Daniel Barenboim (born
November 15, 1942) is an Argentinian
-born pianist and conductor. He lives in Berlin
and holds
citizenship in Argentina
, Israel
, and
Spain
. He also holds a passport issued by the
Palestinian Authority.
Barenboim first came to prominence as a pianist but is now perhaps
better known as a conductor. Barenboim is often considered to be
one of the greatest pianists in both the 20th and 21st centuries,
and has been central to bringing classical music to a much wider
audience.
He is also
known for his work with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a Sevilla
-based orchestra of young Arab
and Jewish musicians that he co-founded with
the late Palestinian-American
scholar and activist Edward Said (whom
Barenboim called his best friend).
Barenboim has been an outspoken critic of the
Israeli settlements and of Israel's
government since
Rabin. He is also a supporter
of
Palestinian rights. In 2001,
he sparked a controversy in Israel by conducting the music of
Wagner in concert, as such a
performance had not been staged in Israel since 1938 and was
informally taboo.
Biography
Career
Daniel
Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires
, Argentina
. His grandparents were Russian
Ashkenazi Jews. He started
piano lessons at the age of five with his mother, continuing to
study with his father Enrique, who remained his only teacher. In
August 1950, when he was only seven years old, he gave his first
formal concert in Buenos Aires.
In 1952,
the Barenboim family moved to Israel
.
Two years
later, in the summer of 1954, his parents brought him to Salzburg
to take part
in Igor Markevitch's conducting
classes. During that summer he also met and played for
Wilhelm Furtwängler, who
has remained a central musical influence and ideal for Barenboim.
Furtwängler called the young Barenboim a "phenomenon" and invited
him to perform the
Beethoven First Piano
Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic, but Barenboim's father told
the maestro that it was too soon after the
Holocaust for a child of Jewish parents to be
performing in Berlin.
In 1955 Barenboim studied
harmony and
composition with
Nadia Boulanger in Paris.
Barenboim
made his debut as a pianist in Vienna
and Rome in
1952, Paris in 1955, London in 1956, and New York in 1957 under the
baton of Leopold Stokowski.
Regular concert tours of Europe, the United States, South America,
Australia and the Far East followed thereafter.
Barenboim made his first recording in 1954 and went on to record
several complete cycles:
Following his debut as a conductor with the
Philharmonia Orchestra in London in
1967, Barenboim was invited to conduct by many European and
American symphony orchestras. Between 1975 and 1989 he was music
director of the
Orchestre de
Paris, where he conducted much
contemporary music.
Barenboim made his opera conducting debut in 1973 with a
performance of Mozart's
Don
Giovanni at the
Edinburgh
Festival.
He made his debut at Bayreuth
in 1981, conducting there regularly until
1999.
Barenboim served as
music director of
the
Chicago Symphony
Orchestra from 1991 up to 17 June 2006. Barenboim expressed
frustration with the need for fund-raising duties in the United
States as part of being a music director of an American
orchestra.
Barenboim,
whose home is in Berlin, has been music
director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden
(Berlin State Opera) and the Berlin
Staatskapelle since 1992. He has tried to maintain the
orchestra's traditional East-Germanic sound and style. He has
constantly worked to maintain the independent status of the
Staatsoper. He now is conductor for life at the Berlin State Opera.
On 15 May 2006 Barenboim was named principal guest conductor of the
La Scala opera house, in Milan, Italy.
In 2006, Barenboim was the
BBC Reith Lecturer, giving five lectures called
'In the Beginning was Sound' from London, Chicago, Berlin, and
twice from Jerusalem in which he meditated on music, how it is
created, one's experience of it, and its place in
life.
a)
b)
c)
d)
In the autumn of 2006, Barenboim gave the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard
University
entitled 'Sound and Thought'.
In November 2006,
Lorin Maazel caused
some controversy by submitting to the board of directors of the
New York Philharmonic (NYP)
Barenboim's name as his nominee to succeed him as the NYP's music
director. Barenboim, in turn, responded that while he was
flattered, "nothing could be further from my thoughts at the moment
than the possibility of returning to the United States for a
permanent position." In January 2007, Barenboim further demurred on
this question by generally stating his lack of interest in any
United States music directorship, "at the moment." In April 2007,
it was reported that Barenboim expressed no interest in either the
New York Philharmonic's music directorship or their newly created
principal conductor position.
In 2008 he was given the honour to conduct the world famous New
Year Concert of the
Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra on the first of January 2009.
Barenboim made his conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera in
New York for the House's 450th performance of Wagner's Tristan und
Isolde on November 28, 2008.
Marriages
In 1967
Daniel Barenboim married the renowned British cellist Jacqueline du Pré at the Western
Wall, Jerusalem
. The marriage lasted until her death from
multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1987.
