Weingartner, Felix

Preface

Weingartner, Felix

Violin Concerto in G Op. 52 (Piano Reduction/Solo)

“Felix Weingartner: conductor, composer, pianist, writer”: thus the information that music lovers find in every scholarly publication, whether printed or digital, when they seek facts on Weingartner. If his versatility is already remarkable, the order of his professional designations is even more revealing: today, too, Weingartner is mainly perceived as a conductor. Only recently, thanks to the increasing number of CD releases of his works and the reissuing of his scores, is his music becoming available to a broader listenership.

Weingartner’s musical training began roughly at the age of five. After moving away from his native city of Graz, his mother, now a single parent after his father’s death, gave her son his first piano lessons. When he entered high school he received instruction in piano and composition from Wilhelm Mayer (also known by his nom de plume, W.A. Rémy). The boy proved an eager learner; his earliest piano pieces date from this period and were submitted with his application for a state scholarship. After assessing the works, the jury (including Brahms, Goldmark, and Hanslick) awarded the pupil a three-year scholarship for his labors. After graduating from high school, Weingartner used the scholarship to study in Leipzig (1881-83). For the moment, however, his sights were not set on becoming a professional musician: besides his instruction at Leipzig Conservatory, where his studies included composition with Carl Reinecke, he took courses in philosophy at the university. His meetings with Wagner, and especially with Liszt, who also became his teacher, inspired him fundamentally and left a mark on most of his large-scale compositions, including his first opera, Sakuntala.

In 1884, having completed his education, Weingartner began a career as a conductor. At first this caused him to move from place to place at roughly two-year intervals (Königsberg, Danzig, Hamburg, Mannheim). Finally, in 1891, he arrived in Berlin, where he was court conductor at the Opera until 1898. He was also in charge of the concerts of the Royal Orchestra, which he directed with much sensitivity and skill, especially as regards repertoire and performers, and which, despite a few mishaps, granted him long-term success. He was also creative in other fields, producing several large-scale musical compositions as well as philosophical essays and publications on the art of conducting.

In 1897-98 Weingartner left the Berlin opera world to become head of the Kaim Orchestra in Munich (the predecessor of the present Munich Philharmonic). Yet he remained in charge of the concerts of the Royal Orchestra until 1906.

From 1900 on Weingartner stood at the zenith of his fame. His conducting style received almost universal acclaim; he advanced to become a recognized authority on Beethoven with his performances of all nine symphonies; and he continued his activities as a writer. In the 1907-08 season he succeeded Gustav Mahler as head of the Vienna Court Opera and took charge of the Vienna Philharmonic. But as before in Berlin, the concert hall proved more to his liking than the opera house; he retired from his position at the Court Opera in 1911 while remaining true to the Vienna Phil until 1927. He also made guest appearances all over the world, including several trips to South America. His life style, noteworthy for his frequent changes of position, places of residence, and, as some biographers disparagingly note, wives (he married five times), entered more tranquil waters in 1927 when he moved to Basel. There he continued to conduct as head of the Basel Orchestra Society and became director of the Conservatory. Now teaching became a main focus of his work. He changed residence twice within Switzerland, moving to Interlaken (1936) and Lausanne (1938). Extended trips with his last wife, Carmen Studer, took him as far as Japan, enriching the final chapter of his life. In March 1942 he gave his final concert in Lausanne, and on 7 May 1942 he died in Winterthur, where his grave is located today…

For more information on the piece:

Read the preface to the full score / das Vorwort zur Partitur lesen > HERE