(b Graz, 28 Aug 1894; d Salzburg, 14 Aug 1981). Austrian conductor. He studied law, taking the doctorate at Graz University in 1919, and also music, first with private teachers in his native town and then from 1913 to 1914 with Eusebius Mandyczewski and Guido Adler in Vienna. Returning home, he coached singers at the Graz Opera, making his début as conductor in Nessler's Der Trompeter von Säckingen in 1917. He subsequently studied and conducted the major works of the repertory. He was strongly influenced by Carl Muck, who invited him to study the Wagner scores with him at Bayreuth, and Bruno Walter, who invited him to the Staatsoper in Munich in 1921. He left Munich after six years and in 1927 became Generalmusikdirektor at Darmstadt, where he frequently performed modern operas, including Wozzeck in 1931, a work he introduced to several musical centres. Böhm moved to Hamburg in 1931, succeeding Egon Pollak. The year 1933, when he first conducted the Vienna PO in opera and concert performances, turned out to be decisive for his further development. His initial success with Tristan und Isolde established a musical partnership that matured gradually over the following decades. Equally successful in his début at Dresden, Böhm accepted the invitation to succeed Fritz Busch as director of the Staatsoper in 1934. While never joining the Nazi party, he prospered in Hitler's Germany. He established a close friendship with Richard Strauss, whose devoted and inspired interpreter he remained throughout his career; he conducted the premières of two of Strauss's operas, Die schweigsame Frau (1935) and Daphne (1938), the latter being dedicated to him.
Two periods as director of the Vienna Staatsoper (1943–5 and 1954–6), and his artistic responsibility for the German seasons at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, from 1950 to 1953, were his last administrative commitments. He opened the rebuilt Vienna Staatsoper in 1955 with Fidelio, which he called his ‘Schicksalsoper’. He rapidly won a worldwide reputation as a freelance from 1956, conducting regularly at Salzburg, Bayreuth, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Milan, Paris and New York, where he made his Metropolitan début in 1957 with Don Giovanni. Böhm recorded almost every major piece by his favourite composers, including Mozart's complete symphonies and three versions of Così fan tutte, of which he was for many an ideal interpreter. He was widely honoured, and bore two exclusive titles: ‘Ehrendirigent’ of the Vienna PO and Austrian Generalmusikdirektor. He was also the president of the LSO.
Mozart, Wagner and Richard Strauss are the composers with whom his name is most closely associated, followed by Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner, Brahms and Berg. Böhm’s musical approach, expressed in strictly functional gestures, was direct, fresh, energetic and authoritative, avoiding touches of romantic sentimentality or self-indulgent virtuoso mannerisms – qualities finely displayed in his Bayreuth recordings of Tristan and The Ring. He was widely admired for his skilful balance and blend of sound, his feeling for a stable tempo and his sense of dramatic tension.
Begegnung mit Richard Strauss, ed. F.E. Dostal (Vienna, 1964) [incl. Böhm's own discography and repertory listings]
Ich erinnere mich ganz genau, ed. H. Weigel (Zürich, 1968, 2/1974; Eng. trans., 1992)
M. Roemer: Karl Böhm (Berlin, 1966) [with discography]
F. Endler: Karl Böhm: ein Dirigentenleben (Hamburg, 1981)
H. Hoyer: Kart Böhm an der Wiener Staatsoper (1933–1981): eine Dokumentation (Vienna, 1981)
GERHARD BRUNNER/JOSÉ BOWEN