Karl Böhm: Biografie, Wirken, Rezeption. Herausgegeben von Thomas Wozonig.

Edition Tekst + Kritik Richard Boorberg Verlag München 2025. 612 pages.

Click here to order the book + click here for the author’s website

This book on a legendary conductor is not the work of a single author but a compendium by 22 authors. It’s a method I’m not fond of though as a historian I’ve several times sinned too. Still I prefer a straightforward biography by a single author. Karl Böhm’s flinch with the nazi regime surely deserves an in-depth treatment and it gets a fine chapter in the book but it’s tiring to have it rehashed superficially in most other chapters.

I advise English-speaking readers to start at page 51 and to neglect “Inleitung” and “Karl Böhms Selbstdarstellungen im Lichte der Praxeologie und der Biografieforschung”. Most authors are musicologists and have a degree in literature, philosophy etc. as well. They don’t want to write a blockbuster but the first two chapters still surprise me. I’ve read biographies of conductors Furtwängler and Weissmann with pleasure, even though German is somewhat heavier to read than English or my own Dutch. Therefore I thought those dreadful often convoluted and unending exposés had disappeared but I was wrong. Some arguments meander on for five, six and even seven printed sentences before we reach a full stop.  The book probably was conceived too at the height of woke hysteria. Words like Sänger and Interpreten sound not inclusive enough and are on almost every page written as “Sänger:innen” or “Interpreten:innen”.

The biography proper starts with a chapter on “Einer aus Graz” which relies on Böhms autobiography “Ich erinnere mich ganz genau”. The chapter makes short, too short shrift of the conductor’s youth and leaves the reader with questions. Father Böhm was an important lawyer and had no problem with a musical career for his son though as a safety net Karl studied law as well (and promoted in 1919). Böm’s reaction to the outbreak of World War one is not mentioned. He was an excellent cavalry officer but an accident with a horse made an end to his career in 1916 and he started as an assistant at the Graz Opera House. By that time Austria-Hungary was in great difficulties and could barely spare the loss of an experienced soldier but we don’t get to know if strings were pulled. Neither are we told Bohm’s thoughts on the collapse of one of the three European empires. Revolutionary Germany and Russia mostly kept their territorial integrity but Böhm’s dual monarchy was cut in pieces. All at once he became a citizen of a small impoverished state that was not allowed by the Allies to keep its new name (Deutsch-Österreich) or to unite with Germany though approved by the Austrian Parliament. His marriage with soprano Thea Linhard is briefly mentioned though we are not told it was his second one. And what was Bohm’s reaction to the overwhelming success of Karlheinz, his only child? Everyone in the German and Dutch speaking countries knew him as the successful handsome actor -far more famous than his father and five times married- in a series of pseudo-historical movies on the empress Elisabeth (Sissy) with Romy Schneider. Even 60 years later they are broadcasted on television during Christmas days. Böhm junior knew of  20 Lieder with piano his father composed in his youth. They were published in 2000 and seem to be Straussian. An author mentions thirteen were recorded by soprano Michaela Kaune “in April 1951”; seventeen years before she was born. Schott Music published a CD in 2006 but I have not heard the recording nor is it available on YouTube.

Things get more interesting with chapters on Böhm’s career as a music director starting in 1927. This means that we have to do with a few sentences on Böhm’s career between 1916 and 1927 in a short chronology of his life at the end of the book; a pity as I’d love to know why Nürnberg opera examined and rejected him for the job after a performance of Siegfried. He got the job in Darmstadt a few years later and from that moment on we are on firm ground: concert repertory, opera performances, popular concerts and reviews. Nowadays most critics concentrate on deep social and psychological themes directors discover in scores and texts from 19^th century composers and librettists who would be amazed to learn they foretold 21^st century problems. And it is far easier for reviewers to pontificate on those themes while neglecting -due to their lack of knowledge-  the musical side. Not so most of the times during interbellum though a 35 sentences -here quoted- review of Böhm’s conducting was even then a rarity. As music director Böhm had the pick of the repertoire. Operettas for instance he left to the other conductors (with the exception of The Mikado and Fledermaus). During his 4 year tenure he conducted far more Wagner than Mozart which he himself admitted left him cold at the time. Verdi during the German Verdi renaissance was well represented and included a rarity as Simon Boccanegra. His reputation grew and he got the same post in a far more important house; Dresden; discussed in a short but excellent chapter. I especially enjoyed reading the full text of Strauss’ famous letter ten days before Germany capitulated. Long ago Opera Magazine gave us the gist but here it is in its complete idiocy. Strauss dreamed of an operatic museum where only the greatest opera’s would be performed (Wagner, Mozart, Verdi- 3 operas- and 9 of his own) in  perfect performances with the best singers and the best orchestra. This museum could not be contaminated by lesser though popular works. A second house with second rate singers and orchestra’s would do. Strauss notes an exhaustive list and succeeds in not including a single work by Puccini. What a small minded man. And the rest of the Verdi canon could be performed as a potpourri; say scenes from Macbeth, Vêpres Siciliennes, Luisa Miller on the same evening.

