Sir Georg Solti

Almost everything Solti touched crackled with energy, and his drive and determination sustained him through several difficult periods. Born in Budapest in 1912 to Hungarian Jewish parents, he worked as rehearsal pianist and assistant to several famous conductors, including Toscanini, whom he revered. Solti’s big break should have come in 1938, when he conducted The Marriage of Figaro in Budapest. But that very same evening, Hitler invaded Austria, and in response the Hungarian government introduced anti-Semitic laws. Solti fled to London; it was only when the war ended that his career began its steady upward climb. Though he was initially criticized for the ferocious intensity of his conducting, and for his sometimes harsh manner in rehearsal, his superb technical command and tightly focused dedication to the music won him increasing admiration, especially after he took up the musical directorship at London’s Covent Garden Opera in 1961 and the Chicago Symphony in 1969. He was knighted in 1971. In 1958 he began a monumental project to record the Wagner Ring cycle in stereo. Solti was doubtful about the project, until the first installment, Das Rheingold, shot up the best-seller charts, rivalling Elvis Presley. Solti’s complete Ring has been voted greatest recording ever made in the UK’s Gramophone magazine and BBC Music Magazine. Though his repertoire was broad, it was in opera where Solti made his greatest impression, stamping his personality on every facet. He died in Antibes, France, in 1997.