Wilhelm Furtwangler

Wilhelm Furtwängler , 1886-1954, German conductor, b. Berlin; son of Adolf Furtwängler . One of the greatest orchestral conductors of the 20th cent., he studied music in Munich, where he grew up. He began his career conducting opera in Lübeck (1911-15) and Mannheim (1915-20). In 1922 he succeeded Arthur Nikisch as conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and shortly thereafter also became principal conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic. Furtwängler was a regular conductor of the New York Philharmonic from 1925 to 1927 and its permanent conductor in the season of 1937-38. In 1934 he resigned his important posts in Germany when the performance of Hindemith's music was prohibited. In 1935 he returned to conduct the Berlin orchestra.

Furtwängler remained in Germany during World War II and, while he was never a Nazi, his failure to break with the regime led to considerable criticism. After the war he was absolved of a charge of having collaborated with the Nazis. He continued to conduct in Vienna, revived (1951) the Bayreuth Festival , and retained the position of conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic until his death. He was succeeded in Berlin by Herbert von Karajan . Furtwängler was particularly renowned for his interpretations of the music of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Wagner, and Schumann. He was also a composer, following in the German romantic tradition.

Bibliography: See M. Tanner, ed., Notebooks 1924-1954 by Wilhelm Furtwängler (tr. 1989); biography by C. Riess (tr. 1955); P. Pirie, Furtwängler and the Art of Conducting (1980) and J. Hunt, The Furtwängler Sound (1985).

Massey, Raymond [Hart] (1896–1983), actor. The tall, gaunt, Canadian, who brought a singular brooding intensity to many of his best interpretations, made his professional debut in London in 1922. His first New York appearance was in 1931 as Hamlet, followed by the quick failure, The Shining Hour (1934). But Massey later enjoyed a major success in the title role of Ethan Frome (1936). His most famous role was unquestionably in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1938). Brooks Atkinson observed that he played the president “with an artless honesty that is completely overwhelming in the end.” Opposite Katharine Cornell he was Sir Colenso Ridgeon in The Doctor's Dilemma (1941), James Morell in Candida (1942), and Rodney Boswell in Lovers and Friends (1943). After touring the war zones playing the Stage Manager in a USO production of Our Town, he returned to Broadway as Higgins to Gertrude Lawrence's Liza Doolittle in Pygmalion (1946). Massey's later performances included the Captain in Strindberg's The Father (1949), a reading of John Brown's Body on tour, Brutus and Prospero at the American Shakespeare Festival, and the God‐figure Mr. Zuss in J. B.. (1958). His son Daniel MASSEY (1933–98) was also a celebrated actor, but he spent much of his career in England where he was born. His New York appearances of note included the Budapest clerkGeorg in the musical She Loves Me (1963) and the German conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler in Taking Sides (1996). His sister is the British actress Anna Massey.