Georg Tintner: Artikel und Links

Georg Tintner: in the shadow of music
by Patrick Parent / April 1, 2000

Georg Bernhard Tintner's long and busy career as a conductor ended on October 2, 1999, when he jumped from the balcony of his Halifax apartment. The 82-year-old Austrian-born Tintner, described as "one of the greatest living Bruckner conductors," was losing his six-year struggle with cancer at the time.

From 1987 to 1994, Tintner had been music director of Symphony Nova Scotia, leading it through a period of development. In the last few years he was a frequent guest conductor and recorded all nine Bruckner numbered symphonies, as well as the two unnumbered symphonic works. For someone who worked relatively out of the limelight for almost a century, the media attention given to his dramatic death was cruelly ironic.
Born in Vienna in 1917, Tintner began studying piano at the age of six. He started composing shortly after, and was a member of the Vienna Boys' Choir until the age of 13. He conducted the choir in the performance of some of his youthful compositions. The choir also sang Anton Bruckner's great masses, and it was then that Tintner fell in love with the composer's music.

As a teenager, Tintner took conducting classes with Felix Weingartner of the Vienna Philharmonic. At 16 he worked with Bruno Walter, training the children's chorus for Mahler's Eighth Symphony. The Vienna Volksoper made him assistant conductor when he was 19, but the Nazi takeover in 1938 resulted in his being fired because of his Jewish ancestry. Tintner threatened to sue the Nazis for breach of contract, turning down a ridiculous compensation of 100 schillings. But as he once told Arthur Kaptainis, music critic at the Montreal Gazette, "Don't take that as an act of courage. It was an act of utter foolishness. When I think of it now I shudder."

In 1940 Tintner made his way to New Zealand. There he formed the Auckland String Players and became conductor of the Auckland Choral Society. In 1954 he moved to Australia, soon becoming the country's top opera conductor and a pioneer of television opera. Although he did a brief stint as a conductor in Cape Town, he turned down a long-term contract offer because he objected to apartheid. It was one of the few times Tintner placed politics before music. After three frustrating years in London in the late sixties, he returned to Australia in 1971 and stayed there until 1987.
Tintner first came to Canada in 1971 to conduct the National Youth Orchestra. He was asked back regularly. In 1987 Symphony Nova Scotia invited him to perform Beethoven's second symphony. According to Stephen Pedersen, music critic for the Halifax Chronicle Herald, "Tintner's concert brought out the finest sound I have ever heard from an orchestra in this part of the country. It was sweet, musically alive, and full of warmth and clarity." He became the orchestra's musical director and settled in Halifax.

Young musicians loved "Mr. Tintner." His generous advice and conducting style (he preferred hand gestures and glances to the baton) captivated his pupils. As Kaptainis explains, "Tintner was obviously . . . a link to a glorious tradition. He was able to communicate all this good karma to musicians, who believed in him, and thus in the music."
Since the budget record label Naxos began releasing Tintner's recent Bruckner recordings, international critical acclaim has been overwhelming and sales have soared. His interpretations (which have been compared with the best in recording history) and his daring scholarly approach to different Bruckner editions are currently changing the way this composer's work will be performed. Still, as Norman Lebrecht, author of The Maestro Myth and critic for the London Daily Telegraph explains, "Tintner was one of those all-too-common victims of 20th-century prejudice, an artist who had to attain a venerable age before anyone was prepared to acknowledge his unarguable gifts." Even so, Tintner will live through the music of his pupils for a very long time to come.

A short Tintner discography:
Tintner was largely ignored by the major record companies. A compelling performance of Beethoven's Fifth was released by Phillips in the early nineties (Phillips 426 487-2). He recorded a version of each Bruckner symphony with Naxos. Most of them are already available at budget price. Symphonies no. 1, no. 3, and the little known "study symphony" will be released in the next few months. He also recorded Les Petits Riens and Other Dances, Down Under, Late Romantics and Delius's orchestral works with Symphony Nova Scotia for CBC Records.

