George Szell (IPA: [sɛl]) (June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll or Georg Szell,^[1] was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He is remembered today for his long and successful tenure as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, and for the recordings of the standard classical repertoire he made with Cleveland and other orchestras. George Szell, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1954 Jan. ... Carl Van Vechten (June 17, 1880 – December 21, 1964) was an American writer and photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein. ... June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... July 30 is the 211th day of the year (212th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article discusses classical music in the first sense (see below). ... Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... Floruit (often abbreviated fl. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... EMI Classics is a record label of EMI. It was formed in 1990 in order to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogs for internationally distributed classical music releases. ... Sony Classical was started in 1927 as Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of the American Columbia Records. ... The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the major symphony orchestras in the United States. ... The New York Philharmonic is the oldest active symphony orchestra in the United States. ... The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotlands national symphony orchestra. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... July 30 is the 211th day of the year (212th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... A conductor conducting a band at a ceremony A conductors score and batons Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... The title of music director is used by many symphony orchestras to designate the primary conductor and artistic leader of the orchestra. ... The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the major symphony orchestras in the United States. ...

Szell came to Cleveland in 1946 to take over a respected, but undersized, orchestra which was struggling to recover from the disruptions of World War II. By the time of his death he was credited, to quote the critic Donal Henahan, with having built it into "what many critics regarded as the world's keenest symphonic instrument."^[2] Through his recordings, Szell has remained a presence in the classical music world long after his death, and in some circles his name remains synonymous with that of the Cleveland Orchestra. While on tour with the Orchestra in the late 1980s, then Music Director Christoph von Dohnányi remarked, "We give a great concert, and George Szell gets a great review."^[3] Christoph von Dohnányi (born September 18, 1929) is a German conductor. ...

Life and career

Early career

Szell was born in Budapest but grew up in Vienna. He began his formal music training as a pianist, studying with Richard Robert. One of Robert's other students was Rudolf Serkin; Szell and Serkin became lifelong friends and music collaborators.^[4] In addition to studying piano, Szell was schooled in music composition by Eusebius Mandyczewski (a personal friend of Brahms), and by the composer Max Reger for a brief period. When he was fourteen he signed a ten-year exclusive publishing contract with Universal Edition in Vienna. Szell's work as a composer is virtually unknown today. In addition to writing original pieces, he arranged Bedřich Smetana's String Quartet No. 1, From My Life, for orchestra. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Rudolf Serkin (March 28, 1903 – May 8, 1991) was an Austrian pianist. ... Eusebius Mandyczewski, musicologist and composer, was born in Czernowitz, Romania on 18 August 1857, the son of a Greek Orthodox priest. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (March 19, 1873 – May 11, 1916) was a German composer, organist, pianist and teacher. ... In music, an arrangement refers either to a rewriting of a piece of existing music with additional new material or to a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch, such as a lead sheet. ... Portrait of BedÅ™ich Smetana BedÅ™ich Smetana (pronounced ; 2 March 1824 - 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer. ... BedÅ™ich Smetanas String Quartet No. ...

At age eleven, Szell began touring Europe as a pianist and composer, making his London debut at that age. Newspapers declared him "the next Mozart." Throughout his teenage years he performed with orchestras in this dual role, eventually making appearances as composer, pianist and conductor, as he did with the Berlin Philharmonic at age seventeen.^[5] World map showing the location of Europe. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) was one of the most significant and influential of all composers of Western classical music. ... The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the worlds leading orchestras. ...

Szell quickly realized that he was never going to make a career out of being a composer or pianist, and that he much preferred that artistic control that was granted to conductors. He made an unplanned public debut as a conductor when he was sixteen. When the orchestra at a summer resort where he was vacationing with his family suddenly found itself without a conductor (due to his arm being injured), Szell was asked to substitute. Szell quickly turned to conducting fulltime. While he ceased composing, throughout the rest of his life he occasionally played the piano with chamber ensembles and as an accompanist. Despite his rare appearances as a pianist after his teens, he remained in good form. During his Cleveland years he occasionally would demonstrate to guest pianists how he thought they should play a certain passage.^[6] Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

In 1915, at the age of 18, Szell won an appointment with Berlin's Royal Court Opera (now known as the Staatsoper). There, he was befriended by its Music Director, Richard Strauss. Strauss instantly recognized Szell's talent and was particular impressed with how well he conducted his own music –- Strauss once said that he could die a happy man knowing that there was someone who performed his music so perfectly. In fact, Szell ended up conducting part of the world premiere recording of Don Juan for Strauss. Due to oversleeping, Strauss showed up an hour late to the recording session. Strauss had Szell rehearse the orchestra for him, and since the recording session was prepaid for, and there was no Strauss, but Szell was there, Szell conducted the first half of the recording (since no more than five minutes could be fit onto a side of a 78, the music was broken up into four chunks). Strauss arrived as Szell was finishing conducting the second part; he exclaimed that what he heard was so good that it could go out under his own name. Strauss went on to conduct the last two parts, leaving the Szell-conducted half of the recording as part of the full world premiere recording of Don Juan.^[7] This article is about the German composer of tone-poems and operas. ...

