Heinz Wallberg (16 March 192329 September 2004) was a German conductor. Wallberg was born in Herringen, Westphalia. He studied

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and piano. He helped to support his family with his musical training after his father became unable to work. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was a

morse code Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...

operator, and simultaneously directed an army band and led a

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

. After the war, he studied at the Dortmund and

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conservatories. He made his debut as a conductor in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

with

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's '' The Marriage of Figaro''. He became principal music director in

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

in 1954, and in Bremen in 1955, concluding in both posts in 1960.''International Who's Who In Classical Music'', 2003 Edition, p. 828 (Europa Publications Ltd., London, England). In 1957, he recorded a scene from Wagner's '' Lohengrin'', with the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and the singers Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Christa Ludwig, under the production of Walter Legge. He also recorded Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 ''Italian'', and his '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' incidental music. He conducted Richard Strauss's '' Der Rosenkavalier'' for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden in 1963. In the meantime, at the

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

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festivals he premiered works such as Frank Martin's

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

''Le Mystere de la Nativité'' (1960) and Rudolf Wagner-Régeny's ''The Mines at Falun'' (1961). Wallberg inaugurated the Munich Opera Festival in 1962 with a performance of Richard Strauss's '' Die schweigsame Frau''. From 1964 to 1975, Wallberg was principal conductor of the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Vienna. He held the same post with the Munich Radio Orchestra from 1975 to 1982, and with the Essen Philharmonic from 1975 to 1991. He was the first West German conductor allowed to conduct in East Germany after the partition of Germany. His United States conducting debut did not occur until 1991. For the last 37 years of his life, he appeared every year with

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's NHK Symphony Orchestra. He conducted the

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premiere of Wagner's '' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' in 1990. He was nominated for a

Grammy award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

in 1982 for his recording of Weinberger's opera '' Schwanda the Bagpiper''. He gave a concert in St. Peter's Basilica,

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, for Pope John XXIII in 1959. Heinz Wallberg was highly regarded as a conductor of the symphonies of Anton Bruckner. Other recordings included Engelbert Humperdinck's '' Königskinder'' and ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...

'' of Ruggero Leoncavallo. Wallberg was married twice, to Maritta Ruhlmann, who died in 1967, and later to Murielle Nouget. He had a daughter with Ruhlmann and a son with Nouget. He died in Essen in 2004, aged 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallberg, Heinz 1923 births 2004 deaths German male conductors (music) Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century German conductors (music) 20th-century German male musicians People from Hamm Chief conductors of the Munich Radio Orchestra Chief conductors of the Tonkünstler Orchestra