The Halifax Herald Limited 
Ill health led to Tintner's suicide

                  Conductor needed career, wife says  
                  By Kelly Shiers / Staff Reporter 
                  World-renowned symphony conductor 
                  Georg Tintner often said music kept him 
                  alive. 
                  Until this weekend, few may have realized 
                  how much he truly meant those words.  
                  On Saturday, less than a week after his last 
                  performance, the 82-year-old took his 
                  own life by jumping from the balcony of his 
                  11th-floor Halifax apartment. He died in 
                  hospital.  
                  "He'd had cancer for some time and been 
                  in a lot of pain," his wife, Tanya Tintner 
                  said Sunday. "While he could still make 
                  music, he kept going." 
                  But in the last few weeks, her husband was 
                  having trouble and couldn't bear the thought of having to cancel two upcoming 
                  concerts.  
                  "He realized he couldn't give anymore, so he took what was, to him, the 
                  honourable way out."  
                  From 1987 to 1994, Mr. Tintner led Symphony Nova Scotia during a time of 
                  change and growth.  
                  In the years that followed, he would return to the stage with his fellow musicians 
                  as the orchestra's conductor laureate. In the coming months, he was scheduled to 
                  make a half-dozen appearances with the symphony.  
                  "I think if you think of the orchestra, you think of Tintner," said Bob Geraghty, 
                  Symphony Nova Scotia's board president.  
                  Music lovers knew they were about to hear something special when Mr. Tintner 
                  came to the podium.  
                  And musicians were inspired with every movement of his hands through the air.  
                  "This is a great loss to all of us in the musical community," said Shimon Walt, a 
                  member of Symphony Nova Scotia and a close friend of Mr. Tintner's.  
                  "Definitely, he was very passionate about his music. . . . He was very inspirational 
                  as a conductor and as a person. I was always looking up to him."  
                  Mr. Tintner's passion for music was legendary.  
                  "He could hold you as a player and as a listener," said symphony member 
                  Margaret Isaacs. "The people in the audience can see our faces as players, but 
                  we got to see his face. . . . He would just radiate his joy of music."  
                  Max Kasper joined the symphony the same year Mr. Tintner became its music 
                  director, but first met him when Mr. Tintner came from Australia as a guest 
                  conductor for the National Youth Orchestra.  
                  Mr. Kasper said Mr. Tintner loved Mozart. Perhaps surprisingly, he also enjoyed 
                  Strauss waltzes, which are often viewed as "a bit of a drag" or "old hat" to many 
                  musicians.  
                  "But he saw these were really fabulous gems," Mr. Kasper said. Because of his 
                  obvious love, "you just wanted to play your best."  
                  Born in Vienna, Mr. Tintner was just a teenager when he began conducting his 
                  own musical compositions for the Vienna Boys Choir.  
                  As a young Jewish man, he made a desperate escape from the persecution of 
                  Nazis who had taken control of Vienna in 1938.  
                  Eventually, he made his way to New Zealand, and then on to Australia, where he 
                  spent most of his conducting career.  
                  While he still kept a home in Australia, he was a fixture here in Nova Scotia.  
                  "He seemed to be a man of great and broad depths," Mr. Geraghty said. "You'd 
                  see him on the concert stage, dressed in evening wear conducting an orchestra . . 
                  . and the next day bicycling downtown with rubber boots. . . . Fans loved him."  
                  Mr. Tintner was a member of the Order of Canada and received the 
                  Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation, 
                  which cited him for "his significant contribution to compatriots, community and to 
                  Canada."  
                  He also received the Officer's Cross of the Austrian Order of Merit and the Silver 
                  Cross of Honour from the City and Province of Vienna.  
                  Earlier this year, the Nova Scotia Arts Council presented Mr. Tintner with the 
                  Portia White Prize in recognition of cultural and artistic excellence.  
                  Just a few months ago, Mr. Tintner spoke at a symphony fund-raiser in Chester.  
                  Although it was apparent Mr. Tintner wasn't feeling well, his only concern was the 
                  symphony and music, Mr. Geraghty said.  
                  "He spoke about the beauty of music and what we had inherited from all these 
                  great composers and our responsibility to make sure we retained it in some way." 
                  Mr. Tintner is survived by his wife Tanya and seven children by two previous 
                  marriages. 

  Conductor Georg Tintner Falls To Death From Balcony

                                        Conductor Georg
                                        Tintner, whose profile
                                        rose in recent years as
                                        the result of recordings
                                        of Bruckner's
                                        symphonies for the
                                        Naxos label, died this
                                        past Saturday, October
                                        2, from injuries
                                        sustained in a fall from
                                        the 11th story balcony
                     of his Nova Scotia home. 
                     Born in Vienna, Austria in 1917, Tintner played
                     piano and composed at an early age. In
                     1926-30 he belonged to the famed Vienna
                     Boys Choir, where he sang the three Bruckner
                     Masses under Bruckner student Franz Schalk's
                     direction. Tintner left the choir at age 13 to
                     enter the Vienna State Academy, where he
                     studied conducting with Felix Weingartner and
                     composition with Josef Marx. Tintner worked
                     as an assistant to Weingartner and Bruno
                     Walter and at 19 was named Assistant
                     Conductor at the Vienna Volksoper. 
                     When the Nazis entered Austria in 1938,
                     Tintner emigrated, settling in New Zealand and
                     later Australia, where he was Resident
                     Conductor of the National Opera, and later
                     Musical Director of the Municipal Orchestra in
                     Cape Town. In 1968 he moved to London,
                     conducting at Sadler's Wells, but returned to
                     Australia in 1971 and became Senior Resident
                     Conductor of the Australian Opera (Sydney
                     Opera House), among other positions. 
                     Tintner moved to Canada in 1987 to work as
                     the Music Director of Symphony Nova Scotia,
                     later becoming the ensemble's conductor
                     laureate. Though he made many guest
                     appearances, his career was undoubtedly
                     limited by his long residencies outside Europe
                     and the U.S. Nonetheless, he was a respected
                     opera conductor and symphonic interpreter,
                     always conducting without a baton. Though
                     not all of his Bruckner symphonies have yet
                     been released, he recorded all nine numbered
                     symphonies as well as the two unnumbered
                     ones, mostly with the Scottish National and
                     Irish National (RTE) orchestras. His Bruckner
                     style was noted for its warmth and measured
                     tempos. 

Links

Einige Bilder: klick

Interessante Reviews zu seinen Bruckner-Einspielungen bei Naxos:
Classical Net Bruckner:
Interessant v.a. die Vierte von Robert Stumpf II (RS) mit der Wiedergabe einer Korrespondenz.

Artikel von Brian Flemming, ehemaliger Präsident der Symphony Nova Scotia

Georg Tintner auf allmusic.com

Noch was aus Kanada (inkl Bibliographie): klick