George Szell

About

Born in Budapest, Szell was transplanted at the age of three when his father, who was not a musician but was a passionate music lover, moved the family to Vienna.

Szell’s gifts of musical ear and memory were apparent from the age of two, when he was able to sing forty folk songs in several languages and to correct his mother’s playing the piano by slapping her wrist when she made mistakes. He himself studied the piano and began to compose at a very early age.

He was fortunate that his parents were advised to take him to one of the finest piano teachers in Vienna, Richard Robert -- teacher also of Clara Haskil and Rudolf Serkin -- who had a knack for treating his pupils as individuals and instilling in them a love for music and respect for the great composers, Mozart above all. Szell and Serkin remained close friends and musical collaborators throughout their lives.

As a child prodigy of eleven Szell made a concert tour of selected European cities, including London, much as had the young Mozart one hundred and fifty years earlier. Playing the piano with facility and musical understanding far beyond his years and having his early orchestral compositions performed by leading conductors and orchestras, he was often called "the new Mozart."

Protected from the usual destructive exploitation of musical prodigies by his parents, guided by Richard Robert, Szell made a minimum of concert appearances while he was privately tutored in music and general studies.

He said that by the time he was twelve he was a finished musician, meaning that he had mastered counterpoint, harmony and form. His teachers included Eusebius Mandyczewski, the great Brahms scholar, J. B. Foerster and, for a brief period, Max Reger. At the age of fourteen Szell was signed to a ten-year exclusive publishing contract with the prestigious Universal Edition in Vienna.

Although he later claimed that it was assumed that eventually he would be a conductor, Szell was first thrust into that role by accident. When he was sixteen the conductor of the summer resort concerts where he and his parents were vacationing injured his arm. Szell, who had been a constant presence around the orchestra and was known to know the music in the night’s concert, was asked to take over, which he did with poise and great success.

That was the proverbial turning point. His child prodigy and student days over, at the age of seventeen, he made a debut concert with an orchestra in Berlin as pianist, composer and conductor. Thereafter Szell made his musical way in a succession of increasingly responsible opera positions, from unpaid pianist-coach at the Royal Opera in Berlin under Richard Strauss to top conductor at the German Opera in Prague.

Szell gradually gravitated into concert conducting, through guest appearances, radio concerts, early recordings and, in Prague, through the direction of symphony concerts in connection with his opera post. With the ominous political climate developing in central Europe in the late 1930s, Szell moved his musical activities to the Netherlands and the British Isles, guest conducting the major London orchestras and becoming conductor of the Scottish Orchestra (following John Barbirolli who went to the New York Philharmonic) and principal guest conductor of the Residence Orchestra in the Hague.

In the summers of 1938 and 1939 Szell was invited by the Australian Broadcasting Commission to conduct the Celebrity Series of concerts over a period of several months (it was the winter season down under). In August 1939, with the worsening situation in Europe, Szell and his wife settled in New York, where, after a year of conducting inactivity (during which he taught at the Mannes School of Music and the New School for Social Research), his career resumed. Invitations to the Hollywood Bowl, Detroit Symphony, Robin Hood Dell and the Ravinia Festival followed. In 1941 Arturo Toscanini, who had known of his work in the Hague, invited him to conduct four concerts of the NBC Symphony. In 1942 he made his début at the Metropolitan Opera, where he became a mainstay of the conducting staff for the next four years, and in 1943 he began a lifelong association with the New York Philharmonic. Szell was guest conductor for two seasons in Cleveland and became its musical director in 1946.

After World War II, Szell returned often to the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and conducted frequently at the Salzburg Festival.

Rightly known for his preeminent interpretations of the classical and romantic repertoire, Szell performed much music of the 20th century. In addition to works by Hindemith, Bartók, Walton and some Stravinsky, Szell conducted a number of United States and Cleveland premieres, as well as many world premieres, quite a few of which were commissioned by him and the Cleveland Orchestra. Living composers whose works he conducted included Morton Gould, Lucas Foss, Peter Mennin, Harold Shapero, Aaron Copland, Howard Hanson, George Rochberg, Samuel Barber, Gottfried von Einem, Henri Dutilleux, Alvin Etler, Ernst Krenek and Ernst Toch. At the Salzburg Festival Szell conducted world premieres of the operas School for Wives and Penelope by Rolf Liebermann and Wagner Egk’s Irish Legend.

