Ludwig, Leopold

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Ludwig, Leopold

Ludwig, Leopold, Austrian conductor; b. Witkowitz, Jan. 12, 1908; d. Lüneburg, April 25, 1979. He studied piano at the Vienna Cons., then conducted in provincial opera houses. He was made Generalmusikdirektor of the Oldenburg State Theater (1936), and then was a conductor at the Vienna State Opera (1939–43), the Berlin Städtische Oper (1943–51), and the Berlin State Opera (1945–51). From 1951 to 1970 he was Generalmusikdirektor of the Hamburg State Opera; also conducted at the Edinburgh Festivals (1952, 1956), the San Francisco Opera (1958–68), and the Glyndebourne Festival (1959). On Nov. 14, 1970, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. conducting Parsifal, and remained on its roster until 1972. He was known as an unostentatious but thoroughly competent interpreter of the Austro-German operatic and symphonic repertoire.

Bibliography

B. Wessling, L. L. (Bremen, 1968).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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