Félix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner, who did much to shape the modern art of conducting, studied piano and composition in Graz, Austria with the composer W.A. Remy. On the recommendation of Hanslick, he received a stipend from the state, and in 1881 he went on to study philosophy at Leipzig University, later attending the Leipzig Conservatory where he made the acquaintance of Liszt. Liszt persuaded him to become a conductor and helped to produce Weingartner's first opera, Sakuntala, at Weimar in 1884. In the same year he began his conducting career in Königsberg.
Thereafter, Weingartner was constantly on the move: Danzig (1885-1887); as Hans von Bülow's assistant in Hamburg (1887-1889); Mannheim (1889-91); Berlin's Kaim Royal Opera Orchestra (1891-1898); the Vienna Opera, where he succeeded Mahler (1898-1903); Hamburg again (1912-14); Darmstadt (1914-1919); Vienna Volksoper and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (1919-1927). Over the same period, he toured Europe, making his first visits to London in 1898 and to the U.S. in 1905, where he conducted the Boston Opera Company for its 1912-1913 season. From 1927 to 1933, he was director of the Conservatory and Symphony Orchestra in Basel, Switzerland, and returned tp the Vienna State Opera from 1935-1936. In his second period with the Vienna Opera he appeared tired, and resigned at the end of the season. In 1939, Weingartner was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London.
Nor were Weingartner's activities confined to conducting: he was also a prolific composer. His output includes eight operas, six symphonies, two concertos, chamber music and songs, though none of his works had more than a brief success. Together with Charles Malherbe, he edited the complete works of Berlioz and was one of the first to bring that composer's works back into public favor. Weingartner's arrangement of Weber's Invitation to the Dance was recorded four times by him, and he also recorded his own orchestral arrangement of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" piano sonata, Op. 106, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Weingartner was among the first great conductors to insist on a meticulous interpretation of the composer's score and steady, moderate tempi. While in Hamburg, he clashed with Hans von Bülow, whom he criticized for romantic exaggeration and wayward performances. In 1895, Weingartner wrote a book, On Conducting, in which he accused von Bülow of "wanting to divert the attention of the audience from the music to himself."
His baton technique was refined and simple. The English critic Neville Cardus wrote this of his podium style: "Weingartner does not use the familiar gestures of the modern 'dictator' conductors; he retains the old fashioned belief that an instrumentalist understands how to play his notes correctly, and does not need illumination in the form of arts that scarcely belong to a conductor -- the arts of Terpsichore and declamation. His gestures are quiet; he is always dignified.... He belongs to the cultured epoch of music, the epoch of good manners, good taste and scholarship."
Weingartner made his first recordings in 1910 with the American soprano Lucille Marcel, who became the third of his five wives. He recorded all the Beethoven symphonies, some several times, most famously with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1930s. In Japan, his Beethoven "Choral" Symphony sold over 100,000 copies, a remarkable achievement. Weingartner's immense reputation was obscured by the rise of the high-profile, much-recorded conductors of the 1950s and 1960s. However, CD transfers have been made of some of his finest Beethoven performances.
© TiVo
Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
-
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7, No. 8, Coriolan Overture, Egmont Overture, Symphony No. 8, 2nd mvt.
Félix Weingartner, Willem Mengelberg, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on 11 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 1, Op. 68 - Symphony No. 2, Op. 73
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on 26 Mar 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 e No. 4
Félix Weingartner, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on 7 Jul 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, No. 6
Félix Weingartner, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on 5 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BRAHMS: SYMPHONY No.1 - No.2
Classical - Released by Nar Classical on 13 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BRAHMS: ACADEMIC FESTIVAL OUVERTURE "AKADEMISCHE FESTOUVERTÜRE" - SYMPHONY No.3 - SYMPHONY No.4
Classical - Released by Nar Classical on 13 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weingartner dirigiert Beethoven
Symphonies - Released by Preiser Records on 1 Oct 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Collection of the Symphony No. 6 by Beethoven
Félix Weingartner, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by ArnebAudio on 7 Dec 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Academic Festival Ouverture (Remaster)
Félix Weingartner, London Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Nar Classical on 22 Feb 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Collection of the Symphony No. 1 by Beethoven
Félix Weingartner, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by ArnebAudio on 1 Dec 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johannes Brahms, vol. 5
Félix Weingartner, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by ArnebAudio on 15 Jan 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY No.9 "AN DIE FREUDE"
Classical - Released by Nar Classical on 13 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
LISZT; WAGNER; BERLIOZ
Classical - Released by Nar Classical on 12 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Collection of the Symphony no. 4 by Beethoven
Félix Weingartner, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by ArnebAudio on 4 Dec 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3
Félix Weingartner, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on 13 Jul 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 - Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral"
Félix Weingartner, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Ibis on 1 Jul 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Proms Music 2016, Vol. 8
Félix Weingartner, Bruno Walter, Geraint Jones
Classical - Released by Editions Audiovisuel Beulah on 29 Jul 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber, Schubert, Weingartner & Mendelssohn: Der Freischütz, Overture - Rosamunde, Entr'acte No. 3 - The Tempest, Scherzettino - Invitation to the Dance - Symphony No. 3
Félix Weingartner, Basle Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on 8 Sep 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Miriam Licette, Muriel Brunskill, Hubert Eisdell, Harold Williams, Félix Weingartner, Chorus and London Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on 11 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In Memoriam Felix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner, Wiener Philharmoniker and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Tahra on 18 Jun 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Milestones of a Violin Legend: Ricardo Odnoposoff, Vol. 6
Ricardo Odnoposoff, Heinz Wehrle, Stefan Auber, Angélica Morales von Sauer, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Félix Weingartner
Classical - Released by Intense Media GmbH on 5 Oct 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo