Overview
Biography
Michael Andreas Gielen (20 July 1927 – 8 March 2019) was an Austrian conductor and composer. He promoted contemporary music in opera and concert, conducting premieres such as György Ligeti's Requièm, Karlheinz Stockhausen's Carré and Bernd Alois Zimmermann's opera Die Soldaten. He directed the Frankfurt Opera from 1977 to 1987, later called the Gielen Era, winning stage directors such as Hans Neuenfels and Ruth Berghaus, and reviving operas such as Schreker's Die Gezeichneten which had premiered in Frankfurt in 1918.
Early years
Gielen was born in Dresden to Rose (née Steuermann) and Josef Gielen; his father was an opera director. Through his mother, Rose, he is the nephew of Eduard Steuermann and Salka Viertel. His father was Christian and his mother was Jewish.
Career
Gielen began his career as a pianist in Buenos Aires, where he studied with Erwin Leuchter and gave an early performance of Arnold Schoenberg's complete piano works in 1949 (the South-American première). While serving as conductor and répétiteur at the Wiener Staatsoper (1950–60), he conducted productions of contemporary music outside the opera house.
His next operatic appointment was as conductor of Royal Swedish Opera from 1960–65, where he premiered Aribert Reimann's opera Ein Traumspiel in June 1965. He worked then for the Netherlands Opera, and from 1967 to 1977 at the Frankfurt Opera. In 1979, he revived Schreker's opera Die Gezeichneten there, which had premiered in Frankfurt in 1918. During his time in Frankfurt, later called the Gielen Era, he collaborated with stage directors such as Hans Neuenfels for Verdi's Aida and Ruth Berghaus for Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Gielen was principal conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra (1969–73), the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (1980–86) and of the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra (1986–99).
He demonstrated a mastery of the most complex contemporary scores, and conducted many premieres, including Helmut Lachenmann's Fassade and Klangschatten – mein Saitenspiel, György Ligeti's Requiem, Karlheinz Stockhausen's Carré and Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten. In 1973 he recorded Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron, used as a soundtrack for the film Moses und Aron.
As a composer, Gielen has elaborated on the tradition of the Second Viennese School, and his small oeuvre includes settings of poems by Hans Arp, Paul Claudel, Stefan George, and Pablo Neruda.[citation needed] In October 2014, Gielen announced his retirement from conducting for health reasons, particularly seriously deteriorated eyesight.
He died in Mondsee, Austria, on 8 March 2019.
Awards
- 1986: Theodor W. Adorno Award
- 2010: Ernst von Siemens Music Prize
- Juni 2010: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern)
Compositions
- Die Glocken sind auf falscher Spur after Hans Arp, premiere 1970, Joan Carroll, Siegfried Palm, Aloys Kontarsky, Wilhelm Bruck, Christoph Caskel, Michael Gielen, at the Saarländischer Rundfunk festival "Musik im 20.Jahrhundert"
- Un vieux souvenir after Baudelaires's Les Fleurs du mal, string quartet (1983-1985), premiere 1985, LaSalle Quartet, Cincinnati
