Rafael Kubelík

Rafael Jeroným Kubelík,KBE(29 June 1914 – 11 August 1996) was a Czech conductor and composer.

Rafael Kubelík

The son of a distinguished violinist,Jan Kubelík,he was trained inPragueand made his debut with theCzech Philharmonic Orchestraat the age of 19. Having managed to maintain a career in Czechoslovakia under theNazioccupation, he refused to work under what he considered a "second tyranny" after theCommunistCzechoslovak coup d'état of 1948,and took refuge in Britain. He became a Swiss citizen in 1967.

Kubelík was music director of theChicago Symphony Orchestra(1950–53), musical director ofThe Royal Opera,Covent Garden(1955–58). In 1957, he conducted and recorded the World premiereBerlioz'sLes Troyens.From 1961 to 1979, he was music director of theBavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra,and was a frequent guest conductor for leading orchestras in Europe and America.

As a composer, Kubelík wrote in a neo-romantic idiom. His works include five operas, three symphonies, chamber music, choral works, and songs.

Life and career

Early life

Kubelík was born inBýchory,Bohemia,Austria-Hungary,today's Czech Republic, the day afterArchduke Ferdinand'sassassinationthat triggered theFirst World War.He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinistJan Kubelík,whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me". His mother was a Hungarian countess, Anna Julie Marie Széll von Bessenyö.Kubelík studied the violin with his father, and entered thePrague Conservatoryat the age of 14, studying violin, piano, composition, and conducting.He graduated from the conservatory in 1933, at the age of 19; at his graduation concert he played aPaganiniconcerto and a composition of his own for violin and orchestra. Kubelík was also an accomplished pianist, and served as his father's accompanist on a tour of the United States in 1935.

Brno

In 1939, Kubelík became music director of theBrnoOpera, a position he held until theNazisshut the company down in November 1941.The Nazis allowed theCzech Philharmonicto continue operating; Kubelík, who had first conducted the orchestra when he was 19, became its principal conductor.In 1943 he married the Czech violinist Ludmilla Bertlová, with whom he had one son.

In 1944, after various incidents, including one in which he declined to greet the Nazi ReichsprotektorKarl Hermann Frankwith aHitler salute,along with his refusal to conductWagnerduring the War, Kubelík "deemed it advisable to disappear from Prague and to spend a few months undercover in the countryside so as not to fall into the clutches of theSSorGestapo".Kubelík conducted the orchestra's first post-war concert in May 1945. In 1946, he helped found thePrague Spring Festival,and conducted its opening concert.

Defection

After theCommunistcoup of February 1948,Kubelík leftCzechoslovakia,vowing not to return until the country was liberated. "I had lived through one form of bestial tyranny, Nazism," he told an interviewer, "As a matter of principle I was not going to live through another." He defected during a trip to Britain, where he had flown to conductMozart'sDon Giovanniwith theGlyndebournecompany at theEdinburgh Festival.He had been engaged on the recommendation ofBruno Walter,whom Kubelík had assisted in this work at the 1937Salzburg Festival.Kubelík told his wife of his decision to defect as their plane left Czechoslovakia.

In 1953, the Communist government convicted the couplein absentiaof "taking illicit leave" abroad. In 1956, the regime invited him back "with promises of freedom to do anything I wanted," said Kubelík, but he refused the invitation. In a 1957 letter toThe Times,Kubelík said he would seriously consider returning only when all the country's political prisoners were freed and allémigréswere given as much freedom as he would have possessed. He was invited back by the regime in 1966 but again refused; in 1968, after thePrague Springhad been ended by theSoviet invasion,he organised an international boycott, in which many of the major classical artists of the West participated.

Chicago, Covent Garden and Munich

Rafael Kubelík (Amsterdam, 1950)

In 1950, Kubelík became music director of theChicago Symphony Orchestra,choosing the position over an offer from theBBCto succeedSir Adrian Boultas chief conductor of theBBC Symphony Orchestra.He left the post in 1953. Some hold that he was "hounded out of the [Chicago] job" (to quoteTimemagazine) by the "savage attacks" (to quote theNew Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians) of theChicago Tribunemusic criticClaudia Cassidy.ButChicago Sun-Timesmusic critic Robert C. Marsh argued in 1972 that it was the Chicago Symphony trustees who were behind the departure. Their foremost complaint, and that of Cassidy as well, was that Kubelík introduced too many contemporary works (about 70) to the orchestra; there were also objections to his demanding exhaustive rehearsals and engaging several black artists.Many recordings made by Kubelík in Chicago forMercury Recordsare available on CD, and have received critical praise.Kubeliki's landmark recording ofPictures at an Exhibitionwith the CSO on Mercury ledNew York Timesmusic critic Howard Taubman to observe that listening to it was like "being in the living presence of the orchestra," and Mercury began releasing their classical recordings under the "Living Presence" series name.