Szell’s artistry, as amply demonstrated by his recorded legacy, is his depth of understanding of the great classic and romantic composers -- Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, and Dvorák -- and the brilliance he brought to his interpretations of music of the twentieth century. Although he appeared with almost all the great orchestras of the world, the Cleveland Orchestra, which he built and trained, remained the ideal instrument for his expression. The qualities he imbued in the Cleveland Orchestra, its refinement and power, its reflection of his ideal of chamber music clarity, remains to this day as a characteristic of this great ensemble after more than a quarter of a century and three subsequent music directors.

Michael Charry

[Conductor Michael Charry was assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell for nine years and is writing a biography of Szell.]

A George Szell Chronology

1897 Born in Budapest (June 7) c.1900 Family moves to Vienna c.1904 Studies piano with Richard Robert 1908 Public debut as pianist and composer with Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra 1909-10 Ten-concert tour, Dresden, England, etc.

1912 Ten-year publishing contract with Universal Edition 1913 First conducting -- Bad Kissingen 1914 Conducting debut with Blüthner Orchestra, Berlin -- appeared also as soloist and composer 1915-17 Assistant conductor and coach at Berlin Royal Opera, association with Richard Strauss 1917-1918 On Strauss’s recommendation, follows Klemperer as first conductor in Strassburg under Hans Pfitzner 1919-21 Assistant conductor/coach at German Opera House in Prague 1920 Marries Olga Band (divorced in 1926) 1921-22 Conductor at Darmstadt State Opera 1922-24 Conductor at Municipal Opera in Düsseldorf 1924-29 First conductor at Berlin State Opera under Kleiber 1929-1937 Chief conductor of German Opera House in Prague and conductor of Philharmonic Concerts; guest conductor throughout Europe, including Britain and Russia 1930 United States debut with St. Louis Symphony; returns in 1931 1936 Debut with Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam 1937-39 Conductor of Scottish Orchestra in Glasgow and Principal Guest Conductor of Residentie Orchestra in the Hague 1938 Marries Helene Schultz Teltsch 1938 & 39 Conductor with Australian Broadcasting Corporation Orchestras 1939 Settles permanently in the United States, arriving in New York via Vancouver 1941 Guest conductor with the Detroit Symphony, NBC Symphony, Los Angeles Symphony, at the Ravinia Festival and Robin Hood Dell 1942 Metropolitan Opera debut, conducting “Salome” (December 9) 1942-46 Regular conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra 1944-5 Guest conductor with the Cleveland Orchestra 1945-6 Three weeks as guest with Cleveland 1946 Becomes Musical Director of Cleveland and a United States citizen 1946-1970 Guest conductor of major orchestras and festivals of the United States and the world, in Berlin, Chicago, London, Vienna, Zürich, etc.

1948-1964 Holland Festival 1949-1964 Spring Festivals in Zürich 1949-1964 Salzburg Festival 1954 Last Metropolitan Opera appearance, conducting Tannhäuser 1957 Cleveland Orchestra’s first tour of Europe 1958-1961 Co-conductor Amsterdam Concertgebouw 1957-8 Conductor with the Vienna Opera 1958 & 60 Conductor for opening concerts of the season at La scala 1965 Cleveland Orchestra’s 11 1/2-week tour of Soviet Union and Western Europe 1967 Cleveland Orchestra’s tour of Edinburgh, Salzburg and Lucerne Festivals 1969-70 Senior Advisor to the New York Philharmonic 1970 Cleveland Orchestra’s tour to the west coast of the United States, Korea, Alaska and Japan during Expo ’70 1970 Dies in Cleveland (July 30)

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