Kurt Sanderling, CBE (; 19 September 1912 – 18 September 2011) was a German conductor.

Early life and career

Sanderling was born in Arys,

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

(now Orzysz,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) to Jewish parents. His early work at the

Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the ...

, where he served as repetiteur (rehearsal director) for

Wilhelm Furtwängler Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , ; ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is regarded as one of the greatest Symphony, symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a majo ...

and Erich Kleiber, was cut short when the Nazi regime removed him from his post because he was Jewish. He then left for the Soviet Union in 1936, where he worked with the

Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra is a Russian classical music radio orchestra established in 1930. It was founded as the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, and served as the official symphony for the Soviet All-Union Radio network. History Foll ...

. In 1939, he became conductor of the Kharkiv Philharmonic Orchestra. During the siege of Leningrad, he worked in

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

. From 1942 to 1960, he was joint principal conductor with Yevgeny Mravinsky of the Leningrad Philharmonic. Around 1942–1943, Sanderling first met

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

, which marked the start of their professional working relationship and personal friendship.

Post-1960

In 1960, Sanderling returned to East Germany to take up the chief conductorship of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, where he remained until 1977. From 1964 to 1967, he was chief conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle. He made his British debut in 1970. His first guest-conducting appearance 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 ...

was in 1972, as a substitute for Otto Klemperer. Their working relationship further developed after a January 1980 series of performances of the complete

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

symphonies at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, and a subsequent commercial recording of the Beethoven symphonies for EMI. The Philharmonia appointed Sanderling its Conductor Emeritus in 1996. He was also Emeritus Conductor of the

Madrid Symphony Orchestra Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. In the US, he worked with particular frequency as a guest conductor with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

. Sanderling announced his retirement from conducting in May 2002. In September 2002, Sanderling was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) and awarded the Ernst Reuter Plaque of Berlin, the city's highest honour. In addition to his Philharmonia Beethoven symphony cycle, his commercial recordings include the Beethoven piano concertos with pianist Mitsuko Uchida, Nos. 3, 4 with the

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, established in 1888 at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). It is considered one of the world's leading orchestras. It was known as the Concertgebouw Orchestra u ...

and Nos. 1, 2 and 5 with the

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestras operated under the auspices of Bayerischer Rundf ...

. He was among the first conductors to perform and record Deryck Cooke's completion of

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...

's Symphony No. 10, which his friend Berthold Goldschmidt had premiered. Sanderling died on 18 September 2011, one day before his 99th birthday in Berlin.Mort du chef d'orchestre Kurt Sanderling - Lefigaro.fr (French), 18 September 2011
/ref>
/ref>" gestorben, am Sonnabend, zwei Tage vor seinem 99. Geburtstag" (German), 21 September 2011

Personal life

He was married twice. His first marriage to Nina Bobath was in 1941, and produced a son, Thomas Sanderling, who became a conductor. His first marriage ended in divorce after his return to East Germany. His second wife was the former Barbara Wagner, a double bassist in the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. They married in 1963, and their marriage produced two sons, the conductors Stefan Sanderling and Michael Sanderling.

Publications

*2002: Kurt Sanderling and Ulrich Roloff-Momin: ''Andere machen Geschichte, ich machte Musik.'' Parthas, Berlin 2002, 431 pp., ill., discographie, , (Biography; in German)

Film

* ''Seine Liebe zu Brahms. Kurt Sanderling unterrichtet die 4. Sinfonie.'' (with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart of the SWR) Documentation, 60 Min., a film by Norbert Beilharz, First transmission: 2. November 2003.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanderling, Kurt 1912 births 2011 deaths People from Orzysz Musicians from East Prussia 20th-century German conductors (music) German male conductors (music) Jewish classical musicians Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany Refugees from Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Honorary members of the Royal Academy of Music Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century German male musicians East German musicians Kurt Chief conductors of the Staatskapelle Dresden