Wilhelm Furtwängler

Biographical accounts of Wilhelm Furtwängler often tend toward extremes: depending on the author's point of view, he is portrayed moralistically as a political opportunist, even a puppet and poster boy for the Nazis, who allowed himself to be exploited for propaganda purposes as an unscrupulous egoist and was never able to escape the shadow of those years. But he is also admired as a musical luminary, a titan and medium, a savior of those persecuted by a violent regime, which he actively resisted. There is one point on which everyone agrees—his outstanding qualities as a conductor; according to Joachim Kaiser, he is one of the "greatest interpreters who ever lived." In the revised and greatly expanded new edition of his biography, Herbert Haffner relates Furtwängler's fame to reality and discovers the man behind the myth. After extensive research and conversations with contemporary witnesses, he is able to correct a large number of long-held misconceptions and comes to many new insights about the artist, for example as a family man, about his relationships with Munich's bohemian scene and with beautiful women. He also clarifies his relationship with musicologist Heinrich Schenker, with various fellow conductors, and Hitler's thwarted attempt to establish an "anti-Bayreuth" in Salzburg. By incorporating the respective historical backgrounds, the author has created not only a book about a musician, but also an entertaining kaleidoscope of German (cultural) history across four political systems.

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