Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwngler was born on January 23 1886,

at Number 25 Maassenstrasse in Berlin to Adolf Furtwngler (1851-1907), a well

known archaeologist, and his wife Adelheid, ne Wendt. Their son was baptised
into the Lutheran faith. The couple subsequently had three more children: Walter,
Mrit and Annele. The Furtwngler family originally came from the heart of the
Black Forest; the Wendts from North Germany (Adelheid was a great friend of
one of Brahms's daughters). Both families were musical and Furtwngler's mother
was also a talented artist who painted a number of portraits of her children.
The father hated big cities and always wanted to get back to nature. So in 1894,
the family moved to Schwabing (on the outskirts of Munich) and later bought a
house called Tanneck ("at the edge of the pine trees"), on a peninsula on the
Tegernsee, near Bad Wiessee. There the children learnt to swim and play every
conceivable game and sport. In his childhood, Furtwngler was a lonely and
introverted child and already his life revolved around music, art, literature and
philosophy. Throughout his whole life he remained an avid sportsman, fond of
riding, swimming, playing tennis, ice-skating and mountain climbing.
At the age of six, Furtwngler went to school in Munich, but he wasn't a very
good pupil, not because he wasn't clever but because he thought he was wasting
his time and that he had better things to do. At the age of seven, he asked his
mother to teach him to play the piano and the basic principles of writing music.
On June 30 1893, still aged seven, he composed his first work, "ein Stckchen
von den Tieren.". His father who was openly scornful of public schools and their
methods of teaching, withdrew his son and started looking for a tutor: his choice
fell on Ludwig Curtius and Walter Riezler, both remarkable in their own ways, but
with very different minds. There and then Furtwngler decided he would be a
composer (all his life he remained a frustrated composer). When he was twelve,
he heard Bach's Saint-Matthew Passionfor the first time and was deeply moved.
Soon afterwards, he discovered the music of Beethoven - a momentous event.
Furtwngler and Beethoven was for a long time the archetypal meeting of minds
between a composer and his interpreter, and interpreting Beethoven became
Furtwngler's goal in life. His approach to Beethoven's mind went well beyond the
aesthetic boundaries of the early Twentieth century. Furtwngler's Beethoven is
for every generation.
In September 1901, Furtwngler father took his son to Egina in Greece. Wilhelm
brought along a poem by Goethe and Beethoven's quartets. Furtwngler never
attended a music school; it was his mother who gave him his first piano lessons,
followed by Auntie Minna, an excellent piano teacher. His first real music teacher
was the organist and composer Anton Beer-Walbrunn (1864-1929)
(whose SinfoniaFurtwngler conducted on 24 February 1912 in Lbeck). Beer-
Walbrunn quickly recognised the extraordinary gifts of his pupil and
recommended him to his own teacher, Joseph Rheinberger (1839-1901), at the
time director of the Academy of Music of Munich. But Rheinberger was a
reactionary: music ended at Beethoven; so Furtwngler looked for another tutor
who would be able to open up the rest of the nineteenth century, especially
Wagner and the German Romantics - Bruckner and Brahms. That man was Max
von Schillings (1868-1933), the composer and conductor with whom Furtwngler
studied from 1902 to 1903.
1905 marked a turning point in Furtwngler's life. He was only nineteen years old
when he decided he wanted to be a conductor. But at least he realized he still had
much to learn; for example opera and symphonic music; he was totally ignorant
of both of them. Thanks to a cousin of his mother's, the conductor Georg Dohrn,
who was the driving force of musical life in Breslau, he became repetitor at the
municipal theatre during the season 1905-1906. This work was not really very
exciting: it meant rehearsing with the choir and the singers and his impressive
capacity of sight-reading even the most difficult piano accompaniments to opera
scores went largely unnoticed. In Breslau his first orchestral work, a symphony,
was performed. The concert was a disaster; both the public and the critics
rejected this work. Father and son were deeply affected by this dbacle. So
Furtwngler decided the best way to profit from disaster was to actually conduct
a concert.

I
Although he was a famous archaeologist, Adolph wasn't a rich man : however, he
had a friend - Franz Kaim - who had founded his own orchestra which was named
after him. So, on February 19, 1906 in Munich, Furtwngler conducted his first
concert which included Beethoven's Consecration of the House, his own
symphonic poem in B minor, and after the interval, Bruckner's Ninth symphony.
The Bayerische Kurier of January 23 wrote:
"After attending the concert of this very young conductor, Wilhelm Furtwngler,
one might assume the program was chosen with the public in mind. He chose as
his first victim Bruckner's ninth symphony. Is Furtwngler talented? Probably, but
that's still no reason to present a masterpiece, especially if one doesn't yet know
how to conduct! The Bruckner left a greyish and cold impression. The scherzo was
particularly dreary and sounded like a voyage through dangerous reefs after days
of endless rain. His own symphonic poem seemed to be promising but all too
quickly it turned into something empty and without shape or character, in which
the shorter themes seemed to be living through harmonic torture. The audience
quite surprisingly greeted him with repeated applause."
Furtwngler wrote to his tutor Curtius:
"Conducting is the lifeline that has saved me. I was about to die as a composer.
Until now I considered myself a composer who also conducts: never a conductor
who also composes."
Furtwngler suffered from a defect shared by many post-romantics: a lack of
discipline that led to elephantine compositions; but the need to compose was
genuine and sincere. Although most of his youthful compositions are just
average, for some people the Te Deum is a misunderstood masterpiece. Of
course, today Furtwngler isn't really remembered for his compositions, but he
was a sincere composer, who had some talent even if he wasn't really gifted.
