Erich Leinsdorf (1912–1993)

Erich Leinsdorf was born to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria. His parents were Charlotte, a trained musician, and Ludwig Julius Landauer, who died when Erich was three years old. By age five, he was studying music with his mother. In his teens, he worked as a piano accompanist for singers and a rehearsal pianist for Anton Webern's choral group. He studied piano, cello, composition, and conducting at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, the University of Vienna, and the Vienna Academy of Music. From 1934 to 1937, he worked as an assistant to conductors Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini at the famous Salzburg Festival. In 1937, at age 25, with Toscanini's recommendation, Leinsdorf came to the USA to become assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He made an acclaimed debut in January 1938 leading a performance of Wagner's Die Walküre. A few months later, his homeland was annexed by Nazi Germany. With the help of freshman Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, Leinsdorf was able to stay in the USA and become an American citizen. In 1943, he became conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, where he remained only a few months until he was drafted by the U.S. Army. After he was discharged, he led the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1947 to 1955. During that period, he and the orchestra made a series of acclaimed low-budget recordings that brought Rochester the music world's attention. He earned a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality. After leaving Rochester, he was briefly head of the New York City Opera before resuming his association with the Metropolitan Opera. In 1962, he was named music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he remained for seven years. Leinsdorf then was a guest conductor of operas and orchestras around the world for the next 20 years, particularly associated with the Met and the New York Philharmonic. He served from 1978 to 1980 as principal conductor of the (West) Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Leinsdorf was known for his arrangements of orchestral concert suites of music from major operas. He also published books and essays on musical matters, including The Composer’s Advocate: A Radical Orthodoxy for Musicians (1981), Erich Leinsdorf on Music (1997), and Cadenza: A Musical Career (1976).