His friendship with musicians
Itzhak
Perlman,
Zubin Mehta, and
Pinchas Zukerman, and marriage to du Pré
led to the famous film by Christopher Nupen of their
Schubert "Trout" Quintet. Collectively, the
five referred to themselves as The
Kosher
Nostra.
After suffering confusing symptoms for more than a year, du Pré was
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and retired from music in 1973.
In the early 1980s, Barenboim began a relationship with the Russian
pianist
Elena Bashkirova, with whom
he had two sons born in Paris: David Arthur, born 1983, and
Michael Barenboim, born 1985. Both
were born prior to du Pré's death in 1987. Barenboim tried to keep
his relationship with Bashkirova hidden from du Pré and believes he
succeeded. He and Bashkirova married in 1988. David is a
manager-writer for the German hip-hop band Level 8, and Michael is
a classical violinist.
Music
Daniel Barenboim leads a rehearsal of the West-East Divan,
2005.
Daniel Barenboim is considered one of the most prominent musicians
of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, as both
pianist and conductor. He is noted for his mastery of conveying
musical structure, and for a deep
sensitivity to
harmonic nuances.
In the beginning of his career, Barenboim gained widespread
acceptance mainly as a pianist. He concentrated on music of the
classical era, as well as some
romantic composers. Notable classical
recordings include: the complete cycles of
Mozart's and
Beethoven's
piano
sonatas, and Mozart's piano
concertos (in the latter, taking part as both
soloist and conductor). Notable Romantic recordings include:
Brahms's piano concertos (with
John Barbirolli),
Mendelssohn's
Lieder ohne Worte, and
Chopin's
nocturnes. Barenboim
also recorded many
chamber works,
especially in collaboration with his first wife,
Jacqueline du Pré, the violinist
Itzhak Perlman, and the violinist and
violist
Pinchas Zukerman. Noted
performances include: the complete Mozart violin sonatas (with
Perlman), Brahms's violin sonatas (live concert with Perlman,
previously in the studio with Zukerman), Beethoven's and Brahms's
cello sonatas (with du Pré), Beethoven's and
Tchaikovsky's piano
trios (with du Pré and Zukerman), and
Schubert's
Trout
Quintet (with du Pré, Perlman, Zukerman, and
Zubin Mehta).
Notable recordings as a conductor include: the complete
symphonies of
Beethoven,
Brahms,
Bruckner and
Schumann, many
operas by
Wagner, and various
concertos. Barenboim has written about his changing attitude to the
music of
Gustav Mahler; he has
recorded Mahler's Fifth, Seventh and Ninth Symphonies and
Das Lied von der Erde. He has also
performed and recorded the
Concierto de Aranjuez by
Joaquín Rodrigo and
Heitor Villa-Lobos guitar concerto with
John Williams as the
guitar soloist.
In his later years, Barenboim widened his concert repertoire,
performing works by
baroque as well as
twentieth-century
classical composers. Examples include:
Bach's
Well-Tempered Clavier (which
he has played since childhood) and
Goldberg Variations,
Albeniz's
Iberia, and
Debussy's
preludes.
In
addition, he turned to other musical genres, such as jazz, and the folk music of
his birthplace, Argentina
. He conducted the 2006 New Year's Eve
concert in Buenos Aires, in which tangos were played.
Barenboim has rejected musical fashions based on current
musicological research, such as the
authentic performance
movement (see quotation at the end of this paragraph). A
notable example is his preference for some traditional practices,
rather than fully adhering to
Bärenreiter's new edition (edited by
Jonathan Del Mar) of Beethoven's
symphonies, in his recording of those works. Barenboim has opposed
the practice of choosing the
tempo of a piece
based on historical evidence, such as composer metronome marks. He
argues instead for finding the tempo from within the music,
especially from its
harmony and
harmonic rhythm. The general tempi chosen in
his recording of Beethoven's symphonies, reflecting this belief,
usually adhere to early twentieth-century tradition, and are not
influenced by faster tempos chosen by other conductors such as
Roger Norrington and
David Zinman. In Barenboim's recording of the
Well-Tempered Clavier he makes
frequent use of the right-foot sustaining
pedal, a device absent from the
keyboard instruments of Bach's time
(although the harpsichord was highly resonant), producing a
sonority very different from the "dry" and often staccato sound
favored by the influential (and highly individual) pianist
Glenn Gould. Moreover, in the
fugues, one
voice is often played
considerably louder than the others, a practice impossible on a
harpsichord, that according to some
scholarship, began in Beethoven's time (see, for example, Matthew
Dirst's book
The Iconic Bach). Indeed, when justifying his
interpretation of Bach, Barenboim claims that he is interested in
the long tradition of playing Bach, that has existed for two and a
half centuries, rather than in the exact style of performance that
existed in Bach's time:
The study of old instruments and historic performance
practice has taught us a great deal, but the main point, the impact
of harmony, has been ignored.
This is proved by the fact that tempo is described as
an independent phenomenon.
It is claimed that one of Bach's gavottes must be
played fast and another one slowly.
But tempo is not independent!
...
I think that concerning oneself purely with historic
performance practice and the attempt to reproduce the sound of
older styles of music-making is limiting and no indication of
progress.
Mendelssohn and Schumann tried to introduce Bach into
their own period, as did Liszt with his transcriptions and Busoni
with his arrangements.
In America Leopold Stokowski also tried to do it with
his arrangements for orchestra.
This was always the result of "progressive" efforts to
bring Bach closer to the particular period.
I have no philosophical problem with someone playing
Bach and making it sound like Boulez.
My problem is more with someone who tries to imitate
the sound of that time...
Barenboim has continued to perform and record chamber music,
sometimes with members of the orchestras he has led. Some examples
include the
Quartet for the
End of Time by
Messaien with members of
the
Orchestre de Paris during his
tenure there,
Richard Strauss with
members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during his tenure there,
and the Clarinet Trio of
Mozart with members
of the Berlin Staatskapelle.
Daniel Barenboim conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's New
Year's Day Concert 2009 in Der Musikverein,
(http://www.wienerphilharmoniker.at/) He had a short message to the
audience in which he stated: "Let's pray for human justice in the
Middle East".
Conducting Wagner in Israel
On July
7, 2001, Barenboim led the Berlin
Staatskapelle in part of Richard
Wagner's opera Tristan und
Isolde at the Israel
Festival in Jerusalem
. The concert sparked controversy. Wagner's
music had been unofficially
taboo in Israel's
concert halls (although recordings of it were widely purchased and
listened to) because of revulsion with the racial anti-Semitism
that Wagner had espoused in print - which presaged and quite likely
influenced Hitler. Previously the Palestine Philharmonic had
performed Wagner's music. Barenboim had long opposed the ban,
regarding it as reflecting what he calls a "diaspora" mentality
that is no longer appropriate to Israel. In a conversation with
Edward Said (published in the book
Parallels and Paradoxes) he says that "Wagner, the person,
is absolutely appalling, despicable, and, in a way, very difficult
to put together with the music he wrote, which so often has exactly
the opposite kind of feelings ... noble, generous, etc." He calls
Wagner's anti-Semitism obviously "monstrous", and feels it must be
faced, and argues that "Wagner did not cause the Holocaust."
Barenboim originally had been scheduled to perform the first act of
Die Walküre with three
singers, including
tenor Plácido Domingo.
However, strong
protests by some Holocaust survivors, as
well as the Israeli
government,
led the festival authorities to ask for an alternative
program. (The Israel Festival's Public Advisory board, which
included some Holocaust survivors, had originally approved the
program.)
Barenboim agreed to substitute music by
Robert Schumann and
Igor Stravinsky for the offending piece, but
expressed regret at the decision. At the end of the concert he
announced that he would play Wagner as an encore and invited those
who objected to hearing the music to leave, saying, "Despite what
the Israel Festival believes, there are people sitting in the
audience for whom Wagner does not spark Nazi associations. I
respect those for whom these associations are oppressive. It will
be democratic to play a Wagner encore for those who wish to hear
it. I am turning to you now and asking whether I can play Wagner."
A half-hour debate ensued in
Hebrew
in the hall, with some audience members calling Barenboim a
"fascist." In the end, according to reports in the Israeli press,
about 50 attendees walked out, and about 1000 remained, applauding
loudly after the performance. (According to Israeli newspaper
interviews, at least one who remained in attendance was a Holocaust
survivor, again undermining the simple assertion that all survivors
opposed the performance of Wagner in Israel.)
Barenboim regarded the performance of Wagner as a political
statement, and said he had decided to defy the taboo on Wagner when
a news conference he held the previous week was interrupted by the
ringing of a mobile phone to the tune of Wagner's
Ride of the Valkyries. "I thought
if it can be heard on the ring of a telephone, why can't it be
played in a concert hall?" he said.
Israel and Palestine
With respect to the Israel-Palestinean conflict, Barenboim has
spoken about the need for both sides to begin to understand each
other:
"There is no way Israel will deal with the Palestinians if the
Palestinians do not understand the suffering of the Jewish people
... [N]ow fifty years after that we have to accept
co-responsibility for Palestinian suffering. Until an Israeli
leader is able to utter those words there will be no peace."
In an
interview with British music critic Norman Lebrecht in 2003, he accused the
Israeli
government of behaving in a manner which was,
"morally abhorrent and strategically wrong", and, "putting in
danger the very existence of the state of Israel."
As a
gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians, Barenboim has given performances
in the West
Bank
. In one case he snuck into Ramallah under
cover of night to give a piano recital, after the Israeli
government had told him that it would not permit him to go there
because conditions were too dangerous.
