Music fans will remember July of 1989 for one reason: the historic concert of Pink Floyd, one of the greatest rock bands of all time, in Venice for the Feast of the Redeemer. Nearly two hundred thousand people, including Tom Cruise and Woody Allen rushed to the feet of the lagoon to listen to free the authors of "Wish You Were Here" and "The Wall". Not lacking, as you recall, the controversy over the "massacre" as defined by Panorama of one of the most beautiful cities in the world, reduced to misery in the open ward, worse: a dunghill .
There is a minority of purists, or perhaps simply fans, who remember with a state of mind than July 16, 1989, the day after Feast of the Redeemer. That day in Anif near Salzburg was leaving forever Herbert von Karajan, probably the greatest conductor never lived in any case one of the greatest personalities of the twentieth century Europe. The master was 81 years old, was in fact born on April 5, 1908 in Salzburg.
Who and what was Karajan? How to explain it to those who love the rhythms Americans, the little voices of Pooh and the stories of Jovanotti? How to explain it to those who have never visited an opera (or has never heard a symphony orchestra), and barely know the existence of symphonies by Beethoven and one or two works by Giuseppe Verdi? How to explain it to those who believe that much on TV that tell us about "Greatness" of this or that market phenomenon? We'll try and in a few words. Karajan was an artist with an extraordinary charisma, was what is known as a quiet man, not prone to the word, the spell of the mountain landscape and yoga. Even the media were the architects of his fame (especially in the last period), but he knew how to speak the facts. And how .
The Private Life of the Master for most of the fans remains a mystery. Neither his autobiography dictated to Franz Endler (editions in Italy for Pantheon, 1994); né il recente libro della vedova, la provenzale Eliette Mouret , peraltro carico di aneddoti ( Mein Leben auf seiner Seite ), sono riusciti a colmare alcune lacune “esistenziali”. Rilevanti o meno che siano. Non è il caso, però, della sua appartenenza al partito Nazionalsocialista ai tempi di Hitler, del quale anzi si dibatte da anni. Karajan si iscrisse alla Nsdap perché (era bravo ergo ) voleva far carriera. In un regime totalitario stare dalla parte del Partito unico produce dei vantaggi, è come scoprire l’acqua calda. Ma è il caso semmai delle conseguenze maturate proprio in seguito all’adesione al Nazionalsocialismo .
image and her attention, Karajan became the first postwar years after the protagonist of a book of philosophy (or fiction). Karajan seemed unreal, like a man. It was the clipping of a good volume of Nietzsche (or perhaps Jünger, or simply a novel by Maugham). Unlike a common theory, however, had the ability to create, and to experience music like few others. The most beautiful orchestral sounds of the twentieth century would have been plucked from his wand. The greatest emotions were governed by this Salzburg of just over one meter and seventy. A man of indescribable perfectionism, always pragmatic and continuous search for new readings, was fitted with a common memory (ran without score, eyes closed), and was capable of moments of concentration and pace of work is difficult to beat .
of missing anything to be number one. And he (deservedly) a success unprecedented in the history of so-called directory of "classical" in music and theater. Karajan's conducting with Nureyev as the ballet, and a few other Kubrick film directing .
His career began in 1929 with the task of chief conductor at the theater of Ulm. Continues to Aachen from 1935 to 1942. Years of effective stay in Hitler's Party (its original inscription dating back to 1933, is considered a mere formality). After the war worked in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra founded by Walter Legge, in 1955, after the death of rival Furtwängler became director for life of the Berlin Philharmonic one of the greatest orchestras in the world, who will conduct up to three months before his death ( April 1989) .
Nel 1933 Karajan debutta al Festival estivo di Salisburgo, rinato nel 1919 grazie all’impegno fra gli altri di Richard Strauss e Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Negli anni Cinquanta ne diventerà il direttore artistico. Nel 1967 ancora a Salisburgo fonda il Festival di Pasqua che curerà fino all’ultimo dei suoi giorni. Frattanto sarà direttore artistico della prestigiosissima Opera di Vienna. Alla fine degli anni Cinquanta si farà in quattro (anzi cinque) per onorare gli incarichi di cui gode a Vienna, Berlino, Salisburgo, Milano e Londra. Eccezionale !
Armed with white tie rod and turn the world, including the Temple of Wagner's Bayreuth, will ascend above the podium at La Scala from 1950 to 1968. The 1954 is the "Lucia di Lammermoor" in Berlin (Orchestra della Scala) with Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano (who will conduct only in "Lucia", "Butterfly" and "Trovatore"): Master of the attack on the house in queue to "Soon to shelter me" content is missing from chills. Karajan directing in Rai. In the golden years, the company took care of the state symphony orchestras, as today shows that care go beyond the boundaries of voyeurism. A Viale Mazzini has passed directly from the fifth of the Sibelius Fifth bra.
productions of the Master who made their mark in world culture are those of the "Ring" by Richard Wagner, but Karajan was able to successfully engage ' French and Italian opera (Verdi and Puccini). Unsurpassed in the direction of the Romantic repertoire, his favorite composers were also Mahler, Richard Strauss, Dvorak and Shostakovich. The official anthem of the European Union adopted (taken from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony) was arranged and recorded by Master .
Karajan was a magician of the art. Not just a manager "tradition" (as indeed there are large and very large), not just a "philologist" concentrate on the written sign, but much more. Unsettling. Able to create images like the end of Beethoven's Eroica and plunge to the depths of the symbol; able to say "everything" for orchestra and singers in a few notes or bars (as in "Bohème" of the couple Freni-Pavarotti or in "Salome" with the Welitsch ), capable of amazing sound, light, sunny hours and hours arrembanti hard, almost torturing. And then capable of normal (often the greatest obstacle to the common conductors): fidelity to the text, harmony between the actors on stage. Never a gesture, phrase or simple word out of place, even when they will be responsible for directing, even though the Master was known for his litigiousness .
Is that all? No, why Karajan was also a talent scout, a discoverer of voices. He opted not poteva essere diversamente per la qualità dei cantanti. Nell’ultima fase della carriera, fu schiavo della propria immagine di demiurgo, e venne catturato da quel lungo declino dell’opera lirica cominciato negli anni Settanta: la resa e soprattutto la scelta dei “suoi” interpreti non furono dunque all’altezza delle aspettative e delle esperienze precedenti .
Karajan non fu un comune conservatore innamorato della tradizione musicale austro-germanica, di partiture ingiallite e di velluti rossi. Ma fu un rivoluzionario: credeva nel futuro, nella qualità e nella perfezione dei supporti tecnologici (venne per questo, a lungo, criticato). Fu un cultore delle scienze ingegneristiche. Affascinato dall’incisione su disco (al contrario di altri noti colleghi), delle sue performance sono stati venduti più di cento milioni di video e dischi, dai 78 giri ai compact disc. Il giorno della morte si calcolò che esistessero n-o-v-e-c-e-n-t-o diverse incisioni del Maestro in giro per il mondo (parliamo di vent’anni fa!). Vogliamo scherzare coi numeri? Potremmo dire anche per questo che Karajan è stato un uomo, anzi l‘uomo, del Novecento .
One of his last public appearances, perhaps the most famous of all time (adored by collectors) is for the New Year Concert 1987. The master is ill. At the Musikverein the scene is the swan song of Western civilization: the decline of the West - Part II. The Maestro would direct the Strauss' Voices of Spring "but in a few years would explode the winter musical, perhaps forever. Karajan one of the last symbols of the European cultural universe, had been an example for all: the heart of old Europe, the future mind.
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