Arthur Augustinus Adalbertus Nikisch, Nikisch Artúr Hong owners: (Mosonszentmiklós, Hungary, 12 October 1855 - Leipzig, 23 January1922) was a Hungarian conductor who was active mostly in Germany . He is known as the ' Patriarch ' of modern conducting. His interpretations of the music of Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Liszt are known.
Biography[Edit][]
Nikisch was born in a family with a Hungarian father and a mother from Moravia.
He studied under Felix Otto Dessoff, Johann von Herbeck , and Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr. at the Vienna Conservatory, where he won prizes forcomposition and violinand piano playing. He would, however, most famous as a conductor. In 1878 he went to Leipzig and became second conductor of the Opera in Leipzig. In 1882 he became Chief conductor. He led the premiere of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in 1884.
On 1 July 1885 Nikisch married Amelie Heussner with (1862-1938), a singer and actress, which the preceding years at the court theater inKassel was connected and there worked with Gustav Mahler. Their son Mitja (1899-1936) became a well-known pianist.
Nikisch later became conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and from 1893 to 1895 Director of the Royal Opera in Budapest. In 1895 he succeeded Carl Reinecke as conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. In the same year, he was Chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. He would hold both posts until his death.
He was a pioneer in many respects. In 1912 he took over the London Symphony Orchestra to the United States, the first time for an orchestra from Europe. In 1913, he made one of the first recordings of a complete Symphony, the fifth of Beethoven with the Berlin Philharmonic. This version was re-released on lp and cd by EMI. He also made a series of recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra, some of which have the characteristic portamento , characteristic of the early twentieth century.
He died in Leipzig in 1922 and was buried there. Immediately after his death, the square where he lived was renamed Nikischplatz. In 1971, the town appointed the Arthur Nikisch Prize for young conductors.
Nikisch is seen as one of the founders of modern conducting, with a thorough analysis of the score, a simple battle and a charisma that the full orchestra sound and let the music come into its own in depth. Nikisch's conducting style was greatly admired by Leopold Stokowski, Arturo Toscanini, Sir Adrian Boult, Fritz Reiner, Pierre Monteux, Ervin Nyíregyházi and many others. Reiner said, "it was [Nikisch] who told me that I never had to with my arms waving while conducting, and that I had to use my eyes to provide guidance"[1]. The Dutch conductor Albert van Raalte, a protégé of Nikisch, was his assistant during a European tour in 1910.