Editing Wilhelm Furtwängler (section)

== Conducting style ==

Furtwängler possessed a unique and deeply personal philosophy of music. He viewed symphonic works as creations of nature, which could only be realized subjectively through sound. [[Neville Cardus]], writing in the ''[[Manchester Guardian]]'' in 1954, eloquently described Furtwängler’s conducting style: "He did not regard the printed notes of the score as a final statement, but rather as so many symbols of an imaginative conception, ever changing and always to be felt and realized subjectively..."<ref>{{cite news|last=Kettle|first=Martin|author-link=Martin Kettle|title=Second coming|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/nov/26/classicalmusicandopera2|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=26 November 2004|access-date=24 July 2023|location=London}}</ref> Similarly, conductor [[Henry Lewis (musician)|Henry Lewis]] remarked: "I admire Furtwängler for his originality and honesty. He liberated himself from the slavery of the score; he understood that the notes printed on the page are nothing but SYMBOLS. The score is neither the essence nor the spirit of the music. Furtwängler had the rare and extraordinary gift of transcending the written notes to reveal the true essence of music."<ref name="Wilhelm Furtwängler 2004, p. 54">Wilhelm Furtwängler, ''CD Wilhelm Furtwängler in Memoriam FURT 1090–1093'', Tahra, 2004, p. 54.</ref>

Many commentators and critics regard him as the greatest conductor in history.<ref>"Arguably the greatest conductor of all time", {{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/pip/pip/3lm1v | title=The Furtwangler Legacy on BBC radio, November 2004 | access-date=19 June 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530104308/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/pip/pip/3lm1v/ | archive-date=30 May 2016 | url-status=dead }}.</ref><ref>"The greatest conductor of all time", {{cite web|url=http://www.medici.tv/#!/furtwanglers-love|title=Furtwangler's love, 2004}}.</ref><ref>"The most influential and important orchestral conductor of the recorded era" {{harv|Kettle|2004}}.</ref><ref>"Amazing, spur-of-the-moment inspirational intensity, probably unsurpassed by any other conductor before or since", {{cite web|url=http://www.sinfinimusic.com/uk/features/guides/artist-guides/top-20-conductors-of-all-time|title=Sinfini Music, Top 20 conductors, November 2012}}.</ref><ref>"Wilhelm Furtwängler is widely considered the one of the greatest – if not the very greatest – conductors of the twentieth century", {{Cite magazine | url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/05/ten-perfect-orchestral-recordings.html | title=Ten Perfect Orchestral Recordings|author=[[David Denby]]|date=1 May 2012|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}.</ref><ref>"Maybe the greatest conductor in history", Patrick Szersnovicz, ''[[Le Monde de la musique]]'', December 2004, {{p.|62–67}}.</ref><ref>"Maybe the greatest conductor in history, probably the greatest Beethovenian", "L'orchestre des rites et des dieux", editor: Autrement, series mutation, vol. 99, 1994, {{p.|206}}.</ref><ref>"Why was Wilhelm Furtwängler the greatest conductor in history?" Critic [[Joachim Kaiser]], course in German available on the web site of the ''[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]]'' newspaper.</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Wilhelm Furtwängler Biography | url=http://www.naxos.com/conductorinfo/846.htm | publisher=Naxos | access-date=21 July 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Stefan Dosch|date=7 May 2019|title=Als mitten im Weltkrieg große Musik entstand|quote=Viele sahen und sehen in ihm den größten Dirigenten des 20. Jahrhunderts|trans-quote=any saw and see him as the greatest conductor of the 20th century|language=de|url=https://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/kultur/Als-mitten-im-Weltkrieg-grosse-Musik-entstand-id54203381.html|newspaper=[[Augsburger Allgemeine]]|access-date=24 July 2023}}</ref><ref>"An artist frequently regarded as the most important conductor in the history of phonography, or even of all time", Maciej Chiżyński {{cite web | title= Wilhelm Furtwängler le géant, enregistrements radio à Berlin 1939–1945   | date= 23 May 2019 | url= https://www.resmusica.com/2019/05/23/wilhelm-furtwangler-le-geant-orchestre-philharmonique-de-berlin-enregistrements-radio-1939-1945/ |   publisher= ResMusica | access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=La tradizione di Furtwängler | date=12 April 2021| url=https://www.huffingtonpost.it/entry/la-tradizione-di-furtwangler_it_60740fc2c5b6ed595281ea20|work=[[HuffPost]]| access-date=12 April 2021}}, "probably the greatest conductor of all time" ("probabilmente è il più grande direttore d'orchestra di tutti i tempi"), Giovanni Giammarino.</ref> Musicologist Walter Frisch, in his book on the symphonies of [[Johannes Brahms]], describes Furtwängler as "the finest Brahms conductor of his generation, perhaps of all time." Frisch highlights Furtwängler’s recordings as demonstrating "at once a greater attention to detail and to Brahms' markings than his contemporaries, and at the same time a larger sense of rhythmic-temporal flow that is never deflected by individual nuances." He praises Furtwängler’s ability "not only to respect, but to make musical sense of, dynamic markings and the indications of crescendo and diminuendo." Frisch concludes that Furtwängler possessed "the rare combination of a conductor who understands both sound and structure."<ref>{{cite book|last=Frisch|first=Walter|title=Brahms: The Four Symphonies|year=2003|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-09965-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/brahmsfoursympho00fris/page/183 183–185]|url=https://archive.org/details/brahmsfoursympho00fris/page/183|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> He notes [[Vladimir Ashkenazy]] who says that his sound "is never rough. It's very weighty but at the same time is never heavy. In his fortissimo you always feel every voice.... I have never heard so beautiful a fortissimo in an orchestra", and [[Daniel Barenboim]] says he "had a subtlety of tone color that was extremely rare. His sound was always 'rounded,' and incomparably more interesting than that of the great German conductors of his generation."

On the other hand, the critic [[David Hurwitz (music critic)|David Hurwitz]] sharply criticizes what he terms "the Furtwängler wackos" who "will forgive him virtually any lapse, no matter how severe", and characterizes the conductor himself as "occasionally incandescent but criminally sloppy".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-14893/ | title=Historical Gems: Furtwängler RIAS Recordings from Audite|website=Classics Today}}</ref> Unlike conductors such as [[Carlos Kleiber]] or [[Sergiu Celibidache]], Furtwängler did not try to reach the perfection in details, and the number of rehearsals with him was small. He said:

<blockquote>I am told that the more you rehearse, the better you play. This is wrong. We often try to reduce the unforeseen to a controllable level, to prevent a sudden impulse that escapes our ability to control, yet also responds to an obscure desire. Let's allow improvisation to have its place and play its role. I think that the true interpreter is the one who improvises. We have mechanized the art of conducting to an awful degree, in the quest of perfection rather than of dream ... As soon as [[rubato]] is obtained and calculated scientifically, it ceases to be true. Music making is something else than searching to achieve an accomplishment. But striving to attain it is beautiful. Some of [[Michelangelo]]'s sculptures are perfect, others are just outlined and the latter ones move me more than the first perfect ones because here I find the essence of desire, of the wakening dream. That's what really moves me: fixing without freezing in cement, allowing chance its opportunity.<ref name="Wilhelm Furtwängler 2004, p. 54"/></blockquote>

His style is often contrasted with that of his contemporary [[Arturo Toscanini]]. He walked out of a Toscanini concert once, calling him "a mere time-beater!". Unlike Toscanini, Furtwängler sought a weighty, less rhythmically strict, more bass-oriented orchestral sound, with a more conspicuous use of tempo changes not indicated in the printed score.<ref>The difference is sometimes mis-characterized by the terms "objective" and "subjective", but Furtwängler's tempo inflections were often planned and reflected his studies with the harmonic theorist [[Heinrich Schenker]] from 1920 to 1935.</ref> Instead of perfection in details, Furtwängler was looking for the spiritual in art. [[Sergiu Celibidache]] explained,

<blockquote>Everybody was influenced at the time by [[Arturo Toscanini]] – it was easy to understand what he was trying to do: you didn't need any reference to spiritual dimension. There was a certain order in the way the music was presented. With Toscanini I never felt anything spiritual. With Furtwängler on the other hand, I understood that there I was confronted by something completely different: metaphysics, transcendence, the relationship between sounds and sonorities ... Furtwängler was not only a musician, he was a creator ... Furtwängler had the ear for it: not the physical ear, but the spiritual ear that captures these parallel movements.<ref>[[Sergiu Celibidache]], ''CD Wilhelm Furtwängler in Memoriam FURT 1090–1093'', Tahra, 2004, p. 57.</ref></blockquote>

[[File:DBPB 1955 128 Wilhelm Furtwängler.jpg|thumb|Furtwängler commemorated on a stamp for [[West Berlin]], 1955]]

Furtwängler's art of conducting is considered the synthesis and the peak of the so-called "Germanic school of conducting".<ref>[[Harold C. Schonberg]], ''The Great Conductors'', Simon and Schuster, 1967.{{page needed|date=July 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Ardoin|1994|p={{page needed|date=July 2023}}}} This "school" was initiated by [[Richard Wagner]]. Unlike [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]]'s conducting style, which was "characterized by quick, even tempos and imbued with what many people regarded as model logic and precision ..., Wagner's way was broad, hyper-romantic and embraced the idea of tempo modulation".{{sfn|Ardoin|1994|p=18}} Wagner considered an interpretation as a re-creation and put more emphasis on the phrase than on the measure.{{sfn|Ardoin|1994|pp=19–20}} The fact that the tempo was changing was not something new; Beethoven himself interpreted his own music with a lot of freedom. Beethoven wrote: "my tempi are valid only for the first bars, as feeling and expression must have their own tempo", and "why do they annoy me by asking for my tempi? Either they are good musicians and ought to know how to play my music, or they are bad musicians and in that case my indications would be of no avail".<ref>Beethoven, ''CD Furtwängler, Beethoven's Choral Symphony'', Tahra FURT 1101–1104, p. 28.</ref> Beethoven's disciples, such as [[Anton Schindler]], testified that the composer varied the tempo when he conducted his works.{{sfn|Ardoin|1994|p=21}} Wagner's tradition was followed by the first two permanent conductors of the [[Berlin Philharmonic]].<ref name="Ardoin 1994">{{harvnb|Ardoin|1994|p=22}}.</ref> [[Hans von Bülow]] highlighted more the unitary structure of symphonic works, while [[Arthur Nikisch]] stressed the magnificence of tone.<ref name="Szersnovicz">{{in lang|fr}} Patrick Szersnovicz, ''Le Monde de la musique'', December 2004, p. 62–67.</ref> The styles of these two conductors were synthesized by Furtwängler.<ref name="Szersnovicz"/>

In Munich (1907–1909), Furtwängler studied with [[Felix Mottl]], a disciple of Wagner.{{sfn|Ardoin|1994|p=25}} He considered [[Arthur Nikisch]] as his model.{{sfn|E. Furtwängler|2004|p=32}} According to [[John Ardoin]], Wagner's ''subjective style'' of conducting led to Furtwängler, and Mendelssohn's ''objective style'' of conducting led to Toscanini.<ref name="Ardoin 1994"/>

