-9) from Harwich (east coast of England) to Hoek van Holland, was another celebrity, Charlie Chaplin.

Erich Salomon was determined to bring them together in front of his lens. When he approached Chaplin, asking his assistant for help, he was told that “The Tramp” didn’t even know Furtwängler’s name, and that he was already in bed. Finally, at 6:30 a.m. the next day, they met again as the boat was about to dock. The two protagonists silently shook hands, smiled at the camera, and parted without a word…