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Fritz Reiner

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

Fritz Reiner, in Hungarian Reiner Frigyes, was a Hungarian-American conductor of opera and symphonic music. He was born on 19 December 1888 in Budapest into a non-religious Jewish family. At his father's insistence he began to study law, but he chose piano and composition at the Franz Liszt Academy after all. One of his piano teachers was Béla Bartók. He then conducted at the opera houses of Budapest and Dresden, where he worked closely with Richard Strauss.

Music and breakthrough

In 1922 he moved to the United States, where he was conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra until 1931. He then taught at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where Leonard Bernstein, Lukas Foss and Nino Rota were among his students. From 1938 to 1948 he led the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In 1949 he conducted Strauss's Salome at the Metropolitan Opera, and in 1951 the American premiere of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. From 1953 until his death in 1963 he was principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. With that orchestra he made stereo recordings for RCA as early as 1954.

Influence

Reiner was known for precision and economical gestures. Stravinsky called the Chicago orchestra under his direction the most precise and flexible in the world, but his way of working was autocratic and sometimes hard on the musicians. Together with Joseph Szigeti he persuaded Serge Koussevitzky to have Bartók write the Concerto for Orchestra. He was an authority on the music of Strauss, Bartók and Stravinsky and championed new music. He died on 15 November 1963 in New York.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to his recording of Pictures at an Exhibition with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and notice how precisely the orchestral groups come in together. Try to hear how clearly the different instruments stay distinct from one another.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists