Nikolaus Harnoncourt & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Nikolaus Harnoncourt Count Johann Nicolaus Graf De La Fontaine Und D'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt B. 6 December 1929 Is An Austrian Conductor Particularly Known For His Historically Informed Performances Of Music From The Classical Era And Earlier. Harnoncourt Was Born In Berlin Germany. He Was Raised In Graz Austria And Studied Music In Vienna. His Mother Ladislaja Gräfin Von Meran Freiin Von Brandhoven Was The Granddaughter Of The Habsburg Archduke Johann The 13th Child Of The Emperor Leopold II. He Is Thus Descended From Various Holy Roman Emperors And Other European Royalty. His Father Eberhard De La Fontaine Graf D'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt Was An Engineer Working In Berlin Who Had Two Children From A Previous Marriage. Two Years After Nikolaus's Birth His Brother Philipp Was Born. The Family Eventually Moved To Graz Where Eberhard Had Obtained A Post In The State-Government Landesregierung Of Styria. He Was A Cellist With The Vienna Symphony From 1952 To 1969. In 1953 Harnoncourt Founded The Period-Instrument Ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien With His Wife Alice Hoffelner. The Concentus Musicus Wien Is Dedicated To Performances On Period Instruments And By The 1970s His Work With It Had Made Him Quite Well Known. He Played The Viola Da Gamba At This Time As Well As The Cello. For The Telefunken Later Teldec Label Harnoncourt Recorded A Wide Variety Of The Baroque Repertoire Beginning With The Viol Music Of Henry Purcell 1 And Extending To Works Including * Bach's Musical Offering 2 * Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione Di Poppea 3 * Jean-Philippe Rameau's Castor Et Pollux 4 One Reason That Harnoncourt Left The Vienna Symphony Was To Become A Conductor In His Own Right. He Made His Conducting Debut At La Scala Milan In 1970 In A Production Of Monteverdi's Ritorno D'Ulisse In Patria. 5 In 1971 Harnoncourt Started A Joint Project With Conductor Gustav Leonhardt To Record All Of J.S. Bach's Cantatas. The Project Was Eventually Completed In 1990 And Barring A Couple Of Cantatas Nos. 51 And 199 Was The First And Only Cantata Cycle To Utilise An All-Male Choir And Soloist Roster. In 2001 A Critically Acclaimed And Grammy Award Winning Recording Of Bach's St. Matthew Passion Conducted By Harnoncourt Was Released Which Included The Entire Score Of The Piece In Bach's Own Hand On A CD-ROM This Is His 2nd Recording Of The Work . Harnoncourt Subsequently Performed With Many Other Orchestras Using Modern Instruments But Still With An Eye On Historical Authenticity In Terms Of Tempi And Dynamics Among Other Things. He Also Expanded His Repertoire Continuing To Play The Baroque Works Which Had Made Him Famous But Also Championing The Viennese Operetta Repertoire. In Recent Years He Has Made A Benchmark Recording Of The Beethoven Symphonies With The Chamber Orchestra Of Europe COE 6 And Recorded The Beethoven Piano Concertos With Pierre-Laurent Aimard And The COE. 7 In Addition Harnoncourt Is A Guest Conductor Of The Vienna Philharmonic And Has Made Several Recordings With The Orchestra. 8 9 Between 1987 And 1991 He Conducted Four New Productions Of Mozart Operas At The Vienna State Opera 1987-91 Idomeneo 1988-90 Die Zauberflöte 1989 Die Entführung Aus Dem Serail 1989-91 Così Fan Tutte . He Directed The Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Day Concerts In 2001 And 2003. 10 In 2002 He Recorded Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 With The Vienna Philharmonic With An Accompanying Second CD Containing A Lecture By Harnoncourt About The Symphony With Musical Examples Including The Rarely Heard Fragments From The Unfinished Finale. Harnoncourt Made His Guest-Conducting Debut With The Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam In 1975. He Has Continued As A Guest Conductor With The Orchestra Including In Several Opera Productions And Recordings. 11 In October 2000 The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Named Him Their Honorair Gastdirigent Honorary Guest Conductor . Harnoncourt And His Wife Alice Harnoncourt Have Raised Four Children. Their Daughter Is The Singer Elisabeth Von Magnus. Their Two Surviving Sons Are Philipp And Franz. Their Third Son Eberhard A Violin Maker Died In 1990 In An Automobile Accident. 12 Awards * Sonning Award 1993 Denmark * Kyoto Prize 2005 Japan * Leipzig Bach Medal 2007 Leipzig DE Bibliography * Harnoncourt Nikolaus Pauly Reinhard G. 1997 . The Musical Dialogue Thoughts On Monteverdi Bach And Mozart. Portland OR Amadeus Press. ISBN 1574670239. * Harnoncourt Nikolaus Pauly Reinhard G. 1988 . Baroque Music Today Music As Speech. Portland OR Amadeus Press. ISBN 9780931340918. * Harnoncourt Nikolaus 1983 . Musik Als Klangrede Wege Zu Einem Neuen. Salzburg Residenz Verlag. ISBN 9783701703159. * Harnoncourt Nikolaus 1993 . Die Macht Der Musik Zwei Reden. Salzburg Residenz Verlag. ISBN 9783701708277. read less