After this first concert, Furtwngler got a job at the Zurich Theatre for the 1906-
1907 season. The director allowed him to conduct some operettas, for example
the Merry Widow which was being played that season. He conducted it nine times
between February 3 and April 21 1907. He made his conducting debut on October
10, conducting the ballet Tanzbilder and on October 31, Pfitzner's Fest auf
Sollhaug, and then ten performances of Rbezahl set to music by Bertrand
Snger. The next stop was Munich where he became once again repetitor at the
opera, under Felix Mottl, for two seasons (1907-1909). Then he was appointed
third conductor at the Opera in Strasburg. On September 8, 1910 he left Munich
and remained in Strasburg until April 1911. The musical activity of Strasburg, at
the time German, was entirely dominated by the composer and conductor Hans
Pfitzner and his two assistants Richard Fried and Hermann Bchel. Furtwngler
gave sixteen concerts, conducting six works that he never again conducted:
Flotrow's Martha, Donizetti's Elisir d'amore, Maillart's Dragons de Villars,
Messager's P'tites Michus, Supp's Flotte Bursche and one performance of
Verdi's Rigoletto (March 11, 1911). The critics' were far from unanimous: one
described him as "having the lightness of an elephant" in P'tites Michus, another
complained that his interpretation of Martha was quite unsatisfactory... He also
had to dress up like a gipsy, with a black beard stuck onto his face and play the
piano in the Fledermaus, in a soire at prince Orlowsky's, which amused him very
much (February 27 and 28, 1911).
During his stay in Strasburg he met Bruno Walter who, on February 22 1911, had
premiered one of his own symphonies. Furtwngler returned to Strasburg on
December 6 of that same year to conduct his own Te Deum, that had been
premiered in Breslau in November 1910 by G. Dohrn and that he had started
composing during his stay in Florence. The Allgemeine Musik Zeitung was very
negative about it and wrote that "Furtwngler's composition is full of good
intentions, and nothing more! TheSchlesische Zeitung wrote: "Maybe there were
some personal reasons for the premiere of Furtwngler's Te Deum; because there
were surely no music ones"
A friend of Furtwngler's mother, Ida Boy-Ed, told the young musician that the
post of conductor had become vacant in Lbeck because Hermann Abendroth had
left for Essen. However, the news reached Furtwngler too late: the Society of
the Friends of Music had already chosen four candidates (Paul Scheinpflug, Karl
Mennicke, Walter Unger and Rudolf Siegel) out of 97 competitors and each of
these four had already conducted a test concert. Everything seemed to indicate
that Rudolf Siegel would be the winner. But Paul Scheinpflug withdrew from the
competition, so the Society decided to select a fourth candidate and Mrs Boy-Ed
asked Furtwngler to submit his candidacy, which was accepted by the musical
authorities and by Abendroth. Thus he conducted on April 5 1911 his test concert
(in front of over 4000 people!). It didn't take either audience or the members of
the Society long to be entirely won over by the passion that emanated from the
young candidate, despite the great difference that existed between him and
Abendroth whose virility, assurance and economy of gestures were highly
appreciated. Furtwngler, with his nervous and sometimes excited gestures, was
quite the opposite and on the podium he seemed to be battling against an
invisible enemy - yet the public recognized very quickly his extraordinary
capacities. On April 13, he was unanimously chosen to succeed Abendroth.
The conductor of the Society of the Friends of Music (Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde) conducted only concerts, each season eight symphonic concerts
plus two concerts with the philharmonic choir (mainly devoted to oratorios). Then
there were also the popular concerts, about thirty each season, (The 1905-1906
season exceptionally had 56 concerts). Rehearsals took place on Wednesday
evenings and the members of the Society came with their families and friends.
Furtwngler was not very happy about these concerts which took place in the hall
of the Kolosseum and followed the same pattern: In the first part symphonic
music, during which smoking was not allowed but people could drink beer, a
second part devoted to light orchestra classics, and a third part devoted to
popular music (such as military marches). During his stay in Lbeck he conducted
32 symphonic concerts, 104 popular concerts and 9 choral performances: this
was Furtwngler's apprenticeship. He also conducted three operas as guest
conductor: Fidelio (23.3.1915), the Merry Wives of Windsor (16.4.1915) and
theMeistersinger von Nrnberg (20.11.1913). The town's critics soon appreciated
Furtwngler's personality. The Eisenbahnzeitung for example wrote: "Furtwngler
is a genius musical talent, who in favorable circumstances, could become a
genius." Ida Boy-Ed continued to praise her protg to all concerned.
Furtwngler often went down to Hamburg with his friend Lilly Dieckmann to
attend the concerts conducted by Nikisch who in his eyes was the "king" of
conductors (they didn't officially meet until February 1912). During his stay in
Lbeck, he gave his first concert outside Germany - , in Vienna - on January 26,
1913. Along with the Lbeck orchestra's first violinist Szanto, he gave a series of
chamber music evenings, including a cycle of Beethoven sonatas. In his final
season he played the piano part in Beethoven's triple concerto (February 3, 1915)
and in Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto (January 2, 1915). His successor in
Lbeck was Georg Ghler.
As far as the development of his repertoire is concerned, in Lbeck Furtwngler
conducted all the Beethoven symphonies (except the second), the Fourth, Fifth
and Sixth of Tchaikovsky, symphonies Nos. 39 and 40 of Mozart, symphonies
Nos. I, III and IV of Brahms, Nos.VIII and IX of Schubert, the Brahms violin
concerto, symphonies Nos. IV, VII and VIII of Bruckner,
Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, Reger's Romantic Suite, Dukas' Sorceer's Apprentice,
Strauss' Sinfonia domestica, Liszt'sFaust-Symphony, the second piano concerto of
Brahms, Schumann's First. The popular concerts included works by Offenbach
(Hoffmann's Erzhlungen) Gilbert and Sullivan (Mikado), Bizet (Arlsienne,
Carmen), Delibes (Sylvia, Coppelia), Gounod (Faust Ballet), Sibelius (Valse
triste), Grieg (Peer Gynt) and waltzes by Strauss and Waldteufel and endless
medleys.
