Karl Muck

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Karl Muck

Background information
Born	October 22, 1859 Darmstadt, Germany
Died	March 3, 1940 (age 80) Stuttgart, Germany
Genre(s)	Classical
Occupation(s)	Conductor
Associated acts	Boston Symphony Orchestra Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra

Karl Muck (October 22, 1859 – March 3, 1940) was a German conductor, known for his autocratic but powerful approach to music. He is considered the greatest interpreter of the work of Richard Wagner.

Born in Darmstadt, Germany, Muck earned a Ph.D. in classical philolology at Heidelberg. An early love for music led him to take piano lessons. After earning his doctorate, Muck entered the Leipzig Conservatory. He began conducting in 1884 and led orchestras in Zurich, Brno, Salzburg, Graz, and Prague. In 1892 he began conducting the Royal Opera in Berlin, where he remained until 1912. Along the way he also conducted at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth and also worked with the Vienna Philharmonic.^[1]

He became music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1912. He was considered a modern, adventurous conductor and was responsible for leading the orchestra in historic recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey, in 1917.

In 1918, Muck was accused of sympathising with the with the enemy during World War I for conducting performances of German music. After declining the request of a performance of the Star Spangled Banner during a concert, Muck was arrested under the Alien Enemies Act and imprisoned at Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia for the duration war.^[2] After his deportation from the United States, he was never to return.

Muck went on to lead the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, made additional recordings and appeared regularly in Bayreuth, where his definitive performances of the music of Richard Wagner set a high standard that was only challenged by the historic appearances of Arturo Toscanini in 1930, the first time a non-German conducting during the festival.

Muck died in Stuttgart, Germany.

Footnotes

^ Schonberg, Harold C. (1967). The Great Conductors. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0671207350.
^ Rachel Weiss (ed.). "Dr. Carl Muck conductor, Boston Symphony Orchestra", The File Room. Retrieved on April 3, 2007.