The concerts

The recordings

The Maestro by those who have known him

Other documents

The Furtwänglerian art of conducting: a panorama (with audio files)

Furtwängler with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Salzburg Festspielhaus, 1951

The concerts

Furtwängler's life as a conductor can be divided in four parts : 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.

The four files we propose below propose the complete  listing of the concerts given by Wilhelm Furtwängler. As detailed as these documents are, there are not fully exhaustive. We are committed to update them throughout 2003.

We also propose four other listings, unfortunately we have not translated them in English.

       The learning years: 1906-1922                                  The glorious period : 1922-1934

              (DOC file, 18 pages, 500 Ko)                                                              (DOC file, 22 pages, 600 Ko)

                  Mannheim, 1915                                                                                 Berlin, 1930

     Exiled in his own country: 1935-1947                               Apotheosis: 1947-1954

                  (DOC file, 11 pages, 400 Ko)                                                         (RTF file, 11 pages, 400 Ko)

                              Vienna, 1944                                                                                    1951

From the "General concert listing" by René Trémine, 1997

The recordings

The best recordings

The French Wilhelm Furtwängler Society has chosen a selective list of recordings, which can be considered as a priority of newcomers to the art of the conductor. It does not pretend to be exhaustive but it is definitely a good starting point !

1938, Alte Philharmonie

The complete listing recordings

The Hungarian Wilhelm Furtwängler Society had made available the complete list of recordings in 1998, but the website has been closed in 2003. Fortunately Youngrok Lee, a Korean enthusiast, has updated this discography. and put it made it available online.

John F. Berky is maintaining an exhaustive discography of Bruckner, which includes Furtwängler's recordings.

Anton Bruckner

Bruckner. In his performances, whether they concern the "stations of the cross" of the Adagio of the Seventh Symphonie, or the Dionysian dance of the Scherzo of the Eighth, Furtwängler appears to be possessed. The Brucknerian heritage of Furtwängler, far less voluminous than the Beethovenian legacy, is nevertheless of capital importance for a deep knowledge of the conductor as well as the composer.

Furtwängler, Bruckner interpreter, by Felix Matus-Echaiz, 2005

Critical Discography by Philippe Leduc, 2005 (English translation Sami Habra)

Documents available online for members of the Société Wilhelm Furtwängler

Furtwängler conducted Bruckner's works no less than 222 times. His favorites were clearly the Symphonies n°7 to 9, but he never conducted the Ninth after the concert on 11th October 1944 in St. Florian Collegiate Church, whose Bruckner have been the organist. It is the Symphony n°4 which he conducted most often, with no less than 61 concerts.

Spreadsheet of concerts and recordings of Bruckner's works, by Stéphane Topakian, 1996 (PDF file, 1 page, 80 Ko)

Bruckner's discography as recorded by Furtwängler, by Philippe Leduc, 2006 (PDF file, 1 page, 50 Ko)

Johann Sebastian Bach

J.S. Bach: Mattäus Passion

Comparison of timing between 28 recordings between 1935 et 2000 of the Passion (PDF file, 1 page A3, 500 Ko)

Excerpts of the score  (PDF file, 1 page A3, 700 Ko)

Documents available online for members of the Société Wilhelm Furtwängler

1929, Brahmsfest, Volkshaus hall of Iena

with the Berlin Philharmonic

The Maestro by those who have known him

Who better than musicians to talk about music?  Who better to talk about Furtwängler than the musicians who have known him? 

Conductors: Ansermet, Celibidache, Karajan

Soloists: Brendel, Millstein, Badura-Skoda, Fisher-Dieskau...,  

Musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic, 

Karla Höcker who had been a collaborator on tour,

Furtwängler seen (at least partly) from a comic point of view in 1924-1929 by Piatigorsky - a cellist and a humorist.

Nürnberg, 6th May 1953

At a concert. Lastly, Charles Schlacks Jr, who founded the Furtwängler Society of America, gives us a report on a concert by Furtwängler in Nürnberg in 1953 where he took the two pictures below.

The Maestro's atelier by Philippe Jacquard (RTF file, 23 pages, 160 Ko)

Concert booklet, 6th May 1953

Berlioz, Ravel, Strauss, Brahms - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Die Berliner Philharmoniker nach dem Kriege (in German), by Peter Wackernagel (PDF file, 7 pages, 1,6 Mo)

Documents available online for members of the Société Wilhelm Furtwängler

Other documents

1934, Paris

Furtwängler by Walter Tiemann, 1930

Note of the editor : translation of our French documentation is under progress. Please come back regularly or subscribe to our newsletter to be kept up to date.

The composer | The man | The conductor