Max Rudolf (conductor)

Max Rudolf ( born June 15, 1902 in Frankfurt am Main, † February 28, 1995 in Philadelphia ) was a native of Germany American conductor, music educator and scientist.

Life

Max Rudolf was born in 1902 the son of a Jewish lawyer in Frankfurt and visited the Goethe -Gymnasium. He studied from 1920 to 1923 cello with Maurits Frank, piano with Eduard Jung and composition with Bernhard Sekles at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt and at Dr. Hoch's Conservatory. After a year of study at the University of Frankfurt in 1922 was made a coach at the Opera House in Freiburg. Here he made his debut the following year as a conductor. After a time as a coach at the Darmstadt Opera, he was principal conductor in 1927 at the Freiburg Opera. In the same year he married Liese Eder Heimer, with which he was to have a daughter. He also worked under Karl Böhm in Darmstadt. From 1929 to 1935 he conducted at the Deutsches Theater in Prague, where he worked with the conductor George Szell. In addition, he was from 1929 to 1930 guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. Due to the unstable situation in Germany, he moved to Sweden in 1935. There he conducted the Symphony Orchestra and the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Gothenburg.

After brief visits to Cleveland and Chicago, he emigrated with his family in 1943 in the USA, in 1945 he became an American citizen. He lived in New York and occasionally conducted the New Opera Company and Broadway performances. He also wrote to his textbook The Grammar of Conducting: A Comprehensive Guide to Baton Technique and Interpretation ( published in 1950 ), which became a standard work of Conducting. From 1945 he was assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He brought, inter alia, The Warrior by Bernard Rogers premiered. From 1950 to 1958 he was assistant manager.

From 1958 to 1969 he was the successor of Thor Johnson Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, with whom he 1966 world tour in 1969 and a European tour took. He also assured the orchestra a contract with Decca Records. From 1970 to 1973 he was director of conducting and opera class at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In the 1973/74 season he was briefly Principal Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and 1976/77 artistic consultant to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. He also worked with the Concerto Soloists Ensemble Philadelphia.

Awards

  • Honorary Doctor of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
  • Honorary Doctorate ( Doctor of Humane Letters ) from the University of Cincinnati
  • Theodore Thomas Award from the Conductors Guild
559107
de