At the beginning of 1915, the Kapellmeister in Mannheim, Arthur Bodanzky,
decided to go America. The choice of a successor turned out to be a very difficult
one and many famous conductors submitted their candidacies. The Mannheim
public would have loved to have Nikisch. Contrary to Lbeck, Mannheim's main
musical activity centered round the opera, and the chief conductor was in charge
of all the opera performances and of only eight subscription concerts at the
Academy of Music. A committee of five members went to Lbeck on March 23
1915 to attend a performance of Fidelioconducted by Furtwngler. They were so
impressed that they decided to invite him to take on the post of Kapellmeister. So
Mannheim gained a young and almost unknown conductor. The town welcomed
Furtwngler enthusiastically and his future secretary Bertha Geissmar wrote in
her memoirs:
"The citizens of Mannheim were used to considering their Kapellmeister as a
demi-god whose actions and deeds were the talk of the day. Furtwngler, who
was quite timid, found this kind of public attention rather gruesome and sought
shelter with Oskar Groh, who took the young conductor under his wing."
Furtwngler's assistant was Felix Lederer who conducted the first performances of
all the Italian operas and of Rosenkavalier (unlike Bhm, Clemens Krauss and
Knappertsbusch, Furtwngler didn't like this opera and never conducted it). He
conducted operas that have since fallen out of the repertoire, such
as Violanta(Korngold), Monna Lisa (Schillings), Shhrazade (Sekles), Klein Idas
Blumen(Klenau)... Fidelio was the first opera he conducted in Mannheim on
September 7, 1915 in a greatly appreciated performance, particularly the
overture Leonore III. He conducted 232 performances of 39 operas. In the
symphonic repertoire, he conducted for the first time the Symphonie
fantastique (February 1, 1916), the first Brahms concerto with Schnabel, Richard
Strauss' Alpine Symphonie, Mahler's Lied von der Erde(November 21, 1916),
Schumann's Fourth, Mahler's Fourth (January 28, 1919), Schoenbergs Verklaerte
Nacht (February 18, 1919), Bruckner's Fifth (December 9, 1919) and
Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande (March 2, 1921).
During his Mannheim period, he also began his lifelong career as a guest
conductor. In September 1917 he was invited to the Kurhaus in Baden-Baden to
conduct the Ringthen, on December 14, for the first time the Berlin Philharmonic:
the critics were thrilled and stunned: for the first time one heard the phrase "the
Furtwngler Miracle." (das Wunder Furtwngler). On November 15, 1918, he
conducted for the first time the concerts of the Frankfurter
Museumsgesellschaft and on November 30, he was in Vienna with the Wiener
Tonknstler Orchester after Ferdinand Loewe's retirement. Still in Vienna, on
November 29 1919, he conducted Mahler's Third; on April 2 1920, he conducted
for the first time the Berlin Staatskapelle succeeding Richard Strauss. On June 30
1920 he gave his last concert as Kapellmeister of Mannheim and said farewell
with a performance of the Entfhrung aus dem Serail.
From the 1920-1921 season onwards, he was invited more and more abroad, but
kept on conducting in Frankfurt, where he had succeeded Mengelberg, and at the
Berlin Staatskapelle. So in October 1920, he went to Stockholm, where he
conducted Berwald's symphony serioso. On November 19, he conducted Mahler's
second symphony at the Staatsoper and then, in December, he gave seven
concerts in Stockholm and at the end of the season he was in Wiesbaden for the
Brahms Festival. The season 1921-1922 began with his first concert with the
Leipzig Gewandhaus. He split his time between Vienna, Frankfurt and Berlin. On
November 30 1920 he conducted his first Missa Solemnis in Vienna. Nikisch died
on January 23 1922. Furtwngler's prediction that he'd made in Hamburg became
true ("I'll be the successor of Nikisch"): he inherited both the Berlin Philharmonic
and the Leipzig Gewandhaus.
The six seasons he spent with the Gewandhaus are not the happiest ones of his
career. First, the orchestra would have liked to have Abendroth
asGewandhauskapellmeister and Furtwngler was appointed only after the
intervention of Max Brockhaus. Then, his programs included too much
contemporary music, to the dislike of the rather conservative public of Leipzig
which would also have preferred to have its Kapellmeister live permanently in
Leipzig.
On March 25 1922 he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time, in a
concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of Brahms' death. In April, he was
invited by the Accademia Santa Cecilia of Rome and in May he participated in the
Brahms Festival in Hamburg. On April 22 he married Zitla Lund, a young and
elegant Danish woman three years older than him: they had no children and their
marriage was a mistake. In April 1923, he left with the Gewandhaus on tour for
Switzerland and ended the season giving two concerts at la Scala in Milan. In
Winter 1923, he bought a chalet in Saint Moritz (which still belongs to the family
today). In January 1924, he went to England, and in April-May 1924 he left for
the first time on tour with the Berlin Philharmonic. After he left Mannheim, he
continued conducting regularly operas in Mannheim. In July 1924 he participated
in the Munich Festival, conducted the Nozze di Figaro, Tristan, the Meistersinger
von Nrnberg and the Entfhrung aus dem Serail. In January 1925, he crossed
the Atlantic for his first American tour (ten concerts with the New York
Philharmonic). His activity was now divided between Leipzig, Berlin and Vienna.
In February 1926 he made his second American tour (32 concerts) and back in
Europe, he started a European tour giving twenty concerts with the Berlin
Philharmonic and ended the season with the Brahms Festival in Heidelberg. In
October, aged forty, he made his first recordings for the Polydor label
(Freischtz overture and Beethoven's Fifth).
In February 1927 he began his third and final American tour (33 concerts) that
ended with the Brahms Requiem on April 4. Furtwngler left America somewhat
exasperated by American musical culture. His fellow musicians were jealous of
him, the press was negative (above all Olin Downes, the critic of the New York
Times) but he was adored by the public. On November 19 her conducted the
Vienna Philharmonic as its new musical director in succession to Weingartner
(who had resigned from his post in 1930). On March 29 1928 he conducted his
last concert as Gewandhauskapellmeisterwith the Beethoven Ninth and the
season ended with a European tour with the Berlin Philharmonic, at the
Heidelberg and Grlitz Festivals.
The 1928-1929 season marked a new beginning for him as an opera conductor:
on October 17 he conducted for the first time at the Vienna Opera (Rheingold)
and after the festivals of Heidelberg and Jena, he conducted for the first time an
opera in Berlin, not at the Staatsoper unter den Linden but at the Schauspielhaus
am Gendarmenmarkt (Le nozze di Figaro). In Autumn he was nominated
"Generalmusikdirektor" and in May 1929, he was awarded the order of Merit.
One tour succeeded another, and in April 1930, he went on tour for the first time
with the Vienna Philharmonic. On June 2 he conducted his seventh and last
performance ofMissa Solemnis (Furtwngler played the piano score and thought
that the work was Beethoven's greatest work of art. But he also felt he never
managed to entirely express all that the music contained. He thought that the
score should have been re-orchestrated and that is why he regretfully decided
never to play it again). In July-August 1931 he took part for the first time in the
Bayreuth Festival (Tristan) and conducted the Siegfried-Wagner memorial
concert. In 1932 the Berlin Philharmonic celebrated its Fiftieth anniversary: this
event was marked by four superb concerts in April, followed by a grand European
tour with 26 concerts. On this occasion, Hindenburg awarded him the Goethe
Medal for services rendered to German music.
On June 7 and 9 1932, he conducted for the first time at the Opera in Paris
(Tristanwith a magnificent cast: Frida Leider, Lauritz Melchior, Igor Kipnis, etc.).
On January 30 1933, Hitler came to power, and with him began anti-Jewish
activity. On April 11, Furtwngler published in the Deutsche Allgemeine
Zeitung an open letter to the Minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, in which
he declared that there was only one distinction, that between "good" art and
"bad" art. This letter reached the world press and Goebbels replied that politics
was also an Art ("maybe the greatest of all arts"), and that music could not be
separated from politics . So it was necessary to expel all foreign elements
(meaning, of course, the Jews).
Shortly afterwards the great exodus of German Jews began: Bruno Walter, Otto
Klemperer, Arthur Schnabel, Bronislav Hubermann and many others. Furtwngler
carried on conducting at the Staatsoper (this fell under Gring's absolute control)
operas such as Arabella and Elektra. During a tour with the Berlin Philharmonic,
he gave a mammoth concert in Mannheim, that brought together under one
conductor the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra and the Mannheim orchestra - 170
musicians in all. Furtwngler had a confrontation with the Nazis: they asked
Furtwngler to dismiss Szymon Goldberg, his Jewish first violin. Furtwngler
refused and decided never again to come back to Mannheim (he only returned
twenty one years later in 1954). He ended the season 1932-1933 at the Opra de
Paris (Tristan and Walkyrie) and in June was appointed by Gring conductor-in-
chief of the Berlin Staatsoper. Gring then nominated him Staatsrat (Council of
State) on July 8, 1933 and on September 15, Erich Kleiber conducted a gala
performance of Lohengrin in honour of Furtwngler. He was also given the
honorary title of Vice President of the Reichsmusikkammer. In August 1933, he
met Hitler in his house at the Obersalzberg in Berchtesgaden and when he got
back home, told his entourage: "This hissing chameleon will never get anywhere
in Germany". However things turned out quite differently.
On March 11 1934, he conducted the premire of Hindemith's Mathis der
Maler and published his famous article "The Hindemith Case" in the Deutsche
Allgemeine Zeitungon November 25 in answer to Nazi attacks on the composer,
whom they accused of writing "degenerate" music. On April 25, during a tour with
the Philharmonic, he met in Rome Mussolini, which infuriated Toscanini.

The season 1934-1935 was very short: after two Ring performances at the
Staatsoper in October and November, and his article on Hindemith, Furtwngler
resigned from all his official functions and on December 4 retired to the Bavarian
Alps where he started writing his symphonic piano concerto. His passport was
confiscated. Erich Kleiber supported his action, resigning from his position at
the Stdtische Oper of Berlin and going into exile.

II
The news of Furtwngler's resignation created a sensation, but it also meant he
could no longer leave Germany. The situation got even more complicated because
the Berlin Philharmonic was due to tour Great Britain in January 1935 and
Furtwngler declared that it was out of question that he should conduct. Beecham
was asked to take over, but when he refused, the tour was simply cancelled. The
situation became increasingly difficult for Furtwngler, who decided to dismiss his
Jewish secretary Bertha Geissmar. Finally, Goebbels and Furtwngler met on
February 28 1935 and hammered out a compromise: Furtwngler was allowed to
continue conducting in Germany, but with no title or official position, provided he
stayed away from all politics. The Fhrer approved and Furtwngler was allowed
to travel abroad again. He rejoined his orchestra on April 25 1935 in Berlin in an
all-Beethoven program: Hitler, Goebbels and Gring attended the concert and at
the end, Hitler went and warmly shook hands with Furtwngler. Furtwngler
ended the season with some performances at Covent Garden in London (Tristan),
at the Opra de Paris (Tristan and Walkyrie), at the National Theatre of Munich
(Tristan), at the Opera of Vienna (Tristan) and at the Hamburg Opera
(Meistersinger). Hitler, Goebbels and Ribbentrop attended the performance in
Hamburg, on June 23 1935.