Szell credited Strauss as being a major influencing force of his conducting style. Much of his baton technique, the Cleveland Orchestra’s transparent lean sound, and Szell's willingness to be an orchestra builder came from Strauss. The two remained friends after Szell left the Royal Court Opera in 1919. Even after World War II when Szell had settled in the United States, Strauss kept track of how his protégé was doing.^[8] Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

During the 1920s and '30s Szell moved around from opera houses and orchestras in Europe: in Berlin, Strasbourg, where he succeeded Otto Klemperer at the Municipal Theatre, Prague, Darmstadt, Düsseldorf and Glasgow before becoming principal conductor, in 1924, of the Berlin Staatsoper, which had replaced the Royal Opera. In 1930, Szell made his United States debut with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. At this time he was better known as an opera conductor than orchestral. Location of Berlin within Germany / EU Coordinates Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country NUTS Region DE3 City subdivisions 12 boroughs Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit (SPD) Governing parties SPD / Left. ... City flag City coat of arms Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country Region Alsace Department Bas-Rhin (67) Intercommunality Urban Community of Strasbourg Mayor Fabienne Keller  (UMP) City Statistics Land area¹ 78. ... Otto Klemperer (May 14, 1885 – July 6, 1973) was a German-born conductor and composer. ... Nickname: Motto: Praga Caput Rei publicae Location within the Czech Republic Coordinates: Country Czech Republic Region Capital City of Prague Founded 9th century Government  - Mayor Pavel Bém Area  - City 496 km²  (191. ... Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hesse in Germany. ... Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and (together with Cologne and the Ruhr Area) the economic center of Western Germany. ... “Glaswegian” redirects here. ... Berlin State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Berlin) is a prominent German opera company. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) was founded in 1880, making it the second oldest symphony in the United States after the New York Philharmonic. ...

Move to the U.S.

At the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, Szell was returning via the US from an Australian tour; he ended up settling with his family in New York City.^[9] After spending a year teaching, Szell began to receive frequent guest conducting invitations. Important among these invitations was a series of four concerts with Arturo Toscanini’s NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1941. In 1942 he made his Metropolitan Opera debut; he conducted the company regularly for the next four years. In 1943 he made his New York Philharmonic debut. In 1946 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. “New York, NY” redirects here. ... Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957) was an Italian musician. ... Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall]] The NBC Symphony Orchestra was an orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company as a vehicle for conductor Arturo Toscanini. ... The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, seen from Lincoln Center Plaza A full house at the old Metropolitan Opera House, seen from the rear of the stage, at the Metropolitan Opera House for a concert by pianist Józef Hofmann, November 28, 1937. ... The New York Philharmonic is the oldest active symphony orchestra in the United States. ... Naturalization is the process whereby a person becomes a national of a nation, or a citizen of a country, other than the one of his birth. ...

The Cleveland Orchestra: 1946 to 1970

In 1946, Szell was asked to become the Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra. At the time the Cleveland Orchestra was a well regarded regional American orchestra (the top-tier American orchestras were: Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and NBC Symphony Orchestra). For Szell, working in Cleveland would represent an opportunity to create his own personal ideal orchestra, one which would combine the virtuosity of the best American ensembles, with the homogeneity of tone of the best European orchestras. Szell made it clear to the managers of the Orchestra that if they wanted him to be their next conductor, they would have to agree to give him total artistic control of the Orchestra; they agreed. He held this post until his death. The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the major symphony orchestras in the United States. ... The Philadelphia Orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is one of the Big Five symphony orchestras in the United States and usually considered among the finest in the world. ... The Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of the worlds most renowned orchestras. ... The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, based in Chicago, Illinois, is one of the leading orchestras in the world. ... The New York Philharmonic is the oldest active symphony orchestra in the United States. ... Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall]] The NBC Symphony Orchestra was an orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company as a vehicle for conductor Arturo Toscanini. ...

The next decade was spent firing musicians, carefully hiring replacements, increasing the orchestra's roster to over one hundred players, and relentlessly drilling the orchestra. Szell's rehearsals were legendary for their intensity. Absolute perfection was demanded from every player. Musicians would be dismissed on the spot for making too many mistakes or simply questioning Szell's authority. Although Szell was not alone in this practice — Toscanini was nothing if not dictatorial — such firings would not happen today: musicians' unions are much stronger now than they were then. If Szell heard a player practicing backstage before a concert and did not like what he heard, he would not hesitate to berate the musician and give detailed notes on how the music should be played, despite the concert being minutes away. Szell’s autocratic style extended to giving suggestions to the Severance Hall janitorial staff on mopping technique and what brand of toilet paper to use in the restrooms. Interior detail of Severance Hall Severance Hall is a major concert hall located in the University Circle district of Cleveland, Ohio and home to the Cleveland Orchestra. ...