After leaving Chicago, Kubelík toured the US with theConcertgebouw Orchestra,and, in the words ofLionel Salterin theGrove Dictionary,"had a brilliant success with Janáček's Kát'a Kabanová atSadler's Wellsin London in 1954 ".Kubelík became musical director ofThe Royal Opera,Covent Garden,from 1955 to 1958.Among his achievements there was, in 1957, the first practically complete production in any opera house ofBerlioz'sLes Troyens.Although Covent Garden sought to renew his contract, he chose to leave, partly because of a campaign bySir Thomas Beechamagainst the engagement of foreign artists at Covent Garden.In 1961 Kubelík accepted the position of music director of theBavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra(BRSO) inMunich.He remained with the BRSO until 1979, when he retired. Salter considers this 18-year association the high point of Kubelík's career, both artistically and professionally.

In 1961 Ludmilla Kubelík died after a car crash. Also in 1961, he premiered the concerto performance version ofSchoenberg'sJakobsleiter-Fragmentin Vienna, with theCologne Radio Symphony Orchestraand choir.

In 1963 Kubelík married the AustraliansopranoElsie Morison(1924–2016). In 1967 he became a Swiss citizen, and began an association with the Lucerne Festival, in addition to his work with the BRSO.

In 1971,Göran Gentele,the new general manager of theMetropolitan Opera,New York, asked Kubelík to accept the position of music director.Kubelík accepted partly because of his strong artistic relationship with Gentele. The first production he conducted as the Met's music director wasLes Troyens.The death of Gentele in a road accident in 1972 undermined Kubelík's reasons for working at the opera house. He had prior conducting commitments away from the Met in his first season there, which diverted his attention. He resigned from the Met in 1974, after only six months in the post.

In his post-Czechoslovakian career, Kubelík worked with theBerlin Philharmonic,Boston Symphony,Chicago Symphony,Cleveland,Israel Philharmonic,London Symphony,New York Philharmonic,Vienna PhilharmonicandRoyal Concertgebouworchestras, among others. His final concert was with the Czech Philharmonic.

Last years

In 1985, ill-health (notably severearthritisin his back) caused Kubelík to retire from full-time conducting, but thefall of Communismin his native land led him to accept an invitation to return in 1990 to conduct the Czech Philharmonic at the festival he had founded, thePrague Spring Festival.He recordedSmetana'sMá Vlastlive with the Czech Philharmonic forSupraphon,his fifth recording of the piece. He also recorded the Mozart"Prague" SymphonyandDvořák's"New World" Symphonyat the festival. During the rehearsal of the "New World," he told the Czech Philharmonic, "It is my joy to hear this. I always wanted it to sound like this but never really found it with any other orchestra in the world. That eighth [note] is great!"

On October 18, 1991, Kubelík shared the podium with SirGeorg SoltiandDaniel Barenboimand theChicago Symphony Orchestrain a performance that re-created the orchestra's inaugural October 16 and 17, 1891, concerts. Kubelík led the final work on the program:Antonín Dvořák'sHusitskáOverture.

Kubelík died in 1996, aged 82, in Kastanienbaum, in theCanton of Lucerne,Switzerland. His ashes are interred next to the grave of his father inSlavín,Vyšehrad cemeteryin Prague.

Compositions

Among Kubelík's compositions are five operas, threesymphonies,three settings of therequiem,other choral works, many pieces ofchamber music,and songs. Salter describes his musical style as "neo-romantic".

Selected recordings

Kubelík recorded a large repertory, in many cases more than once per work. There are two complete recordings of his traversals of three major symphony cycles – those ofBrahms,Schumann,andBeethoven.When Kubelík recorded his first complete Beethoven symphony cycle forDeutsche Grammophon,he employed nine different orchestras, one for each symphony.His complete cycle ofMahler's symphonies (recorded from 1967 to 1971 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) is highly regarded.Of his Mahler,Daniel Barenboimremarked, "I often thought I was missing something in Mahler until I listened to Kubelík. There is a lot more to be discovered in these pieces than just a generalized form of extrovert excitement. That is what Kubelík showed."Kubelík also left much-admired recordings of operas byVerdi(hisRigolettowas recorded atLa ScalawithDietrich Fischer-Dieskau), Mozart,Janáček,Dvořák and others, includingWagner,whose music he had shunned during the war, but which he conducted in later years. His recordings ofDie MeistersingerandParsifalhave been ranked the top choice by many critics, includingBBC Radio 3's Building a Library programme.

Kubelík's complete discography is enormous, with music ranging fromMalcolm ArnoldtoJan Dismas Zelenka,with recordings both in the studio and in concert. In addition to complete cycles of Beethoven, Brahms, Dvořák, and Mahler, Kubelík made recordings of orchestral and operatic works byBach,Mozart,Haydn,Tchaikovsky,Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi and many others, including modern composers.

In May 2018,Deutsche Grammophonreleased a 66-disc box-set of his complete recordings for the label.

