School of Rock
Random article All articles A–Z
2 languages

Hans Rosbaud

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

Hans Rosbaud was an Austrian conductor, born in Graz on 22 July 1895. He studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, where he learned composition and piano. His first permanent post came in 1921 in Mainz, as musical director of the new music school. In 1928 he became the first principal conductor of the Frankfurt radio orchestra.

Music and breakthrough

Rosbaud is known as a conductor of twentieth-century music. In the 1920s and 1930s he conducted premières of works by Arnold Schönberg and Béla Bartók. Under the Nazi regime he could hardly perform new music any more and kept a low political profile; meanwhile his brother Paul worked as a spy for the Allies. After the war he briefly led the Münchner Philharmoniker and, from 1948 until his death, the radio orchestra in Baden-Baden. In 1954, after only eight days of preparation, he conducted the first performance of Schönberg's opera Moses und Aron, which was released on record in 1957. With his orchestra he travelled to contemporary-music festivals such as Donaueschingen.

Influence

He was also a versatile conductor: his recordings include Mahler, Bruckner and Mozart, but also Gluck and Rameau. One magazine called him one of the unsung heroes of mid-twentieth-century music. He died in Lugano on 29 December 1962.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Rosbaud's performance of Moses und Aron. Notice how clearly he makes Schönberg's difficult, angular music sound, so that you can keep following the lines in the orchestra.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists