Erich Kleiber (5 August 1890 – 27 January 1956) was an Austrian conductor.

Born in Vienna, Kleiber studied in Prague. In 1923, after conducting a stirring performance of Beethoven's Fidelio at the Berlin State Opera, he became that institution's music director.

He was known for his interpretations of the standard symphonic and operatic repertoire, as well as for championing new works. In 1925, for example, he conducted the première of Alban Berg's opera, Wozzeck. When Berg's second opera Lulu was branded Entartete Musik (degenerate music) by the Nazi Party, Kleiber resigned from his post at the Berlin Opera in protest. He was not Jewish. Kleiber also repudiated his contract with La Scala in Milan in April 1939, shortly after the Mussolini regime enacted its own anti-semitic legislation, saying: "...[since] la Scala is denied for Jews...both as a Christian and an artist, I can no longer cooperate."

Later he moved to Buenos Aires, where he worked at the Colón Theater, becoming its music director. Here he specialized in the German operatic repertoire, particularly the works of Wagner. Through the prestige of his name, he was able to attract such luminaries to the Colón as Emanuel List, Kirsten Flagstad, Viorica Ursuleac (in her only appearances in the Western Hemisphere) and Set Svanholm. Some of his performances from this period have been available on CDs of varying quality, depending upon the conditions under which the original recordings were made. He took Argentinian citizenship in 1938.

After World War II, he was offered his old position at the Berlin State Opera, which was at that time in the Russian zone of the divided city, but after discovering that the Communists were no more to his taste than the Nazis had been, he resigned without having conducted a single performance. He became a roving guest conductor, never again having any permanent post.

Erich Kleiber made a few recordings, mainly for Decca. Two operatic recordings are especially remarkable: Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. The former was included in Gramophone magazine's 100 Greatest Recordings.

His son, Carlos Kleiber, was also a world-renowned conductor.

On August 2010, Colón Theater will celebrate 120 years of Erich Kleiber's Birth.

Notes

1. Cited in "Notes from Abroad", The Musical Times, April, 1939

Bibliography

• John Russell, Erich Kleiber: a memoir (London 1957)
• Cesar A. Dillon, Erich Kleiber: a discography (Buenos Aires 1990)
• Tomislav Vichev, Kleiber's Era (Sofia 2003)

External links

• Discography
• Kleiber's era
• Biography, Annotated bibliography and Discography and Web links