RAFAEL KUBELÍK

Kubelík’s work peaked with the Munich orchestra and his concerts followed an
exact dramaturgical plan. During the 1966 season, for example, Beethoven’s
symphonies formed the heart of the programme, in 1967 the focus was on
religious works from Palestrina to Stravinsky, 1968 was devoted to Hindemith’s
chamber music and Bach’s suites, 1969 to Mozart concertos, in 1970 each and
every concert boasted a Haydn symphony. Kubelík had shown an interest in
traditional Bohemian music making all his life and it therefore comes as no
surprise that composers from the Bohemian-Moravian tradition were frequently
featured in his work – first and foremost Janáček (whose works were by no means
as popular in those days as they are now) but also Smetana, Dvořák, Martinū and
of course Mahler, whom he introduced to a wider audience by recording all of
his symphonies. These works were joined by Bruckner’s symphonies, numerous
concertante opera productions (including Pfitzner’s Palestrina, Debussy’s Pelléas
et Mélisande, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Wagner’s Meistersinger), traditional
repertoire and a large number of works from the modern age. Kubelík was of
the conviction that, ”one cannot love Beethoven if one does not know that
Hindemith exists in the 20 th century, and we cannot entirely understand Bach
without having heard any of Schönberg’s music.”
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Radio symphony orchestras in Germany enjoyed a relatively independent
existence, thanks to the fact that they were financed by radio licence fees and
not by concert schedules; in Munich Kubelík was generally able to make bolder
plans and as Daniel Barenboim once put it, always ”took the path of greatest,
not least, resistance”. When Hans Werner Henze was taken ill, just before he was
about to conduct the first Munich performance of his Sixth Symphony, he had
to cancel his participation, Kubelík jumped in from one minute to the next and
helped guarantee the work’s success. He conducted Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s
symphonies (the Eighth and last as a premiere performance), works he held
in high esteem, with sincere passion and urgency – the same can be said of
Kubelík’s reading of Britten’s and Honegger’s works.
During the Munich period, concerts were joined by countless recordings
and lengthy tours as a guest conductor – the repertoire chosen displayed a
preference for the works of Mahler, Janáček and Britten – and Kubelík himself
once described these works as “a musical language that is sweeping and
eloquent enough to awaken a desire in listeners to become better human
beings.” Kubelík also set off from Munich on his somewhat joyless intermezzo
in America. In 1971 he was asked to become music director of the New York
Metropolitan Opera by Göran Gentele, who himself had just been appointed
the house’s new general director. This was the first time the Met had enjoyed
a music director but Gentele died before Kubelík could make his debut with
Les Troyens in 1973. As such, Kubelík lost his most adamant spokesman and
resigned from his new office before the year was out.
Kubelík’s official reason was the house’s notorious lack of funds (an open
secret at the time), something that prevented him realising his artistic plans