- Fritz Stiedry
Fritz Stiedry (born October 11th 1883 in
Vienna , died August 8, 1968 inZurich ) was anAustria n conductor.While studying
law at theUniversity of Vienna , Stiedry's musical abilities were noticed byGustav Mahler who appointed him his assistant at theVienna Court Opera in 1907. This was followed by other assistant posts, leading to chief conductorships at the operas ofKassel andBerlin .In 1933 Stiedry left Germany in response to the assumption of power by
Adolf Hitler . From 1934 until 1937 Stiedry was principal conductor of theLeningrad Philharmonic Orchestra . Stiedry was involved in rehearsals for the premiere of Shostakovich's "Fourth Symphony"; however the premiere was canceled for reasons that remain controversial. Some claim that Shostakovich felt Stiedry unable to deal with the symphony's complexities: however others say that the real reason was that Communist Party officials pressured the composer to withdraw the work. [http://www.sfsymphony.org/templates/pgmnote.asp?nodeid=3668&callid=792] .In 1937 Stiedry left Leningrad for the
United States . He worked with theNew Friends of Music Orchestra in New York, where he performed long-neglected works by Bach, Haydn and Mozart and premiered Schoenberg's "Second Chamber Symphony". From 1945 onwards, Stiedry returned to opera, conducting theLyric Opera of Chicago and theMetropolitan Opera of New York.External links
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=41:54890~T1 Article at allmusic.com]
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