Artur Bodanzky
Artur Bodanzky | |
---|---|
Born | Vienna, Austria | 16 December 1877
Died | 23 November 1939 New York City, US | (aged 61)
Occupation | Conductor |
Relatives | Robert Bodanzky (brother) |
Artur Bodanzky (also written as Artur Bodzansky) (16 December 1877 – 23 November 1939) was an Austrian-American conductor particularly associated with the operas of Wagner. He conducted Enrico Caruso's last performance at the Metropolitan Opera House on Christmas Eve 1920.
The son of Jewish merchants, Bodanzky studied the
Conducting style and critical reception
When he was appointed to his position at Mannheim Bodanzky was praised as a "mature and diligent" conductor" with "only one deficiency: a certain heavy-handedness, a predilection for
Many recordings survive of Bodanzky's Met broadcasts (some of which, for legal reasons, are not available in the United States). These include the very earliest Met broadcasts to survive, from 1933 and 1934, featuring substantial fragments of soprano Frida Leider in Die Walküre and Tristan und Isolde. From the recordings, it becomes apparent that Bodanzky's tempi fluctuate greatly, sometimes very fast, sometimes quite slow. In this practice, he is not far from the live recordings of such contemporaries as Albert Coates, Fritz Reiner, and Furtwängler. As to the matter of cuts, it was the almost invariable practice in opera houses outside Bayreuth at that time. Bodanzky compares favorably with both Furtwängler and Reiner in this respect. In 1944, Szell gave a broadcast performance of Die Walküre which has been reissued on CD and which, as regards fast tempi and severity of cuts, is comparable to anything of Bodanzky's.
Frida Leider praised Bodanzky's "outstanding artistry" in her autobiography, written after Bodanzky's death. Arturo Toscanini, who had supported Bodansky's appointment to the Met, was reportedly saddened by his death.[9]
Family
Artur was the brother of the noted journalist and playwright Robert Bodanzky.
References
Bibliography
- Beaumont, Anthony (2000). Zemlinsky. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-3803-9.
- Horowitz, Joseph (2005). Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall. New York, NY: W. W. Norton and Company. ISBN 0-393-05717-8.