Herbert Von

Karajan
(1908-1989)
Prepared by: John Carlo Nafarrete

Overview
Austrian conductor
Principal Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for 35
years
Generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the
20th century
A dominant figure in European classical music from the mid1950s until his death
Large number of recordings he made and their prominence
during his lifetime
By one estimate he was the top-selling classical music recording
artist of all time, having sold an estimated 200 million records.

Biography
5 April 1908 - Born in Salzburg, Austria-Hungary, as Heribert
Ritter von Karajan
Child prodigy on the piano
From 1916 to 1926, he studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg
with Franz Ledwenke, theory with Franz Zauer, and composition
with Bernhard Paumgartner
Continued his studies at the Vienna Academy, studying piano
with Josef Hofmann (a teacher with the same name as the
pianist) and conducting with Alexander Wunderer and Franz
Schalk
In 1929, he conducted Salome at the Festspielhaus in Salzburg
from 1929 to 1934 Karajan served as Kapellmeister at the
Stadttheater in Ulm

Biography (cont.)
1933 Karajan made his conducting debut at the Salzburg Festival with the
Walpurgisnacht Scene in Max Reinhardt's production of Faust
It was also in 1933 that von Karajan became a member of the Nazi party, a
fact for which he would later be criticized.
Karajan's prominence increased from 1933 to 1945, which has led to
speculation that he joined the Nazi Party solely to advance his music career.
In Salzburg in 1934, Karajan led the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time,
and from 1934 to 1941, he was engaged to conduct operatic and symphonyorchestra concerts at the Theater Aachen
in 1935, he was appointed Germany's youngest Generalmusikdirektor and
performed as a guest conductor in Bucharest, Brussels, Stockholm,
Amsterdam and Paris
In 1938 Karajan made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Berlin
State Opera, conducting Fidelio.

Biography (cont.)
He then enjoyed a major success at the State Opera with Tristan
und Isolde. His performance was hailed by a Berlin critic as Das
Wunder Karajan (the Karajan miracle)
Receiving a contract with Deutsche Grammophon that same
year, Karajan made the first of numerous recordings, conducting
the Staatskapelle Berlin in the overture to The Magic Flute.
On 26 July 1938, he married operetta singer Elmy Holgerloef.
They divorced in 1942.
On 22 October 1942, at the height of the Second World War,
Karajan married Anna Maria "Anita" Sauest, born Gtermann.
They divorced in 1958
Karajan was discharged by the Austrian denazification
examining board on 18 March 1946, and resumed his
conducting career shortly thereafter

Biography (cont.)
In 1946, Karajan gave his first post-war concert in Vienna with the Vienna
Philharmonic, but he was banned from further conducting activities by the
Soviet occupation authorities because of his Nazi party membership. That
summer he participated anonymously in the Salzburg Festival.
On 28 October 1947, Karajan gave his first public concert following the lifting of
the conducting ban. With the Vienna Philharmonic and the Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde, he performed Johannes Brahms' A German Requiem for a
gramophone production in Vienna.
In 1949, Karajan became artistic director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde,
Vienna
He also conducted at La Scala in Milan
His most prominent activity at this time was recording with the newly formed
Philharmonia Orchestra in London, helping to build them into one of the world's
finest.
In 1951 and 1952 he conducted at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

Biography (cont.)
In 1955 he was appointed music director for life of the Berlin Philharmonic
as successor to Wilhelm Furtwngler
Upon arriving in New York City for a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1955,
Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic found protests outside from those still
seeing the two as being too near the Nazis
From 1957 to 1964 he was artistic director of the Vienna State Opera
Karajan was closely involved with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Salzburg
Festival, where he initiated the Easter Festival, which would remain tied to
the Berlin Philharmonic's Music Director after his tenure.
On 6 October 1958 he married his third wife, French model Eliette Mouret;
they became parents of two daughters, Isabel and Arabel.
He continued to perform, conduct and record prolifically until his death in
Anif in 1989, mainly with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna
Philharmonic
He died of a heart attack in his home on 16 July 1989 at the age of 81.

Contributions
Founded the Salzburg Easter Festival in 1967, at which the
Philharmoniker were able to also make a name for themselves
as an opera orchestra
The Salzburg Whitsun Festival followed in 1973
The Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition, first held in
1969, was springboard to an international career for young
conductors like Mariss Jansons and Valery Gergiev
Karajan promoted promising talents, including Claudio Abbado,
Seiji Ozawa and the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter
Concerned about the next generation of musicians, he initiated
the Orchestra Academy in 1972: it prepares prospective
orchestra musicians to work in a professional orchestra.

Awards and Honors

Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 17
May 1960
In 1961, he received the Austrian Medal for Science and Art
Grand Merit Cross (Grosses Bundesverdienstkreuz) of the Order
of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
In 1977 he was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize
21 June 1978 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of
Music from Oxford University
Mdaille de Vermeil from the Acadmie franaise in Paris
Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London
Olympia Award of the Onassis Foundation
UNESCO International Music Prize

Awards and Honors (cont)

Two Gramophone Awards for recordings of Mahler's Ninth
Symphony and the complete Parsifal recordings in 1981
Eduard Rhein Ring of Honor from the German Eduard Rhein
Foundation in 1984
In 2002, the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize was founded in his
honour; in 2003 Anne-Sophie Mutter, who had made her debut
with Karajan in 1977, became the first recipient of this award
He was voted into the inaugural Gramophone Hall of Fame in 2012
He has received the Picasso Medal from UNESCO
In 1997 the "Herbert von Karajan Whitsun Festival" was
inaugurated at the Baden-Baden Festival Theatre
Karajan was an honorary citizen of Salzburg (1968), Berlin (1973),
and Vienna (1978).