Karl Böhm was born in Graz, Austria, on 28 August 1894. He made his
conducting debut in his hometown in 1917 before going on to Munich in 1921,
where he was hired by Bruno Walter. He made his debut at the Vienna State
Opera in 1933 and was appointed general manager of the Dresden State Opera
the same year. This marked the beginning of an intensive and fruitful
collaboration with Richard Strauss (Böhm conducted the world premieres
of "Die schweigsame Frau" and "Daphne"). He died in Salzburg on 14 August
1981.
One of the hallmarks of Böhm's conducting was its perennially youthful
vigor and directness, its lack of pathos and sentimentality. Dramatic
climaxes and full sonorities grew out of almost imperceptible accents, out
of the natural rhythm of the human breath. His gestures were minimalistic,
his baton suggested movement more than it described it. Böhm set standards
with his interpretations of the works of his long-time friend Richard
Strauss. The unofficial curator of Strauss' musical legacy, Böhm knew his
friend's music inside and out - and he knew just how Strauss wanted his
works to sound.
Here Böhm works with the Vienna Philharmonic, which premiered Strauss's
"Don Juan" in Vienna in 1892.