Composer	Composition	Date	Orchestra	Recording
Berlioz	Les Troyens	1957	Coven Garden Opera Chorus, Coven Garden Orchestra	Testament
Bartók	Concerto for Orchestra	1974	Boston Symphony Orchestra	Deutsche Grammophon
Beethoven	Symphony No. 4	1975	Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
	Symphony No. 5	1973	Boston Symphony Orchestra
	Symphony No. 6 "Pastorale"		Orchestre de Paris
	Symphony No. 7	1974	Wiener Philharmoniker
	Symphony No. 8	1975	The Cleveland Orchestra
	Symphony No. 9 "Choral"		Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Berg	Violin Concerto	1971
Brahms	A German Requiem	1978		Audite
Bruckner	Symphony No. 3	1954	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra	Radio Netherlands
		1985	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	Sony Classical
	Symphony No. 8	1963	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	Orfeo
		1977	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	BR Klassik
	Symphony No. 9	1985	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	Orfeo
Dresden	Dansflitsen	1954	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra	Radio Netherlands
Dvořák	Symphonic Variations	1974	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	Deutsche Grammophon
	My Home,Overture	1973-4
	HussiteDramatic overture
	In Nature's RealmConcert Overture
	CarnivalConcert Overture	1977
	OthelloConcert Overture
	Scherzo capriccioso	1975
	Symphony No. 1	1973	Berliner Philharmoniker
	Symphony No. 2
	Symphony No. 3
	Symphony No. 4
	Symphony No. 5
	Symphony No. 6
	Symphony No. 7	1950	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra	Radio Netherlands
		1971	Berliner Philharmoniker	Deutsche Grammophon
	Symphony No. 8	1966
	Symphony No. 9	1973
	The Noon Witch	1974	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
	The Water Goblin
	The Wild Dove
		1976
Grieg	Piano Concerto	1964	Berliner Philharmoniker
Hindemith	Chamber Music No. 5	1966	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	Bayerischer Rundfunk
	Concerto Music, Op. 48	1963
	Der Schwanendreher	1968
Janáček	Concertino	1970		Deutsche Grammophon
	The Diary of One Who Disappeared
	Glagolitic Mass
	Sinfonietta	1970
	Taras Bulba	1951	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra	Radio Netherlands
		1970	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	Deutsche Grammophon
Mahler	Symphony No. 1 "Titan"	1967
		1979		Bayerischer Rundfunk
	Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"	1969		Deutsche Grammophon
		1982		Bayerischer Rundfunk
	Symphony No. 3	1967		Deutsche Grammophon
	Symphony No. 4	1968
	Symphony No. 5	1971
		1981		Bayerischer Rundfunk
	Symphony No. 6 "Tragic"	1968		Deutsche Grammophon
	Symphony No. 7	1970
	Symphony No. 8 "Symphony of a Thousand"
	Symphony No. 9	1967
	Symphony No. 10	1968
Mendelssohn	Violin Concerto	1951	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra	Radio Netherlands
Mozart	Eine kleine Nachtmusik	1962	Wiener Philharmoniker	EMI
	Mass No. 9 in B Flat major KV 275 (Missa brevis)	1973	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	Deutsche Grammophon
	Symphony No. 36 KV 425 "Linz"	1962	Wiener Philharmoniker	EMI
Rachmaninoff	Piano Concerto No. 2	1951	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra	Radio Netherlands
Schoenberg	Piano Concerto	1972	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	Deutsche Grammophon
	Violin Concerto
Schubert	Symphony No. 9	1960	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	EMI
Schumann	Symphonies	1979	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	CBS / Sony Classical
	Piano Concerto	1964	Berliner Philharmoniker	Deutsche Grammophon
Smetana	Má vlast	1971	Boston Symphony Orchestra
Tansman	Music for Orchestra	1950	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra	Radio Netherlands
Tchaikovsky	Symphony No. 4	1961	Wiener Philharmoniker	EMI
Verdi	Rigoletto	1964	Orchester del Teatro alla Scala	Deutsche Grammophon
Wagner	Lohengrin	1971	Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Weber	Der Freischütz	1980		Decca
	Oberon	1970		Deutsche Grammophon

Bibliography

• Barenboim, Daniel (2002).A Life in Music.London: Arcade Pub.ISBN1-55970-674-0.
• Freeman, John W. "Music First,"Opera News,May 2007, pp. 42–45.
• Haltrecht, Montague (1975).The Quiet Showman – Sir David Webster and the Royal Opera House.London: Collins.ISBN0-00-211163-2.
• Kennedy, Michael (1971).Barbirolli, Conductor Laureate: The Authorised Biography.London: MacGibbon and Key.ISBN0-261-63336-8.
• Kenyon, Nicholas (1981).The BBC Symphony Orchestra – The First Fifty Years, 1930–1980.London: British Broadcasting Corporation.ISBN0563176172.
• Rosenthal, Harold (1958).Two Centuries of Opera at Covent Garden.London: Putnam.OCLC185327768.
• Scharf, Albert (2006). "Rafael Kubelík: His Life and Achievement"."The golden era" of Rafael Kubelik: the Munich years 1961–1985.Kassel: Bärenreiter.ISBN3761819129.

External links

• Rafael KubelíkatAllMusic
• Extensive discography
• František SlámaArchive– contains information on Kubelik under "Conductors – Part 2" in section "Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Documents and Reminiscences"
• Arnold Schoenberg: Jakobsleiterconducted by Kubelik (YouTube)