Szell proudly boasted that "the Cleveland Orchestra gives seven concerts a week and the public is invited to two." Some critics found the Orchestra to sound over-rehearsed in concert, lacking spontaneity. Szell conceded this critique, saying that the orchestra did much of its best work during rehearsals. But Szell's high standards paid off. By the end of the 1950s it became clear to the world that the Cleveland Orchestra, noted for its flawless precision and chamber-like sound, would take its place alongside the greatest orchestras in America and Europe.

In addition to taking the Orchestra on annual tours to Carnegie Hall and the East Coast, Szell led the orchestra on its first international tours to Europe, the Soviet Union, Australia, and Japan. Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street. ...

Conducting style

While Szell was an autocratic taskmaster, he maintained legitimacy by meticulously preparing for rehearsals. A chief component of his rehearsal process was arranging the entire score for piano and playing it straight through, resulting in a mastery of the score. He would only take on conducting students if they too possessed this ability (one of them was James Levine). A literalist in his approach, Szell felt that everything he needed to know about how to conduct a score was in its pages; no knowledge of the composer’s biography was needed. He was more concerned about phrasing, transparency, balance and architecture than emotionalism in order to bring to fruition the composer's intentions as written in the score. As a result, Szell’s conducting was, and still is, sometimes criticized for being cold. James Levine (born June 23, 1943 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American orchestral pianist and conductor and most well known as the music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. ...

In response to such criticism, Szell expressed this credo: "The borderline is very thin between clarity and coolness, self-discipline and severity. There exist different nuances of warmth - from the chaste warmth of Mozart to the sensuous warmth of Tchaikovsky, from the noble passion of Fidelio to the lascivious passion of Salome. I cannot pour chocolate sauce over asparagus." Fidelio (Op. ... Coin of Salome (daughter of Herodias), queen of Chalcis and Armenia Minor. ...

Repertoire

Szell mainly stuck to conducting the core Austro-German classical and romantic repertoire, from Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, through Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms, and on to Bruckner, Mahler and Strauss. He said once that as he got older he consciously narrowed his repertoire, feeling it was "actually my task to do those works which I thought I'm best qualified to do, and for which a certain tradition is disappearing with the disappearance of the great conductors who were my contemporaries and my idols and my unpaid teachers."^[10] He did however program contemporary music; he gave numerous world premieres in Cleveland, and he was particularly associated with such composers as Walton, Prokofiev, Hindemith and Bartók. Szell also helped initiate the Cleveland Orchestra's long association with composer-conductor and avant-garde icon Pierre Boulez. At the same time, Szell championed the music of Haydn and Mozart in a period when those composers were little represented in concert programs. Sir William Turner Walton, OM (March 29, 1902–March 8, 1983) was a British composer whose style was influenced by the works of Stravinsky, Sibelius and jazz. ... Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (Russian: , Sergej Sergejevič Prokofijev; April 27 (April 151 O.S.), 1891–March 5, 1953) was a Russian and Soviet composer who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. ... Paul Hindemith aged 28. ... Béla Bartók in 1927 Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and collector of Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music. ... Pierre Boulez Pierre Boulez (IPA: /pjɛʁ.buˈlÉ›z/) (born March 26, 1925) is a conductor and composer of classical music. ... Portrait by Thomas Hardy, 1792 Franz Joseph Haydn[1] (March 31, 1732 – May 31, 1809) was one of the most prominent composers of the Classical period, and is called by some the Father of the Symphony and Father of the String Quartet. A life-long resident of Austria, Haydn spent... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (IPA: , baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart) (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. ...

Other orchestras

After World War II Szell became closely associated with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, where he was a frequent guest conductor and made a number of recordings. He also regularly appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, and at the Salzburg Festival. In the last years of his life, he also served as Musical Advisor to the New York Philharmonic. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest in Dutch) is the best known and most respected orchestra in the Netherlands, and is generally considered to be among the worlds finest. ... Nickname: Motto: Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig (Valiant, Determined, Compassionate) Location of Amsterdam Coordinates: Country Netherlands Province North Holland Government  - Mayor Job Cohen (PvdA)  - Aldermen Lodewijk Asscher Hennah Buyne Carolien Gehrels Tjeerd Herrema Maarten van Poelgeest Marijke Vos  - Secretary Erik Gerritsen Area [1][2]  - City 219 km²  (84. ... The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom. ... The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (in German: Wiener Philharmoniker) is the best known orchestra in Austria and one of Europes major ensembles. ... The Salzburg Festival (Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama. ... The New York Philharmonic is the oldest active symphony orchestra in the United States. ...

