Karl Muck

Muck, Karl

(b Darmstadt, 1859 ; d Stuttgart, 1940 ).

Ger. conductor and pianist. Studied Leipzig Cons. Chorus master Zurich, then posts as opera cond. at Salzburg, Brno, and Graz. Cond., Deutsches Landestheater, Prague, 1886 . Cond. first Moscow and St Petersburg perfs. of The Ring, 1889 . Cond. Berlin Opera 1892 – 1912 (chief cond. from 1908 ), in that time cond. 103 different operas, 35 of them new. CG London 1899 . Bayreuth 1901 – 30 (début with Parsifal). Joint cond. Vienna PO 1903 – 6 . Cond. Boston SO 1906 – 8 , becoming chief cond. 1912 – 18 . Outcry against him when USA entered war led to his internment. Cond. Hamburg PO 1922 – 33 . Salzburg Fest. 1925 (Don Giovanni) and concert (Vienna PO).

Oxford Dictionary of Music