Herbert Von Karajan (Hardcover)

by Roger Vaughan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Right from the start it is apparent that Karajan is a biographer's nightmare. Vaughan, who came to the maestro's attention as a yachtsman (he acknowledges straightaway that anyone with musical expertise wouldn't have had a hope of access), talks in his introduction about the contrast between writing a biography of the living and the deadwithout, however, making clear the extent to which Karajan, a controlling personality if ever there was one, had any say over the contents of the book in return for making himself occasionally available. In any case, the portrait that results from what seems like an oddly uneasy relationship is the most complete we have of a remarkable and rather unappealing personality. Vain, driven and ruthlessly ambitious, the conductor clawed his way to the top of Germany's musical life during the Nazi years and, after the death of Wilhelm Furtwangler in the early 1950s, has been at the summit of European music ever since. With his two great orchestras, the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, his staggeringly opulent opera festivals at Salzburg and his hundreds of recordings, Karajan has been for 30 years a powerful, streamlined juggernaut only now, in his mid-70s, beginning to show signs of wear. Vaughan does his best to elucidate the Nazi past, though parts of it seem likely to remain ever mysterious. In the end the portrait he has drawn is more that of a master politician whose field happens to be music than that of a truly creative being; and perhaps that is what he intended.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Despite his concern that his lack of musical credentials ensured a non-technical portrait, journalist Vaughan serves up a perceptive, delectable pastiche of frank interviews and insight (the first authorized in English) the notoriously press-shy, revered and hated 77-year-old Austrian conductor, a giant of the vanishing autocratic school, which bred the unique aura of musical dictatorship and awed respect for genius that surrounds the great maestros. Vaughn spent two years travelling and conversing extensively with this powerfully arrogant, self. styled "commander" whose carefully calculated six-decade plus career has awarded him a unique "God's" monopolistic control over German and Austrian musical life. This wunder-kind, who began as a child piano prodigy, directs the Vienna Philharmonic, and has been, at various stages, director of the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg and Easter Festivals, the London Philharmonic and the German wing of La Scala. But it is his nearly 30-year "marriage" to the Berlin Philharmonic, the crown jewel of his vast operatic and orchestral influence and one of the world's premier ensembles, that best reflects his musical "mission." Under its "lifelong director," the Berlin has accomplished the purist, "literalist," approach to re-creating the great scores, through a magnificent, lush pristine precision of sound, which has been acclaimed an exquisite musical marvel, but criticized for its cold passionless "brillance. . .shining translucency of a perfectly formed icicle," which some would call a perfect mirror of its "father." This accomplished pilot, sailor, skier, mountain climber, yoga and Zen enthusiast, and filmmaker has dedicated his life to rigidly enforcing his personal credo of control, order and perfection; he places himself above reproach, completely intolerant of any contradiction, flippantly dismissing charges of dictatorship with blatant insistence that autocratic power is essential to superior musical leadership, hence performance. Most of the vast cast that he uses - musicians, recording technicians, production people, operatic soloists - have finally bowed to his control, relishing the honor of working with a master, and, with few exceptions, his reign has been an astonishingly unchallenged solo flight of power. This arrogant attitude also explains his lifelong refusal to apologize for having joined the Nazis during WW II, an episode which has invited colleagues' loathing and plagued his otherwise spectacularly charmed career, and about which he speaks at length here for the first time. As promised, this isn't the standard scholarly biography, but rather a privileged glimpse into the Karajan world, a fascinating "insiders" portrait; accomplished only with the cooperation of Karajan and his intimates, as well as the author's objective humor and critical insight, the result is a tasty, detailed, view of an unapproachable musical icon. (Kirkus Reviews)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Littlehampton Book Services (LBS) (February 27, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0297784048
• ISBN-13: 978-0297784043
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,035,247 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good portrait of Herbert von Karajan from his later years, November 11, 2005

By	Alan Majeska "Alan Majeska" (Bad Axe, MI, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read Roger Vaughan's HERBERT VON KARAJAN: A BIOGRAPHICAL PORTRAIT, in the summer of 1989, and liked it very much. Vaughan, who wrote a book on boating in the early 1980s which conductor Karajan (1908-1989) had read and admired, contacted Vaughan and asked him to write a his own (Karajan's) biography. Karajan once stated that he trusted Vaughan to write his biography because Vaughan was not a musician, and in the back-biting world of huge egos of musicians, Karajan would not trust a musician with this task!

Vaughan includes some tidbits of day to day life for Karajan in 1983-85, when the book was written. He mentions things like what Karajan would have for supper; personal thoughts on Goethe, the famous German writer; his relationship with the Berlin Philharmonic, the orchestra he conducted from 1955-1989; his thoughts on skiing, boating, flying small aircraft. He talks about Karajan's three marriages, 2 daughters (with his 3rd wife); performances of Wagner's THE FLYING DUTCHMAN at Salzburg; Karajan's rift with the Berlin Philharmonic over his insistence at hiring Sabine Meyer as principal clarinet (in violation of the orchestras "no women in our ranks" policy which stood until this time); Karajan's final recordings of the Beethoven Symphonies, and films made of Karajan concerts or studio recordings. Karajan believed all recordings in the future would be video + audio, a prediction which has so far not been fulfilled.

I enjoyed this book alot, as it gave me added insight into Herbert von Karajan as a man and musician. Even in his late 70s and declining health (vascular problems and great pain from a degenerating spine and difficulty walking) Karajan remained a dynamic conductor who told his orchestras what he expected, and usually got the results he wanted.

Tidbits: Karajan was a fan of the movie "E.T." and loved television as a form of entertainment, but did not listen to Classical music at home. His wife, Elliette (an ex Dior model) would listen to contemporary piano works at home when Karajan wasn't there, but he preferred quiet, and really loved his hobbies: skiing, swimming, boating, and flying planes.

Highly recommended, if you are interested in this conductor.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Different perspective is good!!!!, February 6, 2006

By	Gimme Good Stories (USA / UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Herbert Von Karajan: A Biographical Portrait (Hardcover)

The thing about biographies is that they are usually slanted toward just one aspect of the subject's life, intentionally or un-. Vaughan somehow melds some of the less obvious parts of The Maestro's life with his more well-known attributes. One caveat: Mr. Vaughan would have benefited from a better editor at Norton; there are little slips that a GOOD editor would have caught. THIS is the kind of biography a music-appreciator, not necessarily a musical professional, will love. I did.