Felix Weingartner
born Zara, Dalmatia, June 2, 1863; died Winterthur, May 7, 1942
Documents associated with this person:
Austrian conductor, also composer, and author.
Career Summary
Weingartner's career as a conductor began in 1884, and he held a series of appointments, successively at Königsberg, Danzig, Hamburg, Mannheim, and Berlin (1891-1907), and then succeeded Gustav Mahler after the latter had been forced out as director of the Vienna Hofoper in 1908, himself resigning in 1911 in the face of opposition from critics and the public, but retaining control of the Vienna Philharmonic concerts until 1927. Thereafter he held posts in other cities until being appointed director of the Vienna Volksoper (1919-24). He again directed the Vienna Hofoper (Staatsoper) 1935-36. Despite his early association with Liszt, he has been considered principally a conductor of Classical composers, notably Beethoven.
As a composer he wrote seven operas, six symphonies, two symphonic poems, and much chamber music. As an author he wrote books on interpretation of the repertory (Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann), on conducting, and memoirs.
Weingartner and Schenker
Weingartner's Ratschläge für Ausführungen der Symphonien Beethovens (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1906) is cited in the "Literatur" (Secondary Literature) sections of Schenker's Beethoven's Neunte Sinfonie: Eng. trans., pp. 20 ("serious substantive efforts ... acquits himself to good advantage"), 51-3, 88, 104 ("makes the effort, which cannot be valued highly enough, to supplement the dynamic shadings on the basis of the sense of the composition"), 119-20, 135-36, 159-60, 176, 182 ("gives accurate guidance ... several corrections ... they are to be considered perfectly appropriate"), 222, 285 ("astute suggestions concerning stage arrangement ... good instinct"), 307-08 ("arrives at the only correct solution"), 316-19 ("rightly objects--it is just a pity that no reason is given!"), 330. Later, Schenker included the Ratschläge in his discussion of the Fifth Symphony in Der Tonwille, Heft 5 (1923), and elsewhere in Heft 3 (1922) criticizing him for conducting an all-French program (Eng. trans., vol.1, pp. 136, 198-201, 221).
Early in his career, as a music critic, Schenker had written "Bülow-Weingartner" in 1895 (Federhofer (1990), pp.171-75), a review of an article by Weingartner entitled "Ueber das Dirigiren" (1895), itself a reflection on an article by Wagner of the same title.
There is no correspondence between Weingartner and Schenker, but several articles and concert programs survive in OC and OJ. For comments in Schenker's diary, see Federhofer (1985), pp. 267-68.
Sources:
- NGDM
- Baker's1971
- Federhofer, Hellmut, Heinrich Schenker nach Tagebüchern und Briefen ... (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1985)
- Federhofer, Hellmut, Schenker als Essayist und Kritiker ... (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1990)