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Willem Mengelberg

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

Willem Mengelberg was born in Utrecht in 1871, the fourth of fifteen children of a German-Dutch sculptor. He studied piano and composition in Cologne and in 1891, at the age of twenty, became music director of the city of Lucerne. In 1895 he became principal conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, a post he held until 1945. Richard Strauss dedicated his tone poem Ein Heldenleben to him and the orchestra in 1898. In 1939 he conducted the premiere of Béla Bartók's Second Violin Concerto.

Music and breakthrough

Mengelberg built up the Mahler tradition of the Concertgebouw. In 1902 he became friends with Gustav Mahler, who came to Amsterdam to conduct his own work. In 1920 he organised a Mahler Festival with nine concerts. Since 1899 Bach's Matthäus-Passion (St Matthew Passion) has been performed in the Concertgebouw every year on Palm Sunday. From 1922 to 1928 he also led the New York Philharmonic. His recordings with the Concertgebouw Orchestra stand out for the heavy use of portamento in the strings and for large changes of tempo. Admirers praise this; others feel it obscures the overall line. He was also regarded as autocratic towards his musicians.

Influence

His conduct during the German occupation is controversial. He gave interviews to the Nazi press and continued to conduct in Germany, but he also wrote letters to save Jewish musicians from deportation. In 1945 the Honorary Council (Ereraad) banned him from conducting in the Netherlands, a ban later reduced to six years. He withdrew to Switzerland, where he died in 1951. Mengelberg is regarded as one of the great conductors of the first half of the twentieth century, and at the same time as one of the most controversial.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to his recording of Mahler's Fourth Symphony and notice the changes of tempo and the way the strings slide from note to note. Can you hear how freely he treats the tempo?

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists