born April 5, 1908, Salzburg, Austria
died July 16, 1989, Anif, near Salzburg
Austrian conductor.
A child prodigy on the piano, he attended Salzburg's Mozarteum. He took his first conducting post in Ulm in 1929. In 1933 he joined the Nazi Party, and under the Third Reich his reputation grew swiftly. After World War II he initially was not allowed to conduct, but in 1947 he began recording with the Vienna Philharmonic, the start of a legacy of some 800 recordings. His U.S. debut in 1955 was attended by controversy over his Nazi-era activities. That same year he became Wilhelm Furtwängler 's successor at the Berlin Philharmonic, and he headed the Salzburg Festival from 1964 until his death.