In 1999, Barenboim jointly founded the
West-Eastern Divan orchestra with the
late Palestinian-American intellectual and humanist
Edward Said, who was a close friend. It is an
initiative to bring together, every summer, a group of talented
young classical musicians from Israel and Arab countries. Barenboim
and Said were among the recipients of the 2002
Prince of Asturias Awards for
their work in "improving understanding between nations".
Barenboim
wrote a book together with Said, Parallels and Paradoxes,
based on a series of public discussions held at New York's Carnegie Hall
.
In September 2005, Barenboim refused to be interviewed by uniformed
Israel Army Radio reporter Dafna
Arad, considering the wearing of the uniform insensitive to the
Palestinians present. Then Israeli
Minister of Education,
Limor Livnat
(
Likud), was quoted as describing Barenboim as
"a real Jew hater" and "a real anti-semite".
In
December 2007, Barenboim and a group of some 20 musicians from
England, the United States
, France and Germany, and one Palestinian were
scheduled to play a baroque music
concert in Gaza
.
Although they had received authorization from Israeli authorities,
the Palestinian was stopped at the Israel-Gaza border and told that
he needed individual permission to enter. The group waited seven
hours at the border, and then canceled the concert in
solidarity.
Barenboim commented: "A baroque music concert in a Roman Catholic
church in Gaza - as we all know - has nothing to do with security
and would bring so much joy to people who live there in great
difficulty."
On
January 12, 2008, after a concert in Ramallah
, he declared that he had accepted honorary
Palestinian citizenship, in what he hopes will serve as a public
gesture of peace.
Some Israelis have criticized Barenboim's decision to accept
Palestinian citizenship. The leader of the
Shas
party demanded that Barenboim be stripped of his Israeli
citizenship.
In January 2008, the
UFO religion
Raëlian Movement nominated Barenboim an
"Honorary Guide" "for his actions towards more peace in the Middle
East and for championing Palestinian's [sic] rights while being a
citizen of Israel." . The group does not claim that Barenboim is a
member or supporter, or that their "nomination" was made with his
knowledge or approval.
In
January 2009, during the Israeli action in Gaza
, Barenboim
canceled two concerts of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in
Qatar
and Cairo
"due to the
escalating violence in Gaza and the resulting concerns for the
musicians’ safety", according to the BBC.
Awards and recognitions
- Istanbul
International Music Festival Lifetime Achievement Award,
2009
- Léonie Sonning Music
Prize, 2009
- Royal Philharmonic
Society Gold Medal, 2008
- International ServiceAward for the Global
Defence of Human Rights, 2008
- Goethe Medal, Praemium Imperiale, 2007
- Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur, 2007
- Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal,
2004
- Wolf Prize in Arts, 2004
(According to the documentary "Knowledge Is the Beginning",
Barenboim donated all the proceeds to music education for Israeli
and Palestinian youth)
- Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize, 2003 (with Staatskapelle Berlin)
- Tolerance Prize, Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, 2002
- Prince of Asturias
Awards, 2002 (jointly with Edward
Said)
- Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz, 2002
- Honorary degrees
Grammy
Award for Best Opera Recording:
Grammy Award for
Best Chamber Music Performance:
Grammy Award for
Best Orchestral Performance:
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance
:
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance
:
Wolf Prize
In May
2004, Barenboim was awarded the Wolf
Prize at a ceremony at the Israeli Knesset
. Education Minister Livnat originally held
up the nomination until Barenboim apologized for his earlier
performance of Wagner in Israel. He took the opportunity to express
his opinions on the political situation, referring to the
Israeli Declaration of
Independence in 1948:
"I am asking today with deep sorrow: Can we, despite
all our achievements, ignore the intolerable gap between what the
Declaration of Independence promised and what was fulfilled, the
gap between the idea and the realities of Israel?
Does the condition of occupation and domination over
another people fit the Declaration of Independence?
Is there any sense in the independence of one at the
expense of the fundamental rights of the other?
Can the Jewish people whose history is a record of
continued suffering and relentless persecution, allow themselves to
be indifferent to the rights and suffering of a neighboring
people?
Can the State of Israel allow itself an unrealistic
dream of an ideological end to the conflict instead of pursuing a
pragmatic, humanitarian one based on social justice?"
Education Minister Livnat and Israeli President
Moshe Katsav criticized Barenboim for his
speech.
Later, in March 2007, the
New York Times quoted Barenboim
as saying, "The whole subject of Wagner in Israel has been
politicized and is a symptom of a malaise that goes very deep in
Israeli society, a malaise that is also a result of being an
occupying power for 40 years. I don’t believe that this is
something that one can do and not feel an effect upon oneself. I
think that the occupation is morally abhorrent. I don’t think any
country has a right to occupy another, and certainly not we, the
Jewish people, with our history."
References
External links