Concert of 29 January 1950

In the booklet issued with SWF D12, Nils-Göran Olve and Göran Södervall reveal that, in the middle of the war and in Stockholm, Furtwängler had publicly expressed his enthusiasm for Shostakovich. Quite a nerve!

So it was in 1950 and in Vienna that he performed for the first and only time a work by this composer. Back then, Shostakovich was not a major part of the orchestra's repertoire. However, it is worth mentioning:
– the 1st Symphony in 1936, conducted by Rodzinski, then by Toscanini;
– the Leningrad Symphony, by Josef Krips on a very special occasion: a gala concert for the National Day of the Soviet Union, on November 5, 1945,
– the 5th Symphony, with the same conductor, in 1947.

Until Furtwängler's passing, that's all.

But this booklet is also a prelude to a completely different story. As you can read on the program page, the next concert, the famous “Nicolai-Konzert”, is scheduled for April 15/16, with the Bach's St. Matthew. Things didn't turn out that way. Four days after the Shostakovich concert, the press published a breaking news: St. Matthew is cancelled! The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde — Singverein's parent organization — cancelled its choir's participation. At the heart of the problem is an intrigue between Furtwängler, the Gesellschaft and Karajan. The Viennese newspapers were delighted with this "Affäre"...