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.
Schubert wrote this work at the age of 21 for a small orchestra that had
grown out of a string quartet that used to get together in Schubert's
apartment. It was not given its first public performance until December
1828, the month after Schubert's death. Though the Sixth sometimes evokes
Beethoven's First Symphony, it also recalls the spirit of Haydn and even of
Rossini, who was then very popular in Vienna.
