Christopher Fifield

Christopher Fifield's remarkable study explores the personality, life and work of a conductor who influenced and inspired the leading composers, singers and instrumentalists of his day.

1843-1865 Childhood and Years of Study1866-1867 Tribschen1868-1869 Munich1870-1871 Brussels : Tribschen1871-1874 Budapest1874-1875 Budapest and Bayreuth1875 Vienna1876 Bayreuth1877 London1878-1879 Vienna1879-1880 Friends and Enemies1880-1881 London and Vienna1881-1882 Richter and d'Albert1882 Richter and d'Albert1882-1883 The Master's Death1884 More Opera in London1885-1886 Vienna, London and Birmingham1887-1888 Return to Bayreuth1889-1900 Vienna1897-1900 Richter and Mahler1889-1890 England1891-1895 England1895-1900 England1890-1899 Bayreuth1894-1899 Richter's diary1899-1900 Hallé Orchestra1900-1902 England1903-1904 England1904-1906 England1906-1908 England1908-1909 England1909-1911 England1911-1914 Retirement1914-1916 The Last YearsFinaleHans Richter's Conducting BooksAppendix 1: Works conducted by Hans RichterAppendix 2: Cities and towns where Richter conductedSelect Bibliography

The Austro-Hungarian Hans Richter (1843-1916) was the first career-conductor to gain international fame. His first appointment was to Budapest, and he went on to dominate music-making in Vienna, Bayreuth, London, Manchester (with the Hallé Orchestra) and other towns and cities in Britain and Europe between 1865 and 1912. Richter gave first performances of works by Wagner, Brahms, Elgar, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Stanford and Parry and helped to further the careers of Dvorák, Sibelius, Bartók and Glazunov. Christopher Fifield's remarkable study explores the personality, life and work of a conductor who influenced and inspired the leading composers, singers and instrumentalists of his day. Originally published in 1993, this revised and expanded edition contains extensive new material in the form of Richter's conducting books. Translated and reproduced in full, they detail every one of the 4,351 public performances Richter gave in a professional life spanning 47 years. Drawing on Richter's own diaries, the book also presents his correspondence with many contemporary composers (Wagner in particular) and performers. Dr Fifield's biography of this seminal figure provides a revealing insight into British and European music and concert life during the long nineteenth-century.