Fritz Reiner maestro & martinet Kenneth Morgan 00.front.i-xviii/Morgan 7/12/05 10:36 AM Page i Fritz Reiner,Maestro and Martinet 00.front.i-xviii/Morgan 7/12/05 10:36 AM Page ii music in american life Alistofbooks in the series appears atthe end ofthis book. 00.front.i-xviii/Morgan 7/12/05 10:36 AM Page iii fritz reiner Maestro and Martinet Kenneth Morgan university of illinois press urbana and chicago 00.front.i-xviii/Morgan 7/12/05 10:36 AM Page iv ©2005by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America c 5 4 3 2 1 ∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Morgan, Kenneth, 1953– Fritz Reiner, maestro and martinet / Kenneth Morgan. p. cm. — (Music in American life) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. Discography: p. isbn0-252-02935-6(cloth : alk. paper) 1. Reiner, Fritz, 1888–1963. 2. Conductors (Music)—United States—Biography. I. Title. II. Series. ml422.r38m6 2004 784.2′092—dc20 2003026968 00.front.i-xviii/Morgan 7/12/05 10:36 AM Page v To the memoryofAlfred Griffin Morgan and JanetMorgan 00.front.i-xviii/Morgan 7/12/05 10:36 AM Page vi 00.front.i-xviii/Morgan 7/12/05 10:36 AM Page vii Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii 1. The Man and the Musician 1 2. Early Years in Europe 23 3. Cincinnati 44 4. Teaching at Curtis 66 5. A Guest Conductor in the 1930s 84 6. Pittsburgh 106 7. At the Met 128 8. Chicago 147 9. The Recorded Legacy 175 10. Reiner the Interpreter 207 Appendix: Timings of Recordings by Reiner 229 Notes 231 Discography: Reiner on Compact Disc 271 Bibliography 279 Index 299 Illustrations followpage 146 00.front.i-xviii/Morgan 7/12/05 10:36 AM Page viii 00.front.i-xviii/Morgan 7/12/05 10:36 AM Page ix Preface This book provides a comprehensive scholarly appraisal of the life and musical career of Fritz Reiner, the notable Hungarian conductor whose main musical achievements occurred in the United States be- tween the early 1920s and the early 1960s. In those four decades Reiner made a significant contribution to the teaching of conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia; he built up the personnel and standing of the Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago Symphony Orchestras; and he played a leading role in the opera house, primarily at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Reiner also made many records of a wide repertoire that have been frequently reissued since his death, recordings that critics esteem more now than when they were first made. His musical impact on American orchestras was filtered through the lens of his formative years in Hungary and Germany. A study of his musical legacy must therefore discuss the musical training he brought with him as an immigrant to the United States at the age of thirty-three and then trace how he adapted to the new cultural situation across the Atlantic. Reiner’s career has been outlined in a number of short articles, but the only book devoted to him is Philip Hart’s Fritz Reiner:ABiography.Based on wide reading and familiarity with the subject, Hart provides a useful sketch of Rei- ner’s career and is helpful on two issues in particular. He portrays Reiner’s mar- riages in detail, showing especially how his third wife, Carlotta, protected and supported his career. He also discusses Reiner’s period as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from an informed (if one-sided) perspective (Hart was assistant manager of the orchestra at the time). Virtually a third of the biography concentrates on Reiner’s connection with Chicago, and these are its best pages. Hart includes appendices listing Reiner’s repertoire and the com- plex legal details pertaining to the custody of his personal papers after his death, a story that leads up to the deposit of most of them at Northwestern University