The 1935-1936 season began in Nuremberg with the Meistersinger,
and Tannhuserfollowed at the Vienna Opera. On November 7, he
conducted Egmont at the BerlinSchauspielhaus, staged by the famous actor
Gustav Grndgens (a controversial personality). Hitler, Gring, Goebbels and
Rudolph Hess were again all present. After touring with the Philharmonic in
November-December, he ended the year at the National Theater in Munich
(Meistersinger on December 25 and Tristan on January 1). On February 27 he left
for Egypt with his friend John Knittel. He arrived in Alexandria on March 5, and
got back to Naples on March 31. The season ended with a few operatic
performances in Paris (Meistersinger), in Zurich (Tristan), in Vienna (Tannhuser)
and at the Bayreuth Festival where he conducted Lohengrin, Parsifaland the Ring.
In November 1936, Beecham toured Germany with his London orchestra and
invited Furtwngler to share the upcoming Covent Garden festival planned for the
coronation of King Georges VI. But Furtwngler had decided, with Hitler's
permission, to cancel all his public engagements during the winter season 1936-
1937, because he wanted to spend some time in absolute peace to compose. He
returned to his orchestra on February 10, 1937 in Berlin, for a concert again
attended by Hitler, Gring and Goebbels. In March he embarked on another tour,
but this time of chamber music with the violinist Hugo Kolberg. During it, he gave
the premiere of his own violin sonata in D minor in Leipzig, on March 4.
After a magnificent Beethoven Ninth in London (March 25), he conducted
the Ring at the Berlin Staatsoper, made a short tour with the Philharmonic and
left for London to start rehearsing the Ring that was to be given in two cycles.
The sensation of the second cycle was the first appearance of Kirsten Flagstad as
Brunnhilde. The season ended at the Bayreuth Festival (Parsifal, Ring) and
Salzburg Festival (Beethoven's Ninth). The 1937-1938 season started in Paris on
September 7 with Beethoven's Ninth, followed by two performances
of Walkre with the cast of the Berlin Staatsoper. During a tour with the
Philharmonic, he conducted the premiere of his symphonic piano concerto with
Edwin Fischer - to whom the work is dedicated - on October 26 in Munich. At the
same time, he made a few recordings for His Master's Voice that were praised
internationally (Beethoven's Fifth and in 1938, Tchaikovsky'sSymphonie
Pathtique and some excerpts of Wagner). On April 22 and 23 1938 Furtwngler
conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in Berlin (Schubert's Unfinished and
Bruckner's Seventh), concerts attended as always by Hitler and Goebbels. He
went back again to Covent Garden in May-June for two more Ring cycles and
ended the season in Munich (Fidelio), at the Opra de Paris (Tristan) and at the
Salzburg Festival (Meistersinger).
On September 5 he was in Nuremberg with the Vienna Philharmonic
(Meistersinger). On February 20 1939 the French government awarded him the
"Lgion d'Honneur" but Hitler made sure news of this never reached the German
public. In May he conducted two performances of the Saint-Matthiew Passion in
Munich and Florence and ended the season at the Zurich opera (Meistersinger,
Walkyrie and a concert at the Wesendonck House with Flagstad replacing
Germaine Lubin). The performances of theWalkre, planned at the Opra de Paris
in June were eventually cancelled by the French government for political reasons.
After the German invasion of Poland, Furtwngler's activity was restricted to
Austria (annexed by the Reich on March 13, 1938) and Germany. In April 1940
however, he made a trip to Scandinavia but the concert planned in Copenhagen
on April 10 was cancelled following Denmark's occupation by the Nazis. In May in
Berlin, he met Elisabeth Ackermann, who eventually became his second wife. She
was married at the time to a lawyer who was killed in France a few months later.
Although Furtwngler gave no concerts in France during the war and refused to
conduct in countries occupied by the Nazis, he did conduct in some "annexed"
cities (such as Prague). In December 1940, he made a second chamber music
tour, this time with Georg Kulenkampff. At the beginning of March 1941, while
skiing in the Vorarlberg (Sankt Anton, in Austria), he fell badly and suffered
injuries serous enough that he couldn't conduct for nine months while he
convalesced. In February 1942 he toured Scandinavia with the Berlin
Philharmonic, and at the end of March was in Vienna for the celebration of the
Vienna Philharmonic's centenary: on that occasion, on March 28, he conducted
Schubert's Third Symphony for the only time in his life. Back in Berlin, on April
19, he conducted a concert for Hitler's birthday, that was preceded by an endless
speech of Goebbels about the Fhrer's "stupendous visionary plans".
In November-December, he returned to Scandinavia and gave two performances
ofWalkre at the Stockholm Opera and a concert with the orchestra of Gteborg.
On December 12 he conducted Die Meistersinger at the re-opening of the Berlin
Staatsoper and in January 1943, he gave some concerts in Switzerland with the
Winterthur orchestra at the Tonhalle in Zurich and in Bern. On January 2, 1943
he conducted Tristan at the Vienna Staatsoper: that was the only and one time
he staged an opera himself. After a tour of Scandinavia with the Vienna
Philharmonic in May, he married Elisabeth Ackermann in a civil ceremony in
Potsdam on June 26: he was 57 years old and his wife 25 years younger (he was
living at the Fasanerie in the park of Sans Souci, in Potsdam). They had a church
wedding at the end of 1945 in Montreux, in Switzerland). In July he took part in
the Bayreuth Festival and conducted the Meistersinger alternately with
Abendroth.
On September 7, 1943, the pianist Karl Robert Kreiten - a child prodigy and pupil
of Claudio Arrau. was hung by the Nazis after he'd been denounced. This drama
became the subject matter of a play written by Heinrich
Riemenschneider, Requiem for K.R. Kreiten, that was premiered in Germany in
1987. The main characters are Kreiten and his mother, Furtwngler, Goebbels
and two men who denounce Kreiten. In December Furtwngler was again in
Scandinavia (Stockholm and Gteborg) and in January he returned to Switzerland
(with the orchestras of la Suisse Romande and Berne).
