This photo is well known; it is part of a set that has been reproduced several times. Furtwängler — chilled but lively — conducts an imaginary orchestra, sitting before his score on a boat.

Where? When? What? Who? Do we know more about it? Yes. After a great deal of research, we are finally lifting the veil on this interesting snapshot. All you have to do is turn your head or… your computer upside down.

The photo was taken on Lake Geneva, on May 18, 1930, on the way to Montreux. Furtwängler and his touring Berliner orchestra performed a concert there that evening. The conductor was absorbed in reading a score to be played: Schumann’s First Symphony. The series of photos is the work of Paul Bose, a Philharmonic musician comfortably equipped with a state-of-the-art Leica. He was a flute (and piccolo) player with the orchestra from 1914 to 1940.

Available on 13 June. Price: €15

Some Furtwängler concerts are less appreciated than others, and suffer from unfavourable prejudices.

Such is the case with the concerts of Furtwängler’s final season. A year ago we published a treasure of a performance: Bruckner’s 8th Symphony from May 1954 in Vienna, grandiose, overwhelming and of a rare perfection of execution. Enough to silence these prejudices. We are doing it again with the very last concert he performed with the Vienna Philharmonic in Salzburg on 30 August 1954.

On the programme: Beethoven’s 8th and 7th symphonies, and between them — the Great Fugue op. 133, the version for string orchestra.

Some insist on dismissing Furtwängler’s final Beethoven performances and swear by the ‘war recordings’. As if Beethoven had written at the top of his scores: ‘My works should only be performed under the stress of a murderous conflict’. A former president of the SWF even stated that only the Grand Fugue deserved to be exhumed from this concert, the two symphonies being far inferior to the other known performances. Furtwängler would thus have been — no doubt suffering from the fatigue of age — below his best, only to wake up for 20 minutes of music in the middle of the programme! This is obviously absurd.

Comfortable readings? Of course, the symphonies exhibit an uncommon vision, but without compromising a constant commitment. And that the writing of the Grande Fugue led him to violence of expression only confirms an obvious fact that many music lovers seem to forget: Furtwängler knew how to read a score…

This is a tape of exceptional clarity, dynamics and balance of the sound spectrum, which Christophe Hénault has restored to its full potential. The main part of the work consisted in bringing the music back into tune (we set it to A = 444 Hz for Vienna), eliminating a few noises and imperfections, and above all revising the levels, which were very disparate between movements and works.

Here’s an extract (mp3): the last reprise in the 3rd movement of the 8th Symphony.

A few years ago, we mentioned the list of broadcasts of concerts by Furtwängler compiled and published online (pdf) by Henning Smidth. Created in 2002, it has been updated several times. Recently, by consulting period newspapers, we were able to inform the author of a number of additions and corrections.

Henning Smidth has just released online a revised version of the list.

https://www.smidth.dk/furt/furt.html

We know that Furtwängler toured a large part of Europe, not to mention the United States and Latin America. But he never set foot on the Iberian Peninsula.

To be fair, he came very close to performing in Portugal and Spain, precisely in Barcelona at the prestigious Liceu. Three concerts scheduled for 23, 24 and 25 April 1944, and the first step in a long tour by the Berlin Philharmonic, running from 23 April to 6 June (the 9th in Paris on the way home). Three weeks before his departure, the conductor wrote to Gerhart von Westerman, the orchestra’s intendant:

« First I have to see the doctor (I’m having a serious relapse, just like in the worst moments of last year). In any case, I would like to ask you to think about appointing another experienced conductor as a substitute. I won’t be able to give a definitive answer for a few days. When it comes to health, I’m now a ‘scalded cat’. I don’t like talking about it and I do everything I can to avoid looking like a sick person. But between you and me, I can’t hide the fact that I have a lot on my mind. » (1st April 1944)

Real health concerns? Or more likely a diplomatic illness designed — as in the Spring of 1943 — to obtain a medical certificate so that he could avoid the chore of celebrating the Führer’s birthday, baton in hand, just before his departure? Knappertsbusch in the end took charge of the tour, as well as the official concert on 20 April… (1)

The attached booklet, the programme for the Barcelona concerts, remains.

(1) Some footage from this concert celebrating Hitler’s birthday still exists, as well as footage from the performance at the Alhambra in Granada in May, which was incorporated into the film Die Philharmoniker.

It has been suggested that we should write a study about Furtwängler as a ‘chamber musician’, performing as a pianist in chamber music sessions with, among others, the soloists of his orchestras. This applies particularly to his periods in Lübeck and Mannheim.

But we should not forget the conference speaker. His Bruckner conference, often dated to 1939, was held on 4 January 1940 in Berlin’s Beethovensaal. Furtwängler had recently become president of the German branch of the International Anton Bruckner Society. The text — in French — can be found in the writings published in the Pluriel collection of the Livre de Poche. At the very end of the speech, Furtwängler mentions Wilhelm Kempff’s musical performance, opening the evening, and the performance, to end it, of the Adagio from the Quintet.

Here are the details.

A few weeks ago, we reported on the Pfitzner chamber music concert of October 1918, which had been scheduled and then cancelled.