Furtwängler's art was deeply influenced by the great Jewish music theorist [[Heinrich Schenker]] with whom he worked between 1920 and Schenker's death in 1935. Schenker was the founder of [[Schenkerian analysis]], which emphasized underlying long-range harmonic tensions and [[Resolution (music)|resolutions]] in a piece of music.<ref>SchenkerGUIDE By Tom Pankhurst, p. 5 ff</ref><ref>[http://www.schenkerdocumentsonline.org/index.html Schenker Documents Online].</ref> Furtwängler read Schenker's famous monograph on Beethoven's Ninth symphony in 1911, subsequently trying to find and read all his books.<ref>Sami Habra, ''CD Furtwängler, Beethoven's Choral Symphony'', Tahra FURT 1101–1104, p. 18.</ref> Furtwängler met Schenker in 1920, and they continuously worked together on the repertoire which Furtwängler conducted. Schenker never secured an academic position in Austria and Germany, in spite of Furtwängler's efforts to support him.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [http://nmeeus.ovh/Biographie.html Biography of Schenker], Luciane Beduschi and Nicolas Meeùs.</ref> Schenker depended on several patrons including Furtwängler. Furtwängler's second wife certified much later that Schenker had an immense influence on her husband.{{sfn|E. Furtwängler|2004|p=54}} Schenker considered Furtwängler as the greatest conductor in the world and as the "only conductor who truly understood Beethoven".<ref>CD ''Furtwängler, Beethoven's Choral Symphony'', Tahra FURT 1101–1104, p. 19.</ref>

Furtwängler's recordings are characterized by an "extraordinary sound wealth<ref name="Szersnovicz"/> ", special emphasis being placed on cellos, double basses,<ref name="Szersnovicz"/> percussion and woodwind instruments.<ref>[[David Cairns (writer)|David Cairns]], CD Beethoven's 5th and 6th Symphonies, 427 775–2, DG, 1989, p. 16.</ref> According to Furtwängler, he learned how to obtain this kind of sound from Arthur Nikisch. This richness of sound is partly due to his "vague" beat, often called a "fluid beat".{{sfn|Ardoin|1994|p=12}} This fluid beat created slight gaps between the sounds made by the musicians, allowing listeners to distinguish all the instruments in the orchestra, even in [[tutti]] sections.<ref>Patrick Szersnovicz, Le Monde de la musique, December 2004, p. 66</ref> [[Vladimir Ashkenazy]] once said: "I never heard such beautiful fortissimi as Furtwängler's."<ref name="9th">''CD Wilhelm Furtwängler, his legendary post-war recordings'', Tahra, harmonia mundi distribution, FURT 1054/1057, p. 15.</ref> According to [[Yehudi Menuhin]], Furtwängler's fluid beat was more difficult but superior than Toscanini's very precise beat.<ref>Yehudi Menuhin, DVD ''The Art of Conducting – Great Conductors of the Past'', Elektra/Wea, 2002.</ref> Unlike [[Otto Klemperer]], Furtwängler did not try to suppress emotion in performance, instead giving a hyper romantic aspect{{sfn|Furtwängler|1995|p=103}} to his interpretations. The emotional intensity of his World War II recordings is particularly famous. Conductor and pianist [[Christoph Eschenbach]] has said of Furtwängler that he was a "formidable magician, a man capable of setting an entire ensemble of musicians on fire, sending them into a state of ecstasy".<ref>[http://www.christoph-eschenbach.com/index.php?lid=en&cid=2.2&pid=2 Christoph Eschenbach Own Words on His Life]</ref> Furtwängler desired to retain an element of improvisation and of the unexpected in his concerts, each interpretation being conceived as a re-creation.<ref name="Szersnovicz"/> However, melodic line as well as the global unity were never lost with Furtwängler, even in the most dramatic interpretations, partly due to the influence of Heinrich Schenker and to the fact that Furtwängler was a composer and had studied composition during his whole life.{{sfn|E. Furtwängler|2004|p=55}}

Furtwängler was famous for his exceptional inarticulacy when speaking about music. His pupil [[Sergiu Celibidache]] remembered that the best he could say was, "Well, just listen" (to the music). {{ill|Carl Brinitzer|de}} from the [[BBC World Service|German BBC]] service tried to interview him, and thought he had an imbecile before him. A live recording of a rehearsal with a [[Stockholm]] orchestra documents hardly anything intelligible, only hums and mumbling. On the other hand, a collection of his essays, ''On Music,'' reveals deep thought.