On January 30, the old concert hall of the Berlin Philharmonic in the
Bernburgerstrasse was bombed to ashes. The season ended in Bayreuth
(Meistersinger) and at the festivals of Salzburg and Lucerne. On October 11
1944, Furtwngler conducted for the only time in his life the Bruckner Orchester
of Linz, also called the "Orchestra of the Fhrer" whose official conductor was one
of the three Jochum brothers, Georg-Ludwig. On November 7, his mother died in
Heidelberg and four days later, his wife who was already in Switzerland bore him
a son, Andreas, that he saw only in February 1945.
Furtwngler had become a traitor in the eyes of the Nazis due to his repeated
criticism of Hitler's policies. He was even accused of having taken part in the
conspiracy of July 20 1944 for which Hitler was the target. The situation became
quite intolerable and the Nazis made it clear they would be happy if Furtwngler
failed to survive the war. According to transcripts at his denazification trial, which
took place in Berlin on December 17 1946, Furtwngler declared:
"In October 1944, Mrs. Himmler's personal doctor came to see me and told me of
Himmler's and the SS' intentions. From the start Himmler personally considered
me an enemy of the State, this lady confirmed to me. She came back in
November. In January 1945, when I was in Berlin for the last time, she came
suddenly early one morning, and told me: 'Mr. Furtwngler, nobody is to know
that I have come to see you. Let me inform you that the SS are talking of putting
you in quarantine. No Nazi is supposed to talk to you any more. Everything you
do, all your telephone calls are under surveillance. You are accused of having
participated in the attack against Hitler. It's up to you to draw your own
conclusions'. Then she left. I decided I should not go back to Berlin after my
concerts in Vienna and so I hid out for three days near the Swiss border. The
evening before I crossed the border, some Gestapo agents came to see my
secretary, Miss von Tiedemann and told her to her great surprise that I had left.
Thereafter I did everything necessary to clarify my position in Switzerland."
During a concert of December 11, 1944, in Berlin, Albert Speer also told
Furtwngler that his life was in danger and that Himmler's Gestapo was after him.
Speer advised him not to return after his next tour to Switzerland. So, after
having celebrated his fifty-ninth birthday at the Hotel Imperial in Vienna with his
friend the sound engineerFriedrich Schnapp, on December 30, he sent a message
to the Berlin Philharmonic saying that he could not conduct the concerts of
February 4 and 5, "due to the fact that he had slipped on ice..." From February
onwards, he organized his escape to Switzerland to coincide with concerts he was
to conduct in Lausanne, Geneva and Winterthur. From February 1 to 6 he hid in
the small village of Dornbirn, near Bregenz and the Swiss border. From Dornbirn
he wrote to Irme Schwab : "I am heading for Switzerland. I still don't know if,
due to the political situation, I will manage to get through, otherwise I will go to
Tanneck." On February 6, he wrote to Hlne Matschenz: " If I am allowed to do
so, I will cross the border tomorrow." On February 7, he managed to cross the
border and joined his wife and their son. On February 23, he conducted his last
concert in Winterthur (Bruckner's Eighth) but the two concerts at the Tonhalle
were cancelled by the Town Hall. An enormous scandal that lasted an entire
month broke out in the left-wing press, (he was accused of being a Nazi stooge),
in papers like the Volksrecht.
The Journal de Genve summarized the so-called Furtwngler affair quite
accurately:
"The two concerts that Furtwngler was due to conduct at the Tonhalle this week
were cancelled by the Council of State and created quite a stir. In seems the
Zurich Municipal Executive Council had suggested the cancellation to the
government, and they also received threats from the Labour Party. But the
Cantonal Police Department had already given permission for these concerts, and
had to reverse itself under pressure from the Municipal Council. Protests quickly
broke out. 'La Nouvelle Gazette de Zurich' and 'die Tat', an independent paper,
immediately reacted negatively to this intrusion of partisan passions into the
realm of artistic freedom, and deplored the fact that Zurich had set such a poor
example of intolerance.
As the Zurich Radical Party's central Committee rightly said in a public protest, it
is regrettable that the Swiss authorities seemed to give in to such demagoguery
which sought only to take advantage of the widespread and justified dislike by
the Swiss public of the Nazis. The Furtwngler affair had its first epilogue last
Wednesday at the Town Hall, and the discussion was both instructive and
explosive. Two groups of speakers faced off against each other: on one side the
radicals and the independents, who defended Furtwngler saying that it was a bit
late to blame him for accepting a post in the Staatsrat (Prussian State Council)
and the decoration that he had accepted from the Fhrer; on the other side, the
communists, the socialists and one member of the Fraction of the "Monnaie
franche" who accused Furtwngler of becoming a pawn of the Nazi propaganda
campaign..."
As for the Winterthur concert (Bruckner's Eighth), it was the last one before the
fall of the German Reich and a number of demonstrations were organized by the
Labour Trades Union and its political wing. The demonstrators tried to prevent the
public from attending the concert and a detachment of the police with water
canons had to intervene. In the end the concert took place without any incidents
and the house was full.

> Scan of the anti-Furtwngler manifesto published in the Swiss press.
In February, he settled in Clarens, at the Clinique la Prairie run and owned by
Doctor Niehans, where he stayed until June 1947. (Who was this Doctor Niehans?
