Skip to main content

George szell Biography

George Szell

(Budapest, 1897-Cleveland, 1970) Hungarian American pianist, composer and conductor.A child prodigy, he gave his first concert at the young age of ten with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.He studied in Vienna under Richard Robert, Eusebius Mandyczewski and Karl Prohaska, and in Leipzig under Max Reger.

At age 17 he conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance in which one of his symphonic poems, Till Eulenspiegel , was performed.Richard Strauss took him to the Berlin Opera as his assistant; He stayed there between 1914 and 1917, when Strauss recommended Szell to succeed Otto Klemperer as the first conductor of the Strasbourg opera; He held this position from 1917 to 1919.

Subsequently, Szell was director in various centers, such as the German Theater in Prague, between 1919 and 1921, the Berlin Broadcastin Company, between 1921 and 1929, Darmstadt between 1921 and 1922, and Düsseldorf, where he was from 1922 to 1924; later he was appointed principal conductor of the Berlin Opera, a position he held between 1924 and 1929.At the same time he was conducting the Radio Symphony Orchestra and teaching at the Berlin School of Music (1927-1930).

In 1930 he conducted the San Luis Symphony Orchestra, and also attended as a guest conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra of Glasgow (Great Britain) and the Residential Orchestra of The Hague (Holland).When World War II broke out, Szell was in Australia.He returned to the United States invited by Arturo Toscanini to conduct the famous NBC Symphony Orchestra in New York.His performance attracted so much attention that he was soon showered with offers to conduct other orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra.He combined this activity with the teacher, at the Mannes School in New York.Between 1940 and 1942 he performed chamber music with Paul Hindemith and Rudolf Serkin.

Between 1942 and 1946 he was one of the regular conductors of the Metropolitan Opera House, before taking the leadership of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1946, a position in which he continued until 1971; in this period he managed to turn this orchestra into one of the best in the world.In 1946 he adopted American citizenship.As a conductor, his authoritarian character was not well received by the members of the orchestras, but he brought extraordinary results to some of them.He was a guest conductor at the main European music festivals, including those of Vienna, Salzburg, Milan, Paris, Florence and Lucerne.Among his compositions are the Variations for Orchestra, the Symphony in D Minor, the Lyric Overture and several pieces of chamber music.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Jose Triadó Mayol Biography

José Triadó Mayol (Barcelona, ​​1870- id ., 1929) Spanish draftsman, former bookseller and painter.He collaborated with his drawings in the magazines El gato negro (1898), Album Salón (1898-1899) and Hispania (1899-1902).Outstanding author of ex libris, as a painter he made the triptych Las Cortes de Manresa for the Sant Jordi room of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

Jose Maria Escrivá de Balaguer Biography

Jose María Escrivá de Balaguer (Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás; Barbastro, 1902-Rome, 1975) Spanish priest, founder of Opus Dei.Ordained in 1925, he exercised the pastoral ministry both in rural and working class environments as well as in universities.Doctor of Law and Sacred Theology, he was a professor of Philosophy, Professional Ethics and Roman Law at the universities of Zaragoza and Madrid.Among other titles, he responded to that of Grand Chancellor of the Universities of Navarra and Piura (Peru), and was a member of the Pontifical Roman Academy. Jose María Escrivá de Balaguer As honorary prelate of His Holiness, he promoted works of apostolate throughout the world, a vocation that would culminate in 1928 with the foundation of Opus Dei.This association of the faithful, of which he was president general and which from 1946 he directed from Rome, had the purpose of spreading in all areas of society (without distinction of race, state or social condition) the evangeli...

Jose Maria Valente Bover Biography

José María Valente Bover (Vinaroz, 1877-Sant Cugat del Vallès, 1954) Spanish theologian and scripturalist.A Jesuit since 1895, he was ordained in 1910.Professor of Sacred Scripture (1911-1950) and specialist in textual criticism of the New Testament, José María Valente Bover is the author of a Theology of Saint Paul and, in collaboration with Francisco Cantera Burgos, of a Spanish version of the Bible (1947).

Jose Mauri Biography

José Mauri (Valencia, 1856-Havana, 1937) Spanish composer.Installed in Cuba for most of his life, he founded the conservatory that bears his name there (1914).His work includes numerous songs and the opera The Slave (1921).

Angel Zárraga and Argüelles Biography

Ángel Zárraga y Argüelles (Durango, 1886-Mexico, 1946) Mexican painter and poet.Very soon he began to combine his interest in the visual arts with his innate literary vocation, and the sum of both creative activities made him one of the great figures of Aztec culture of the first half of the 20th century. As a member of the Mexican diplomatic corps, for several years he was stationed in Paris as cultural attaché to the Aztec embassy.In the French capital, Ángel Zárraga y Argüelles had the opportunity to establish contact with the main artistic figures of the moment, to learn about the latest trends and currents in European art and to participate in different groups such as the Society of Decorating Artists of Paris, which provided the opportunity to extend the field of his artistic creations to the noblest spaces of old Europe. Thus, the Mexican painter was commissioned to execute the frescoes that decorate the crypt of the church of Suresnes, the Via Crucis of the church of Meu...

Joseph Rotblat Biography

Joseph Rotblat (Warsaw, 1908-London, 2005) British physicist of Polish origin trained by the University of Warsaw.He participated in the Manhattan project to build the atomic bomb, resigning in 1944 and returning to the United Kingdom.He worked in the fields of nuclear physics and X-rays, although he was noted for his activity against nuclear weapons.He was one of the organizers of the Pugwash conference, of which he was general secretary (1957-1973) and, from 1988 until his death, president.In 1995 he received the Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with the Pugwash conference that he chaired.

Jose Maria Quijano Biography

José María Quijano (José María Quijano Fernández-Hontoria; Corrales de Buelna, Santander, 1843-1911) Spanish lawyer and businessman, founder of Forjas de Buelna.Coming from a family with a tradition in the legal profession, José María decided to study Civil and Canon Law at the University of Valladolid, from which he graduated in 1866.After obtaining his degree, he moved to Santander where he practiced as a lawyer and as a Secretary of the Provincial Council.However, he had to leave this job because the sudden death of his in-law Víctor Gómez de los Ríos gave him the opportunity to take over the law firm that had been opened by it. José María Quijano Due to his transfer to the law firm, he went to his place of origin, and there he contacted family and friends again.Among them was his uncle Benigno Arce, who was a mining engineer.During the Universal Exhibition held in Paris in 1873, attended by Benigno and José María, a nail-making machine caught their attention.Upon their retur...

Cassiano Floristan Biography

Casiano Floristán (Casiano Floristán Samanes; Arguedas, 1926-Pamplona, ​​2006) Spanish theologian.He studied chemical sciences at the University of Zaragoza, philosophy at the University of Salamanca and theology at the University of Innsbruck (Austria), a subject in which he received his doctorate in 1959 from the University of Tübingen (Germany).Ordained a priest in 1956, since 1960 he devoted himself to teaching theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca.He is the author, among other works, of The pastoral aspect of religious sociology (1960), Theology of pastoral action (1968), The catechumenate (1972) and Evangelization, the task of a Christian (1978).Casiano Floristán was also director of the collective work Fundamental concepts of pastoral (1983).

Joseph Bramah Biography

Joseph Bramah (Stainborough, 1749-London, 1814) British inventor.A mechanic by profession, he carried out numerous practical inventions: a security lock, a hydraulic press, the water-closet or toilet system, a printer to number banknotes, etc.