Reading the newspapers of the time is always a good idea. Thus, when considering Furtwängler's career, one may discover — in the course of a reading — a concert that went unnoticed, absent from the lists; or possibly correct an error that has gone unreported for decades.
The mistake here is the date of the first Fidelio, conducted by Furtwängler at the Theater Lübeck. No one could explain why the lists indicated March 23, 1915. It was actually March 9. Not a big deal, one might say. Except that this musical performance was of great importance in the conductor's career. At the end of this evening, a delegation from Mannheim led by Bodanzky announced to Furtwängler that he had been chosen as the new musical director of the Mannheim Opera for the coming season.
Addendum: During the Summer of 1917, Furtwängler reunited with his former Lübeck orchestra and Jani Szanto, who had been his Konzertmeister, for a charity concert given at the Kurhaus in Travemünde, Lübeck's seaside resort. The concert, performed on the evening of July 27, featured :
- Overture from Der Freischütz
- Dvorak's Violin Concerto, with Szanto ;
- Beethoven's 5th Symphony.
Related information: St Matthew Passion from April 1915 was listed as "soloists unknown". This is no longer the case, nor is the identity of the four choral ensembles that took part.
Our lists have now been corrected.
Travemünde : the Kurhaus