Nicknamed Doctor Miracle? Some said he was a charlatan - someone who profited
from the credulity of people and asked astronomical fees for treatments that did
absolutely nothing -, others said that he was a true pioneer of rejuvenation
therapy. Paul Niehans, who invented "cell-therapy", was born in 1882 and
counted among his clients some famous names including Konrad Adenauer,
Somerset Maugham, Gloria Swanson, Charles Chaplin and the Duchess of
Windsor. He was internationally famous as a surgeon; later he became for some a
genius, for others a crazy visionary and a false messiah inspired only by a thirst
for money) Once safely in Switzerland, Furtwngler and his family waited out the
end of the war. When Hitler's death was announced on April 30 1945, bringing
the war to an end, Furtwngler had to undergo denazification by the Allies (not
having been a member of the Nazi party, it actually shouldn't have been
necessary). In his case this "purification" process revolved around the question
why he had remained in Germany under the Hitler dictatorship, and his behavior
during that period, especially in the light of the regime's official anti-
semitism. Two trials were held, one in Vienna in January 1946 and one in Berlin,
on December 11 and 17 of that same year. Furtwngler was exonerated and
allowed to take up conducting again. Contrary to other conductors (Karajan,
Kabasta or Abendroth), Furtwngler was never a party member, never made the
Hitler salute, never signed his letters "Heil Hitler" and as much as he could,
helped Jewish musicians. Furtwngler explained the reason why he remained in
Germany as follows: "I didn't stay because I was a Nazi, I remained because I am
German!". He was supported by his friend, the producer Boleslav Barlog, by the
Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache and by musicians such as Hugo Strelitzer
who declared:
"If I am alive today, I owe this to this great man. Furtwngler helped and
protected a great number of Jewish musicians and this attitude shows a great
deal of courage since he did it under the eyes of the Nazis, in Germany itself.
History will be his judge".
At the end of the trial, Furtwngler declared:
"Art has nothing to do with politics nor with war. I felt responsible of the German
music and it was my duty to get through this crisis as best as I could. I have no
regrets that I stayed on in Germany alongside fellow-Germans who had to live
under Himmler's reign of terror."
In his Diary for 1946, he wrote:
"I try to look at my behavior objectively. I am no better than any other, but I had
to do what my instinct and conscience dictated. I love my country and my people,
and I felt it was my duty to right a terrible wrong. Any worry that my presence
could be manipulated by the Nazi propaganda machine had to take a back seat to
my major preoccupation, to save the soul of German music as far as possible,
and continue to make music with German musicians for a German public"
III
Furtwngler was acquitted on December 17, 1946 but wasn't allowed to conduct
the Berlin Philharmonic until May 25, 1947 again, in an all-Beethoven program.
Very quickly his career returned to its previous frenetic pace, and he resumed his
tours and festivals (Salzburg, Lucerne). On January 24 and 25 1948, he gave two
concerts in Paris with the Orchestre de la Socit des Concerts du Conservatoire.
In February, he gave ten concerts in London and on February 22 he premiered his
second symphony (composed at the end of the war) in Berlin. In April he left for
Argentina where he gave eight concerts at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires; Italy
invited him for six concerts and then he took the Vienna Philharmonic on a tour to
Switzerland and ended the season at the Salzburg (Fidelio) and Lucerne festivals.
In August, a sad incident compromised his relationship with America: the
management of the Chicago Symphony invited him to conduct 22 of the 28
concerts the following season. In December, he agreed to conduct eight concerts.
But on January 6, 1949, an article by Henry Taubmann in the New York
Times said some famous musicians wanted Chicago to back out of the contract.
Among these musicians were Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, Alexandre
Brailowsky, Isaac Stern, Lily Pons and Andr Kostelanetz who declared that they
would never again play in Chicago if Furtwngler became the orchestra's
conductor in chief. Faced with this extremely hostile campaign, organized by
some Jewish groups, Furtwngler decided to reject the contract. Rubinstein, who
had lost many of his family in the holocaust, said:
"I don't want to be on the same concert platform with someone associated with
Hitler, Gring and Goebbels. Had Furtwngler been a true democrat, he would
have left Germany like Thomas Mann. Furtwngler remained because he thought
that Germany would win the war and now he is looking for dollars and fame in
America".
Other artists such as Bruno Walter, Yehudi Menuhin and Nathan Milstein refused
to turn their backs on Furtwngler. Menuhin issued the following statement to the
press:
"I have never met a more insolent attitude than that of three or four trouble-
shooters who do everything they can to prevent a famous colleague coming to
make music in this country. I find this behavior despicable."
Milstein declared:
"Furtwngler is a great musician and absolutely not a Nazi and if this campaign
succeeds the great loser will be the Chicago Symphony".
And that's exactly what happened.
In his diary for 1949, Furtwngler wrote the following about this painful episode:
"A number of famous American artists protested against my coming to America.
This protest is heresy in musical history. What is the real reason behind this
campaign? It is a boycott that has a very precise aim. The real reason for this
slanderous ostracism of a famous musician is simply because he is German."
In 1948, Furtwngler was 62 years old and was invited to conduct literally
everywhere else in the world; he toured with both the Vienna and the Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestras and made a number of recordings for His Master's
Voice in Vienna and in London. In September-October, he conducted a complete
cycle of the Beethoven symphonies in London with the Vienna Philharmonic, a
cycle that was broadcast Liveon television, but which unfortunately no longer
exists. Every year he took part in festivals and in August 1949 went to visit
Richard Strauss who was hospitalized in a clinic in Montreux. The following year,
on May 22 1950 he premiered the Four last Lieder. with Kirsten Flagstad
In September 1949 he took part in the Besanon festival and in March-April 1950
conducted three cycles of the Ring at la Scala in Milan. Flagstad was in the cast.
He gave a series of concerts at the Teatro Colon and in April-May 1950 and
March-April 1951, he was again at la Scala for five performances of Parsifal and
four of Orpheus and Eurydice. In April he took the Berlin Philharmonic on tour for
ten concerts in Egypt (Cairo, Alexandria), and on July 29, he was chosen to
conduct the official reopening of the Bayreuth Festival, with a Beethoven Ninth
that is still a myth today.
On October 18, Rudolph Bing, director of the New York MET, wrote to Furtwngler
asking him to open the season 1952 with a new production of Lohengrin and
another opera of his choice. Furtwngler learned that Toscanini was madly
against his coming. Once again, the American project was cancelled along with a
tour by the Vienna Philharmonic of the USA. In March 1952, he went back to la
Scala for six performances of Meistersinger and after a long tour with the Berlin
Philharmonic, he made the magnificent famous recording of Tristan with Flagstad
and the Philharmonia Orchestra in London.
