Herbert von Karajan



Herbert von Karajan (born Heribert, Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor.

Sourced

 * If I tell the Berliners to step forward, they do it. If I tell the Viennese to step forward, they do it, but then they ask why.
 * On why he preferred conducting the Berlin Philharmonic to the Vienna Philharmonic
 * Herbert von Karajan in Brian Moynahan, 'Funeral in Berlin', The Sunday Times, 30 January 1983, quoted in Norman Lebrecht, The Book of Musical Anecdotes.


 * Those who have achieved all their aims probably set them too low.
 * Die 7 Geheimnisse der Dirigenten-Legende in Bild, 4. April 2008


 * A New York City taxi driver asked him where to go; Karajan replied "No matter - I am in demand everywhere."
 * Apocryphal; see New York Times

Quotes about von Karajan

 * Isaiah Berlin referred to Karajan as "a genius, with a whiff of sulphur about him".


 * La vie même de Herbert von Karajan est un roman: petit aristocrate salzbourgeois devenu enfant prodige; étudiant viennois bûcheur acharné; chef d'orchestre de province pour qui seule compte la musique.
 * The very life of Herbert von Karajan is a novel: minor aristocrat became Salzburg child prodigy; shard-working Viennese wonk; provincial conductor with sole responsibility for music.
 * Pierre-Jean Rémy: Karajan: La biographie (2007), opening words.


 * Herbert von Karajan always rolled out a magic carpet for us, the singers. With him, our musical work took on another dimension.
 * Jessye Norman, quoted in Hohn Rockwell (1989) "Herbert von Karajan Is Dead; Musical Perfectionist Was 81" in New York Times, July 17, 1989