“…after having learned the art of conducting with second class orchestras, he became a reputed conductor from 1922. But the nazi era imposed him to make a choice : Furtwängler stayed in Berlin, but as an exiled in his own country, as he used to say. With the end of the war, he was given the opportunity to come back at the head of European musical culture, promoting humanity in music. But times were changing, and he was perceived more than ever as distant from “modernity”, as this concept was understood then.” – www.furtwangler.org
Furtwängler believed that he captured the time signatures that the composers intended. Though, not as popular as Karajan and others, the unique standpoint which Wilhelm Furtwängler displayed shouldn’t go unnoticed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHlPC3CAZ20
Tags: Beethoven, conductor, Furtwangler, nazi germany
I find it funny that he was perceived as “not modern” while promoting humanity through music.
That’s why I posted that excerpt. There is more meaning to it than what meets the eye.
What about the new era that was ushered in made him at odds with modernity? Was it that after the stimuli of WWII, that he didn’t feel obligated to make a stand for humanity?
Maybe it’s that he aged old.
Having generally shunned the modernist repertoire throughout his career, he was closer to the Nazis by default. Really he just pursued what he wanted, in the true fashion of an artist. Another example of how art and politics manipulate each other.