Hans Rosbaud

Austrian conductor Hans Rosbaud was born in Graz on 22 July 1895. After a musical upbringing - his mother taught piano - Rosbaud studied in Frankfurt - composition with Bernhard Sekles and piano with Alfred Hoehn.

He began his career in 1921 as music director of the new School of Music in Mainz, a job which included conducting municipal orchestral concerts.  From 1928 he was the first chief conductor of the Hessicher Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, and give first performances of music by Schoenberg and Bartók. In 1937 he was general music director in Münster, in 1941 in Strasburg, and in 1945 the US occupation authorities placed him as music director of the Munich Philharmonic.

From 1948 onwards in Baden-Bade he was the first chief conductor of the South West German Radio Orchestra (SWR Symphony Orchestra), where first performances included Schoenberg's Moses und Aron (at eight days notice). There were tours to festivals of contemporary music, and a six-week residency with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in December 1962, shortly before he died in Switzerland on 29 December, aged sixty-seven.

 

A selection of articles about Hans Rosbaud

Echoes of Oblivion by Robert McCarney - Sound Sense and Nonsense

CD Spotlight. Beyond Memorable - Hans Rosbaud conducts Gustav Mahler symphonies, heard by Gerald Fenech. 'Rosbaud ... lays out the whole range of Mahler's passion with a fiery sense of musicality.'

CD Spotlight. Extraordinarily Gifted - Hans Rosbaud conducts Beethoven, and Gerald Fenech is impressed. 'These exceptional recordings, taped between 1953 and 1962, reveal a conductor of exceptional insight and unbounded energy, and these interpretations can be safely considered as among the very best of their time.'

CD Spotlight. A Modernist Aesthetic - Hans Rosbaud conducts Tchaikovsky, heard by Stephen Francis Vasta. '... for veteran Tchaikovsky devotees, ... interesting listening.'

CD Spotlight. An Exhilarating Freshness - Recordings of the Beethoven symphonies attract Patric Standford. '... an outstanding overall impression.'