Kurt Adler

Not to be confused with the Vienna born conductor and opera house director Kurt Herbert Adler.
Kurt Adler
Born (1907-03-01)March 1, 1907
Neuhaus, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Jindřichův Hradec, Czech Republic)
Died September 21, 1977(1977-09-21) (aged 70)
Butler, New Jersey, United States
Nationality Austrian/Czech
Citizenship American
Occupation Conductor, Pianist, Chorus Master
Known for Conductor and Chorus Master, New York Metropolitan Opera, 1943–1973

Kurt Adler (March 1, 1907  September 21, 1977) was an Austrian classical chorus master, music conductor, author and pianist. He was best known as the chorus master and lead conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1943 to 1973.[1] He conducted in Austria, Germany, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, United States, Canada, Mexico, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.

Early life

Kurt Adler was born in Jindřichův Hradec/Neuhaus, Bohemia (now Czech Republic), Bohemia during the Austro-Hungarian Empire to a bourgeois Jewish family. He was the only child of Siegfried Adler (born June 26, 1876 in Luka u Jihlavy, Bohemia), a textile factory owner, and Olga (Fürth) Adler (born April 3, 1883 in Sušice/Schüttenhofen, Bohemia (now Czech Republic).[2] Both parents were murdered by the Gestapo during World War II, after they were deported to Izbica concentration camp, which served as a transfer camp, to the Bełżec extermination camp in Poland on May 15, 1942.[3] His paternal grandparents, Jakob and Eveline Adler are buried in Neuhaus (now Jindřichův Hradec), Hebrew Cemetery.[4] His maternal grandparents, Albert and Katherine Fürth are buried in Sušice (Schüttenhofen), Bohemia (now Czech Republic).[4]

During the 1930s many now-famous musicians, including Adler, emigrated to the United States to escape from Nazism. Adler emigrated to the United States on October 9, 1938.[2] He sailed from Rotterdam, Holland in 1938 on the "SS Statendam".[5] The ship was later destroyed in the Rotterdam Blitz. He was naturalized on March 21, 1944.[6]

Life in the arts and humanities

Kurt Adler began his professional career in Germany on the musical staff of the Berlin State Opera. He later associated with the famous German Opera Theatre in Prague (where Rudolf, Szell and Schick also served) and with the Municipal Opera House in Berlin. He joined the Metropolitan Opera in 1943, under the management of Edward Johnson then in conjunction with Rudolf Bing, General Manager, from 1945 to 1973.

Maestro Adler's press announcement upon his recruitment as Chorus Master of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City said, "That since Giulio Setti's time, ten years ago, there never has been a single Chorus Master for the entire Italian, French, German, English repertoire and with my appointment, the gradual reorganization and training will again be centralized in one hand."[7]

Education

Kurt Adler began studying music at age six under cantor Jacob Fürnberg, Neuhaus),[8] His first public appearance was at age fourteen.

His entire musical education was in Vienna, Austria. Other teachers include Prof. Richard Robert, Fanny Boehm-Kramer, Prof. Alexander Manhart (1875–1936) (piano); Prof. Karl Weigl (1881–1949), Prof. Guido Adler (1855–1941), Prof. Wilhelm Fischer (1886–1962) (theory); Prof.Ferdinand Foll (1867–1929), also Hermann Weigert (1890–1955), Erich Kleiber (1890–1956) (conducting). In 1925, he graduated from the classical Akademisches Gymnasium, Vienna. In 1927, he earned a degree of Musicology from the University of Vienna, corresponding to Master of Arts, Philosophical Faculty of the University of Vienna.[9]

Languages

English, German, Czech, Russian, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Romanian, Hebrew.[2]

Engagements

Conductor of numerous broadcasts and Television performances of operatic and symphonic music.

Teaching positions

Quotes

Publications

Personal life

Daughter Evelyne Adler, late 1990s, New York City

Partnered in Stalingrad, U.S.S.R., Nina Boldin, (1912-2004) The couple had one daughter, Ingrid,[5]

On March 10, 1948, Adler married Irene Hawthorne (1917–1986) (birth name Irene McNutt), former prima ballerina soloist of the Metropolitan Opera.

On September 16, 1965, Adler married Christiane Tocco. Three children: Evelyne, Luc Pierre Philippe, and Jacques Maximilian Mueller (stepson).[12]

On September 21, 1977, Adler died at home in his sleep, in Butler, New Jersey, of uremia/chronic glomerulonephritis.[12]

His hobbies included stamp and book collecting.

His athletics included soccer, field hockey (All Austrian 1926), Track and Field, swimming, tennis, and ping-pong.

His instruments were piano, organ, harmonica, harpsichord, and celeste[2]

Bibliography

References

  1. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Centennial Edition. New York: Schirmer Reference, 2000, p. 21
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 From the Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc., New York Press Bureau Artist's Questionnaire, Nov. 13, 1945
  3. United States Holocaust Museum Archive, Washington DC
  4. 1 2 Václav Urban: Kurt Adler (1907 Neuhaus – 1977 New York). 1. vydání, Jindřichův Hradec, Kostelní Radouň, 2007, pp. 11–13, ISBN 978-80-87107-00-3
  5. 1 2 United States of America Declaration of Intention and Petition for Naturalization, National Archives and Records Administration, Northeastern Region, New York, New York
  6. One of the Props. Opera News, January 25, 1969, s. 27
  7. From the Metropolitan Opera Association Press Announcement, New York, New York, Nov. 13, 1945
  8. Václav Urban: Kurt Adler. Ein leben für die Musik. ConBrio Verlagsgesellschaft, Regensburg 2009, p. 27. ISBN 978-3-940768-13-1
  9. Václav Urban: Kurt Adler (1907 Neuhaus – 1977 New York). 1. vyd., Jindřichův Hradec, Kostelní Radouň, 2007, p. 36–39, ISBN 978-80-87107-00-3
  10. Adler, K.: The art of accompanying and coaching. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press 1965, p. 182.
  11. Adler, K.: The art of accompanying and coaching. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press 1965, p. 3.
  12. 1 2 Staff. "Kurt Adler, 70, Conductor Of 20 Different Operas At Met During 22 Years", The New York Times, September 22, 1977. Accessed July 2, 2011. "Kurt Adler, opera conductor and chorusmaster of the, Metropolitan Opera from 1945 through 1973, died yesterday after a long illness. He was 70 years old and lived in Butler, N.J."

External links

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