Personal life

Szell was married twice. The first, in 1920 to Olga Band, ended in divorce in 1926. His second marriage, in 1938 to Helene Schultz Teltsch, originally from Prague, was much happier, and lasted until his death.^[11] When not making music, he was a gourmet cook and an automobile enthusiast. He regularly refused the services of the orchestra's chauffeur and drove his own Cadillac to rehearsals in Cleveland until almost the end of his life. Cadillac is a brand of luxury vehicles, part of General Motors, produced and mostly sold in the United States and Canada. ...

Discography

Most of Szell's recordings were made with the Cleveland Orchestra for Epic/Columbia/CBS (now Sony). Few of his mono recordings have been reissued. Many live stereo recordings of repertoire Szell never conducted in the studio exist, both with the Cleveland Orchestra and other orchestras.

Below is a selection of Szell's more notable recordings (all with the Cleveland Orchestra, and issued by Sony, unless otherwise noted).

The Symphony No. ... Paul Hindemith aged 28. ...

Notes

1. ^ Sources differ on Szell's birthname or "real" name. Slonimsky 2001, for example, begins its entry, "Szell, George (actually, György)...". This form would seem consistent with Szell's Hungarian origins. However, both Charry 2001 and Rosenberg 2000 fail to cite the name "György" at all, mentioning instead the more Germanic "Georg," which would seem appropriate in Szell's childhood home of Vienna. Rosenberg goes so far as to say, "[h]e was born Georg Szell on June 7, 1897, in Budapest..." (p. 237, emphasis added). Sources agree, however, that in later life (at least after coming to America) Szell went by the Anglicised "George," and that is the name credited on his extant recordings. See this article's talk page for further discussion of this issue.
2. ^ Henahan 1970
3. ^ Quoted in Oestreich 1997.
4. ^ Rosenberg 2000, p. 238
5. ^ Szell 1968
6. ^ Szell 1968
7. ^ Szell 1968
8. ^ Mermelstein 1997
9. ^ Henahan 1970
10. ^ Kozinn 1997
11. ^ Charry 2005 - "Chronology"; also Henahan 1970

References

• Charry, Michael (2005): George Szell: Biography and Chronology. SonyClassical.com. Retrieved 2007-03-29
• Charry, Michael (2001): "George Szell", in Sadie, Stanley ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Ed., vol. 24, pp. 880-881. London: MacMillan. ISBN 0-333-60800-3 (Also available via Grove Music Online - Subscription required.)
• Henahan, Donal: "George Szell, Conductor, Is Dead"; The New York Times - 1970-07-31, p. 1. (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
• Kozinn, Allan: ""RECORDINGS VIEW; Filling Out the Picture of an Autocratic Maestro"; The New York Times 1997-10-19. Via NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2007-03-29
• Mermelstein, David (1997): "George Szell and Richard Strauss." Sony Music Entertainment Inc. ASIN B0000029XS
• Oestreich, James R.: "Out From Under the Shadow"; The New York Times - 1997-01-26, p. 2-31. Via ProQuest, Document ID=10932330. Retrieved 2007-03-28
• Rosenberg, Donald (2000): The Cleveland Orchestra Story: "Second to None". Cleveland: Gray & Company. ISBN 1-886228-24-8
• Schonberg, Harold (1967): The Great Conductors. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-20735-0 (see pp. 337-340, and Index)
• Schonberg, Harold: "They Took Almost Opposing Paths to Parnassus" (Appreciation of Szell and Sir John Barbirolli); The New York Times - 1970-08-09. (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
• Szell, George (1968): Interview conducted by John Culshaw for the BBC. London, Sept. 1968.
• Slonimsky, Nicolas, rev. Laura Kuhn. (2001): Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians -- Centennial Edition, Vol. 6, pp. 3559-3560. New York: G. Schirmer. ISBN 0-02-865525-7

2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (89th in leap years). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... July 31 is the 212th day of the year (213th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 19 is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (89th in leap years). ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... March 28 is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Sir John (Giovanni Battista) Barbirolli (December 2, 1899 - July 29, 1970), was a British conductor and cellist who led the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... August 9 is the 221st day of the year (222nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Nicolas Slonimsky (April 27, 1894 - December 25, 1995) was a Russian-American composer, conductor, music critic, musician, and author. ...

External links

• Discography
• Discography (2)
• Scan of the New York Times obituary of Szell - from Google Books. (scan of pages from: McLanathan, Richard and Gene Brown (1978). The Arts. New York: Arno Press. ISBN 0405111533)