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Carlo Maria Giulini

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Carlo Maria Giulini (1914 to 2005) was an Italian conductor, born in Barletta in Apulia and raised in Bolzano, where the local music sounded mainly Austrian and Tyrolean. He was given a violin at the age of five. At sixteen he went to the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he studied viola and conducting. He won a place in the orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Two years later he won a conducting competition, but could not make use of the prize because, although a pacifist, he had to join the army. At the end of the war he went into hiding and married Marcella, with whom he remained until her death in 1995.

Music and breakthrough

After the liberation in 1944 he conducted the first concert of the then Augusteo orchestra after Fascism, and he soon received more invitations, among others from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. His career lasted 54 years and ended in 1998. Among his recordings are Le nozze di Figaro in 1961, Verdi's Requiem in 1964, Don Carlo in 1971, Dvořák's Ninth Symphony in 1977 and Debussy's La Mer.

Influence

Giulini was known for his careful, deep and often slow approach to the repertoire, from opera to symphony. He shows that a conductor does not merely perform the music, but gives it time and breath.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Debussy's La Mer under Giulini. Notice how the waves of the orchestra slowly build up and how each instrumental group is given its own colour.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists