Fritz Reiner American conductor of Hungarian origin, specialist in opera and symphonic music. Date of Birth: 19.12.1888 Country: USA

Biography of Fritz Reiner

Fritz Reiner was an American conductor of Hungarian origin, specializing in opera and symphonic music. He was known for his outstanding interpretations of Strauss and Bartok, and his musical taste was strongly modernist. However, Reiner's repertoire was incredibly wide-ranging. Above all, he had a deep love for the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Reiner was born in Budapest, Hungary, into a Jewish family. At his father's insistence, he initially studied law, but he soon became passionate about music. He went to the Franz Liszt Academy to learn the secrets of piano playing and composition. During his final two years of study, Reiner was taught piano by the young Bela Bartok.

After working in the opera houses of Budapest and Dresden, where he even had the opportunity to meet Richard Strauss, Reiner moved to the United States in 1922. He became the leading conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 1928, Reiner became a U.S. citizen, and in 1931, he left the orchestra to teach at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Many renowned musicians, such as Leonard Bernstein and Lukas Foss, studied under Reiner at the Curtis Institute.

From 1938 to 1948, Reiner conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and he even made several recordings with them for Columbia Records. He also worked at the Metropolitan Opera for several years, conducting notable productions of Richard Strauss's "Salome" with Bulgarian soprano Ljuba Welitsch in the title role and the American premiere of Igor Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress." Reiner conducted the legendary production of "Carmen" in 1952 with Rise Stevens.

In 1947, Reiner appeared as the conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the film "Carnegie Hall." While he primarily worked in the United States since his arrival, after World War II, Reiner began devoting more attention to European stages.

By 1953, Reiner, who was then the musical director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, had gained international recognition. It is widely believed that the peak of Reiner's career occurred during his time in Chicago, particularly between 1954 and 1963 when he made most of his best recordings. His last recording, Brahms' Fourth Symphony performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Kingsway Hall, was released by a special edition of "Reader's Digest" and later reissued on compact disc.

Reiner was married three times, and one of his wives was the daughter of Etelka Gerster. He had three daughters from his marriages. In 1960, Reiner suffered a heart attack, and his health gradually declined from that point onwards. He passed away on November 15, 1963 in New York City at the age of 74.