Trivia

Ardent proponent of advancing sound recording technology. He eagerly supported high-fidelity studio recording technology and actively encouraged Sony and Philips to commit to developing and marketing the compact disc in the early 1980s.

He is the only conductor to have recorded Bach's "Mass in B Minor" five times.

Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for thirty-five years - from 1954 until 1989.

His great-great-grandfather Georgios Karajannis was born in the Ottoman province of Rumelia, today West Macedonia in Greece, and emigrated to Saxony, where his surname became "Karajan" (1792).

Perhaps the most controversial conductor of the 20th century, he is both admired and reviled for his insistence on technical perfection in an orchestra (often, his detractors say, at the expense of everything else, bringing a dehumanizing quality to his music-making). His wartime membership in the Nazi party has contributed a great deal to the unfavorable opinion some critics have of him. From 1955, when he became conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, until his death in 1989, he was well-known as the most powerful musical influence in Germany.

Father of Isabel Karajan (b. 1960) and Arabel (b. 1964), with Eliette.

Younger brother of Wolfgang (born in 1906).

Son of Ernest Theodor Emanuel (1868-1951) and Martha Kosmac (1881-1954).

Studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg between 1916 and 1926.

Historians and biographers have debated the validity of his membership in the National Socialist (Nazi) Party. However, most agree that his association with NSDAP Officers helped to advance his conducting career and ensure his success as a famous interpretive artist in postwar Europe.

He was originally supposed to have conducted the Maria Callas-Richard Tucker studio recording of Verdi's "Aida", but Tucker, who was Jewish, refused to work with Karajan because of his Nazi affiliations during WW II. Karajan was replaced by famous Italian conductor Tullio Serafin, and Tucker made the recording with Callas.

On 28 October 1947, Karajan gave his first public concert. With the Vienna Philharmonic and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, he performed Johannes Brahms's A German Requiem for a gramophone production in Vienna.

He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, and during the Second World War he conducted at the Berlin State Opera.

By one estimate, he was the top-selling classical music recording artist of all time, having sold an estimated 200 million records.

In 1946, Karajan gave his first postwar concert in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic, but was banned from further conducting by the Soviet occupation authorities because of his Nazi party membership. That summer he participated anonymously in the Salzburg Festival.

Two of Karajan's interpretations were popularized through their inclusion in the soundtrack of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Most famously, the version of Johann Strauss's The Blue Danube heard during the film's early outer space scenes is that of Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic. The version of Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra used in the film is that of Karajan with the Vienna Philharmonic.

From 1957 to 1964, Karajan was artistic director of the Vienna State Opera. He was closely involved with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Salzburg Festival, where he initiated the Easter Festival, which remained tied to the Berlin Philharmonic's music director after his tenure.

He won several regattas aboard his racing yachts christened Helisara.

Karajan was a passionate sportsman since he was a teenager. He was a keen skier and swimmer and followed a daily yoga ritual.

Karajan was the recipient of multiple honours and awards. He became a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 17 May 1960, and in 1961 received the Austrian Medal for Science and Art. He also received the Grand Merit Cross (Grosses Bundesverdienstkreuz) of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Karajan's conducting style was his propensity to conduct with his eyes closed. This is highly unusual for a conductor, as eye contact is generally regarded as of paramount importance to the conductor's communication with the orchestra.

On 29 June 1985, he conducted Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Coronation Mass during a Mass celebrated by John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica, on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and received Holy Communion from the hand of the Pope with his wife and daughters. By the end of his life he had reconciled with the Catholic Church, and requested a Catholic burial.

He piloted his Learjet, and was a great sailing and car enthusiast, particularly fond of Porsches. He ordered a specially configured Type 930 with Martini & Rossi livery and his name on the back of the Porsche 911 Turbo.

Karajan has remained a visible part of everyday life in the cities he once called home, thanks in part to monuments erected in his honour. In Salzburg, for instance, the Karajan Foundation of Vienna commissioned the Czech artist Anna Chromý to create a life-sized statue of him, which now stands outside his birthplace. In 1983, a bronze bust of Karajan was unveiled in the foyer of Berlin's new State Theatre.

From 2003 to 2015, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden awarded the annual Herbert von Karajan Music Prize in recognition of excellence in musical achievements. In 2003 Anne-Sophie Mutter, who had made her debut with Karajan in 1977, became the award's first recipient. In 2015 the award was replaced by the Herbert von Karajan Prize, presented at the Salzburg Easter Festival.

Despite Karajan's significant prowess as a conductor, he was more often seen behind the camera than in the teaching studio, preferring to record rehearsals rather than give masterclasses. He maintained a long friendship with Ozawa, whose success makes him Karajan's most outstanding student.

James Galway, who served as principal flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic from 1969 to 1975, recalled that " von Karajan achieved most of what he wanted through charm".

One of Karajan's signature skills as a conductor was his ability to extract exquisite sounds from orchestras. His biographer Roger Vaughan observed this phenomenon while listening to the Berlin Philharmonic play in 1986, after nearly 30 years under Karajan's direction, noting that "what rivets one's attention is the beauty and perfection of the sounds. The softest of pianissimos commands rapt attention. The smooth crescendos peak exactly when they should. The breaks are sliced clean, without the slightest ragged edge.".

In his later years, Karajan suffered from heart and back problems, needing surgery on the latter. He resigned as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic on 24 April 1989. His last concert was Bruckner's 7th Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic.

During its 1955 tour of the United States, Karajan's past membership in the Nazi Party led to the Berlin Philharmonic's concerts being banned in Detroit, and Philadelphia Orchestra music director Eugene Ormandy refused to shake Karajan's hand. Upon arriving in New York City for a concert at Carnegie Hall, Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic were confronted by protests and picketers.

Von Karajan's multiple Grammy Awards make him a particularly prominent conductor historically; he received 40 Grammy nominations across nearly 30 years.

In 1956, Karajan was appointed principal conductor for life of the Berlin Philharmonic as Furtwängler's successor.

In 1951 and 1952, Karajan conducted at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

Karajan's denazification tribunal, held in Vienna on 15 March 1946, cleared him of illegal activity during the Nazi period.[30] The Austrian denazification examining board discharged Karajan on 18 March 1946, and he resumed conducting shortly thereafter. Years later, former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said of Karajan's Nazi party membership card, "Karajan was obviously not a Nazi. He was a Mitläufer." (= a person believed to be tied to or passively sympathising with certain social movements).

Karajan read the works of Father Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle on Zen Buddhism[citation and became a practitioner of it. He believed in reincarnation and said he would like to be reborn as an eagle so he could soar over his beloved Alps.