Some research has helped us to clarify or correct other information from our list, still relating to the ‘Mannheim’ period and the season that followed.

– The concert performed by the Mannheim Theatre Orchestra in Ludwigshafen on 3 October 1918: we now know the titles of the three Lieder with orchestra by Mahler sung by Delia Reinhardt: Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen, Ich atmet’ einen Linden Duft, Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?

– Concert on 15 October 1918 in Mannheim. The list read: Mozart, Violin Concerto No. 2 or No. 4. (both in D major)? Eva Bernstein played No. 4, the K. 218 being authentic.

– Concert in Hamburg on 10 November 1918. In fact, the 10th was for the public dress rehearsal, the concert having taken place on the 11th of November.

– Furtwängler conducted a series of ‘Meisterkonzert’ at the Berlin Philharmonic, notably on April 11 and May 9, 1921. To these must be added the public dress rehearsals on the eves of April 10 and May 8.

– The existing list indicated that as the newspaper Mannheimer Anzeige did not mention any of the protagonists of the Fidelio on 19 June 1921 in Mannheim, it was therefore not possible to list the cast. We have found the leaflet with the details. See below.

Bruckner’s 5th Symphony and Schumann’s Cello Concerto recorded during the concerts from 25 to 28 October 1942 are well known. As for the Overture to Gluck’s Alcestis, the day after these performances, Telefunken recorded it. So we do have the sound.

To enhance this listening experience, we suggest the facsimile of the programme.

Furtwängler and Tibor de Machula as soloist in Berlin

René Trémine’s concert list for Mannheim on 8 December 1917 reads: Works by Pfitzner, with Furtwängler playing the piano. But no further details about these works are provided. We checked all possible sources, in particular the newspapers of that time: there was no Pfitzner concert on 8 December 1917.

However, a chamber music concert dedicated to Pfitzner did take place on Monday 7 October 1918 at the Harmonie hall in Mannheim. Here again, it is mentioned on the list, but without any details. After some research, the programme included:
– Violin Sonata, op. 27
– 5 Lieder op. 9
– Trio op. 8

with :
– Furtwängler, piano,
– Hugo Birkigt, violin,
– Carl Müller, cello,
both soloists with the Theatre Orchestra
– Johanna Lippe, soprano, member of the troupe.

The announcement was made on the 2nd; but on October 4th an insert stated: “… the Pfitzner evening has to be postponed as Hofkapellmeister Furtwängler is unable to perform the piano part due to a hand injury. All tickets already withdrawn remain valid for the new date, which will be announced as soon as possible.”

A real impossibility? Diplomatic illness? When will the concert take place? We’re still waiting…

In the near future we shall have to correct the study we published a few years ago listing the operas conducted by Furtwängler. An examination of the announcements and newspaper reports from that period reveals a number of modifications to the list of performances.

This applies to Mannheim, where Carmen was performed on 9 September 1917 and Fidelio on 8 September 1918. These performances are being added to our database.

Soon we will publish details and corrections about concerts from the period.

Walter Günther-Braun: Don José and Florestan

Another poorly referenced concert.

In January 1917 a ‘Richard Strauss Week’ took place in Mannheim. Furtwängler programmed Ariadne auf Naxos and Salome, both premieres for him.

His orchestra took part in an exceptional concert on the 17th, where Furtwängler, in the second half, handed over the conductorship to the composer for a performance of Ein Heldenleben. The orchestra had been expanded for the event. In the opening part, Furtwängler conducted Beethoven’s 4th Symphony, and played alongside the bass Wilhelm Fenten, a member of his theatre company, in the two Lieder opus 51 by the illustrious guest: Das Tal and Der Einsame.

This event was covered by a number of editorials in the press, details have been compiled in our database.

Furtwängler and Strauss, c. 1934

One day, it will be worth devoting a study or podcast to Furtwängler’s performance of Mozart’s Serenade K.361 for 13 winds, better known as the Gran Partita, an appellation that is not, by the way, the composer’s own.

Contrary to what one might imagine, Furtwängler performed it quite late, in 1941, both in Vienna and in Berlin. And very surprisingly, he rarely performed it in its entirety, at least once, on the HMV recording in 1947.

At the Wiener Philharmoniker’s concert on 9 February 1941, this ambitious work was performed alongside another masterpiece, Bruckner’s Seventh. Here is the facsimile of the programme.

Furtwängler conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, March 1942

You will find on the shop pour brand new production.

As announced previously, here is the recording of Furtwängler’s entire concert conducted by the Berlin Philharmonic on 12 December 1943.

– Variations on a theme by Haydn
– Piano Concerto No. 2, with Adrian Aeschbacher
– the Fourth Symphony.

Christophe Hénault has completely re-mastered the tapes held by the SWF. The result is a ‘purified’ recording, but one that retains the dark colour of these performances, which are among the most compelling ever left by the conductor.

A text by Guilhem Chameyrat and some rare illustrations are also included in this product, priced at €15.

Guilhem Chameyrat is our host for this presentation podcast (you may activate English subtitles).