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 soloists 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 All tickets already withdrawn remain valid for the new date, which will be announced as soon as possible.”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).

The SWF site, in its current design, was released in June 2017.

Eight years later, it gathers :

– almost 330 news items;
– a detailed list of almost 2,600 concerts;
– 363 photographs;
– a discography;
– 69 concert programmes in facsimile;
– more than 30 in-depth studies;
– 118 circulars;
– 17 (soon to be 18) products for download;
– 75 albums on streaming…

As far as I know, nowhere else is there such a site, not only about Furtwängler, but also about another great classical performer.

Out on 14 March: The Brahms concert of 12 December 1943

Brahms: Haydn Variations – Piano Concerto No. 2 – Symphony No. 4
Adrian Aeschbacher, piano – Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
High-definition remastering – Price: €15

The all-Brahms concert on 12 December 1943 was one of the most memorable. One might even say that it is the very quintessence of Furtwängler’s art in interpreting Brahms. As such, it contrasts with another ‘all-Brahms’ performance, that of January 1952 in Vienna. While the latter is bathed in light, with a certain comfort, if not bourgeois, perhaps somewhat ‘posh’, the other is all chiaroscuro, drawn in sepia washes, and shakes up tempi and transitions. It matches the Beethoven and Bruckner of those dark years, and the composer from Hamburg is perfectly at home in these winter colours.

Christophe Hénault preserved this spirit, and we have therefore limited the degree of editing we could have done on the source. Of course, the pitch has been unified (the concerto sounded at 451 Hz!). That said, there are still some flaws, notably the ‘hum’ of the tape in the 3rd and 4th movements of the symphony.

Guilhem Chameyrat has written a particularly insightful text, and the booklet is illustrated in an original style. He has also produced a podcast, visible from 7 March.

To get you in the mood: here above is the programme (thanks to Helge Grünewald), and an extract (mp3) from the Andante moderato of the Symphony.

In this period of winter holidays, let’s make a short visit to Saint-Moritz, in Switzerland, home to Furtwängler’s house, ‘Acla Siva’. He spent part of his holidays there, in summer and winter alike.

This is a very special facsimile of a programme that we are featuring here: the concerts given by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Furtwängler on 19, 20 and 21 November 1939.

It featured one of the rare appearances of the great baritone Hans Hotter with Furtwängler, but above all it announced the premiere of Hans Pfitzner’s Kleine Sinfonie op. 44. A Pfitzner in the spotlight, as the symphony was accompanied by two arias sung by Hotter.

And there was nothing obvious about this programme. Despite what one might think of the person, Pfitzner was far from being among the favourites of the regime in power. Furtwängler had to intervene more than once to ensure that the old man was regarded with respect.

There are several Wilhelm Furtwängler discographies, more or less recent, more or less accessible, more or less relevant.

The small study here attached provides a fairly comprehensive inventory of what exists.

The newspapers announced it well in advance: on 16 February 1939, Furtwängler was to take part in a chamber music concert at the Conventgarten in Hamburg. That evening, he was to be the pianist partner of violinist Erika Besserer — a pupil of Joachim, born in 1887 and who died in 1951 — for a performance of the composer-conductor’s Sonata in D minor. The programme also was to feature works for two violins and piano, performed by Besserer and Georg von Staehr, violins, and Reiner Zipperling, piano. The Sonata had been premiered a year earlier by Hugo Kolberg, Konzertmeister of the BPO, with Furtwängler playing the piano.

But the daily newspapers of 14 February informed their readers that on 11 and 12 February, during the concerts in Vienna, Furtwängler had contracted a severe case of flu. He would not in fact return to conducting again until two months afterwards.

The chamber music concert was therefore cancelled. Postponed to a later date, the newspapers seem to suggest, but there is no sign of any reprogramming…