Sir Georg Solti (1912-1997), one of the greatest conductors of the 20th
century, was a testament to the elegance and impeccable tastefulness of
Central European music-making. Born in Budapest in 1912, he studied with
Béla Bartók, Ernö von Dohnányi, Zoltán Kodály and Leo Weiner. In 1937,
Toscanini chose him to be his assistant at the Salzburg Festival. After the
war, Solti was appointed Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera.
Further stations in his career were the Frankfurt Opera, the Royal Opera
House Covent Garden and the London Philharmonic. His remarkable partnership
with the Chicago Symphony began in 1954; he was named Music Director in
1969 and held this post for a phenomenal 22 years. He is credited with
greatly extending and enhancing the orchestra's worldwide reputation. Solti
died in September 1997, just before his 85th birthday.
Solti has long been known as a peerless conductor of the works of Richard
Strauss. On Richard Strauss' 85th birthday, Solti, then director of the
Bavarian State Opera in Munich, conducted Der Rosenkavalier in honor of the
composer. "It was my very first Rosenkavalier", recalled Solti, "and I had
never been so nervous because I knew that he would come to the performance.
He was very enchanting, and on that occasion we asked him to conduct the
end of the second act. It was quite amazing."
