Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer earned a formidable reputation among twentieth-century conductors for his austere and monumental readings of the central Germanic repertoire. Early prominence arrived when he stepped in at short notice to direct Max Reinhardt’s Berlin staging of Orfèe aux enfers. In 1905 he took charge of the off-stage brass for Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony; Mahler then endorsed him for the post of Chorus Master at the German Opera in Prague. Klemperer made his podium debut there with Die Freischütz and moved to a conducting position in Hamburg in 1910, the same year he aided Mahler in preparing the colossal Symphony No. 8.

A liaison with the already-married soprano Elisabeth Schumann provoked a scandal that cost him the Hamburg post. More than five years passed before he secured a major appointment, becoming conductor of the Cologne Opera, a position he retained until 1924. During this period he established himself as a leading exponent of contemporary scores and assumed leadership of Berlin’s radical Kroll Opera.

Economic measures by the Prussian state government closed the Kroll in 1931, yet Klemperer was soon named conductor of the Berlin State Opera, an appointment that drew immediate protests from the Nazi Party on account of his Jewish heritage. He departed Germany at once when the Nazis came to power in 1933.

In the United States he appeared as guest conductor with several ensembles, most notably the Pittsburgh Symphony, which he helped restore after a period of financial difficulty. Following drastic surgery for a brain tumor in 1939, he suffered lasting impairment to his motor control and an intensification of his manic-depressive condition. The experience prompted a decisive shift in artistic focus toward the most enduring masterworks of the literature; his formerly propulsive, rhythmically incisive manner gave way to a majestic, measured, and deliberately paced style.

Klemperer resumed his European career as conductor of the Budapest State Opera, leaving Hungary once the Communists imposed an authoritarian regime after 1948. Record producer Walter Legge then engaged him to lead the newly formed Philharmonia Orchestra, yielding numerous landmark recordings in which Klemperer championed the music of Mahler. When Legge dissolved the Philharmonia in 1964, its players reconstituted themselves as the New Philharmonia; Klemperer remained with the ensemble, supplying the artistic authority essential to its survival. He continued conducting until shortly before his death at the age of eighty-eight. Actor Werner Klemperer, best known as Colonel Klink in Hogan’s Heroes, was his son.