A short chapter is devoted to “Karl Böhm und der Nationalsozialismus” but it is well researched and full of nuance. A big majority of Austrians (historians rate it at 70 to 80%) approved “der Anschluss” and Böhm was no exception. His father was born one year before Prussia ousted Austria as the most important German state. In March 1938 Böhm started a concert with a Hitler-greeting and conducted the Horst Wessel-Lied. Even earlier he had conducted in Nürnberg during “Parteitagen”. He was regime-friendly and didn’t bother to become a party member. Goebbels liked his performances and wanted him as general manager at the Vienna Staatsoper.  Hitler had a sane moment and he initially refused as he thought Böhm liked big orchestras too much which were a threat  to some voices. During the war Hitler put him on the list of “Gottbegenadeten”; artists who were not to serve in the army (Wieland Wagner and tenor Peter Anders were among them). Böhm could buy an expropriated Jewish villa in Vienna and was smart enough to hand it back to its former owner after the war. Historian Ian Kershaw noted the radicalization of the regime during the war (“Der Fürher entgegen arbeiten”) and even Böhm didn’t escape criticism from fanatical party Gauleiter who called him “Jüdenfreundlich” as he had conducted Strauss’ Schweigsame Frau (librettist was Stefan Zweig, a Jew) or music by “Kulturbolschewiken”. Nothing came of it. In 1943 Hitler relented and Böhm became boss of the Vienna Staatsoper for a year and a half until the Allies (flying from Italy) bombed Vienna in ruins. After the war Böhm paid the price, lived in poverty for two years before the allies allowed him to conduct once more. During the rest of his long life Böhm had no problems anymore. On the contrary, one Austrian writer referred  to Böhm’s past in a reader’s letter and a court promptly fined him for “Ehrenbeleidigung”.

Two chapters on Böhm at Salzburg and Bayreuth have interesting stories. Böhm got his chance at Salzburg after “der Anschluss” when Jewish or NS-hating conductors had left and Goebbels supervised repertory and casts. By 1942 Salzburg ended Festspiele. Five years later Böhm reappeared and started his rise. With Karajan he became the star conductor; Mr. Sell out- and he knew it. Still it’s ridiculous that 45 years after Böhm’s demise  the author is not allowed to tell us the exact amount of his fees. The  relationship with Salzburg and Karajan is told in amusing detail though it  remained polite. The Salzburg administration got headaches from Böhm’s insistence to conduct at Bayreuth at the same time. He came late at Wagner’s theatre (1962) but formed a formidable team with Wieland. Critics lauded Böhm’s transparent music making due to his Mozart experience. After Wieland’s death relations with Wolfgang deteriorated as the new boss had problems with the conductor’s privileges. (Bayreuth was not allowed to engage Karajan). In a further English language chapter the relations between the two gentlemen are discussed by Karajan’s biographer Richard Osborne. They tried to supersede each other or grasp a plum from the competitor’s hands. But there was respect and not intense hatred common to many rivals in classical music. Osborne writes both men were revered by their singers as they were master accompanists though Böhm could be difficult, even cruel without giving further details. Former baritone Michael Krauss (a worthy successor of Karl Schmitt-Walter and Erich Kunz who never had the career he deserved) writes the story of Böhm’s “Zweite Direktion” of the Vienna Staatsoper between 1954 and 1956. This is a must-read; magnificently researched and revealing all you wanted to know on the reasons the conductor left (or was ousted). Böhm was a forerunner of behaviour which became main stream once air lines made it possible: highly paid music directors of orchestras or opera houses who spend only a few months or even less in place and travel continuously every where else to earn big money. London and especially New York welcomed him as the chapter on Böhm conducting Strauss reveals. General Manager of the Met Rudolf Bing (Jewish)  had met Böhm during the Darmstadt years and was far lenient for him (261 performances) than for Elisabeth Schwarzkopf whom he only engaged at the end of her operatic career. Böhm was the star conductor at Bing’s farewell (even conducting Franco Corelli).  

The second part of the book is devoted to repertory and interpretation. This is food for professional musicians at ease with scores. I’m sure the 1939 recordings of Van Beethoven’s piano concertos “provide a fascinating opportunity for researchers “ as the author writes but I fear most of us ordinary mortals will find the sound restrictions not to our taste. A discussion on Böhm’s recordings of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik puts us back on earth as one learns his first recording (1938) lasted 12 minutes and his fourth (1974) 17 minutes as LP’s allowed far broader tempi. Interesting is the chapter on Mozart’s operas. Böhm definitely was not an adept of “Werktreue” (authenticity). Yes it was fine and thoroughly researched  but he remained an old “Theaterpraktiker” and was not enamoured of embellishments. He asked Hilde Gueden to stop bleating when she sang trills. Raymond Holden (also writing in English) on Böhm and Richard Strauss’ orchestral music is the fly in the ointment. Contrary to common wisdom he is very critical on Böhm and enjoys quoting negative reviews. His opinion of Böhm’s character is devastating and he writes “Böhm was an irascible conductor who had the distressing habit of setting upon individual members of an orchestra, niggling away at them until he broke their spirit”. Holden mentions proof on video. Hindemith and Berg admirers will be happy to read the chapters on Böhm’s support. I shall not be the only one mildly surprised by the authors quoting the opinion of a critic after a performance of Lulu in 1962. He thought the work far surpasses the Verdi thrash and is as important as Die Zauberflöte and Fidelio.

Jan Neckers, June 2025