After a performance of the Walkre in Zurich on June 29, he left to rehearse for
the Salzburg festival: during rehearsals he caught double pneumonia. He had to
give up his activities and retire for several months to a sanatorium in the
Bavarian Alps. Not having taken any time off since 1947, he slept very little and
this lack of sleep affected his health. The heavy doses of antibiotics, particularly
Tetracycline with its side effects, affected his hearing. But Furtwngler recovered,
and on December 7 was on the podium with the Berlin Philharmonic. But on
January 23, 1953, he fainted during the adagio of Beethoven's Ninth in Vienna.
Once again and over his protests, doctors prescribed heavy does of antibiotics
and his hearing, specially in the right ear, began to deteriorate. This loss of
hearing made him very depressed but despite this handicap, he continued
working, resumed his concert tours and returned to Salzburg and Lucerne.
The 1953-1954 season began with four concerts at the Edinburgh Festival with
the Vienna Philharmonic, then in October-November, he recorded the Ring at la
RAI in Rome, one act per day. During his stay in Rome he gave two private
concerts for Pope Pius XII, at the Vatican and at Castel Gandolfo, his Summer
residence. In December, he caught the flu, which prevented him traveling two
months; by March he was well enough to leave for Caracas for two concerts with
the Venezuelan Symphonic Orchstra. Back in Switzerland, he bought a property
on the heights of Montreux, in Clarens, called Basset Coulon where sadly he was
to live only for a very short time.
The season 1954-1955 was his shortest and final one. After two performances of
the Beethoven Ninth at the Festival of Lucerne (August 21 and 22), a concert at
the Besanon Festival on September 6 and two concerts in Berlin on September
19 and 20, including his second symphony, he left for Vienna to record
the Walkre, between September 28 and October 6. The Vienna Philharmonic
played radiantly. That was the last time he ever conducted an orchestra.
He left Vienna for Gastein to get treatment for his hearing. On his journey back to
Clarens he didn't feel well and caught a cold. His wife tried to persuade him to
stay in bed but he wanted to take long walks in the open air and in the
mountains. In the night of November 6 he told his wife: "I'll die of this illness,
and it will be easy. Don't leave me alone, not even for a moment." He read the
proofs of his third symphony and listened to the test pressings of his recording
of Fidelio, that had just arrived. The doctors diagnosed bronchial pneumonia, and
his wife decided to have him hospitalised in Ebersteinburg near Baden-Baden, in
the clinic of his doctor, Mr. von Loewenstein. They left on a sunny Autumn day on
November 12. At the clinic, Furtwngler said to his wife: "You know, they all think
that I have come here to recover. I know that I am here to die." What hit his wife
was the fact that his mind was no longer on conducting, but on death, his own
death. He asked the Intendant Gerhardt von Westermann of the Berlin
Philharmonic to come and see him and made his farewells: "Please say my
goodbyes to the orchestra". His state of health worsened and on the morning of
November 30, he was given a blood transfusion. He died that same day in
absolute peace and was buried at the cemetery of Heidelberg next to his mother,
on December 4. During the funeral service, Karl Bhm said:
"Shattered as I have never been before in my life, I stand today in front of a
coffin in which lies a man who was my friend for over twenty years. For all those
who love you, dear Furtwngler, it is still not possible to value the consequences
of your death because it will leave a void that can never be filled. May God
welcome you into a better world and may he give you back all the unforgettable
Beauty that you bestowed on the most divine Art."
Eugen Jochum and the Berlin Philharmonic played Mozart's Maurerische
Trauermusikand the Aria from Bach's Suite in D.
Back in Clarens, his widow told his friend Ernest Ansermet:
"Furtwngler's departure has taught me that to accept death is something we
should all aim for. Furtwngler reached that goal."

Why are there no more Furtwnglers today? Was he really unique? Does an
answer lie the role of media and mass culture today? Is conducting today
decadent? So many good technicians but with nothing to say? Look at conductors
created by the media, and promoted by huge recording companies? Show
business and it's corollary, the star system - lead directly to the phenomenon of
deification. But isn't imagination also the way we deform our images? Furtwngler
was a legend in his lifetime and the myth is still growing.
Yehudi Menuhin said:
"There are many conductors but very few of them seem to reveal that secret
chapel that lies at the very heart of all masterpieces. Beyond the notes, there are
visions, and beyond those visions, there is this invisible and silent chapel, where
an inner music plays , the music of our soul, whose echoes are but pale shadows.
That was the genius of Furtwngler because he approached every work like a
pilgrim who strives to experience this state of being that reminds us of Creation,
the mystery which is at the heart of every cell. With his fluid hand movements, so
full of meaning, he took his orchestras and his soloists to this sacred place."
The conductor Eliahu Inbal gave perhaps the best answer:
"Why are there no Furtwnglers today? I don't think that this can be explained
solely by the absence of talent. Nobody can metamorphose himself into a
Furtwngler living at today's pace, giving concerts and making records as if they
were on a conveyor belt producing soap or cars. The manner in which recordings
are made today, with a bevy of microphones, is able to destroy all the mystery
and the ambiance that Furtwngler knew how to create so well. We, musicians of
the younger generation, should try and follow Furtwngler's example: that has
nothing to do with tempo but rather with imagination, and total surrender to
music."
Furtwngler was the complete opposite of Toscanini who thought there was
nothing left to "create" in an interpretation, Furtwngler wrote in 1927:
"The conductor's true ethics are not a perfect technique but his spiritual attitude."
Looking "beyond the notes" - Furtwngler was always looking for the Absolute.
Forget the trends and fashions - and even if Furtwngler's exacerbated
romanticism, his almost religious perception of music and of the role of
the medium that he attributed to the conductor in the mystical communion
between the composer and his public, may be somewhat irritating, Furtwngler's
Art was and remains immortal.