Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [ˈklaudjo abˈbaːdo]; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation.[1] He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera, founder and director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, founder and director of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, founding Artistic Director of the Orchestra Mozart and music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra.
"Abbado" redirects here. For others with the surname, see Abbado (surname).
Claudio Abbado
20 January 2014 (aged 80)
- Marcello Abbado (brother)
- Roberto Abbado (nephew)
Biography[edit]
Early life and background[edit]
The Abbado family for several generations enjoyed both wealth and respect in their community. Abbado's great-grandfather tarnished the family's reputation by gambling away the family fortune. His son, Abbado's grandfather, became a professor at the University of Turin.[2] He re-established the family's reputation and also showed talent as an amateur musician.[3]
Born in Milan, Italy on 26 June 1933,[4] Claudio Abbado was the son of violinist Michelangelo Abbado,[3] and the brother of the musician Marcello Abbado (born 1926). His father, a professional violinist and a professor at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, was his first piano teacher. His mother, Maria Carmela Savagnone, also was an adept pianist. Marcello Abbado later became a concert pianist, composer, and teacher at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro. His sister also exhibited talent in music but did not pursue a musical career after her marriage. His other brother later became a successful architect.[2][5]
Abbado's childhood encompassed the Nazi occupation of Milan. During that time, Abbado's mother spent time in prison for harbouring a Jewish child.[6] This period solidified his anti-fascist political sentiments. Claudio himself is known for having a famous anecdote about how when he was just eleven years old he wrote "Viva Bartók" on a local wall which caught the attention of the Gestapo and sent them on the hunt for the culprit. His passionate opposition to fascism continued into his adult years.[4]
During his youth his musical interest developed, attending performances at La Scala[3] as well as orchestral rehearsals in Milan led by such conductors as Arturo Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler. He later recalled how he hated seeing Toscanini in rehearsal.[6] Other conductors who influenced him were Bruno Walter, Josef Krips and Herbert von Karajan.[7] It was upon hearing Antonio Guarnieri's conducting of Claude Debussy's Nocturnes that Abbado resolved to become a conductor himself.[3] At age 15, Abbado first met Leonard Bernstein when Bernstein was conducting a performance featuring Abbado's father as a soloist.[8] Bernstein commented, "You have the eye to be a conductor."[9]
Personal life[edit]
From his first marriage in 1956 to singer Giovanna Cavazzoni, Abbado had two children: Daniele Abbado (born 1958), who became an opera director and Alessandra (born 1959). His first marriage was dissolved.[11][37] From his second marriage, to Gabriella Cantalupi, Abbado had a son, Sebastiano. His four-year relationship with Viktoria Mullova resulted in Mullova's first child, a son,[11][38] the jazz bassist, Misha Mullov-Abbado.[39] Abbado's nephew, the son of his brother, Marcello, is the conductor Roberto Abbado.
Conducting[edit]
Repertoire[edit]
Amongst a wide range of Romantic works which he recorded and performed, Abbado had a particular affinity with the music of Gustav Mahler, whose symphonies he recorded several times. Despite this, he never managed to complete a cycle with a single orchestra: in a mix of studio and concert releases, he recorded Symphonies 1–2 and 5–7 in Chicago, Symphonies 2–4, 9 and the Adagio from 10 in Vienna, Symphonies 1 and 3–9 in Berlin, and Symphonies 1–7 and 9 in Lucerne. A planned Eighth in Lucerne (the intended culmination of his traversal of the symphonies there) had to be cancelled owing to his ill health. The symphony was finally performed and recorded in 2016 under Riccardo Chailly as a tribute to Abbado.[40] A further Tenth Adagio recorded live in Berlin in 2011 was issued as part of a Berliner Philharmoniker Mahler set in 2020.
He was also noted for his interpretations of modern works by composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Giacomo Manzoni, Luigi Nono, Bruno Maderna, György Ligeti, Giovanni Sollima, Roberto Carnevale, Franco Donatoni and George Benjamin.
Musical style[edit]
Abbado tended to speak very little in rehearsal, sometimes using the simple request to orchestras to "Listen".[6] This was a reflection of his preference for communication as a conductor via physical gesture and the eyes, and his perception that orchestras did not like conductors who spoke a great deal in rehearsal.[19] Clive Gillinson characterised Abbado's style as follows:
"...he basically doesn't say anything in rehearsals, and speaks so quietly, because he's so shy, so people can get bored. But it works because everyone knows the performances are so great. I've never known anybody more compelling. He's the most natural conductor in the world. Some conductors need to verbally articulate what they want through words, but Claudio just shows it, just does it."[14]
In performance, Abbado often conducted from memory,[41] as he himself noted:
"...it is indispensable to know the score perfectly and be familiar with the life, the works and the entire era of the composer. I feel more secure without a score. Communication with the orchestra is easier."[19]
Recordings[edit]
Abbado recorded extensively for a variety of labels, including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Columbia (later Sony Classical), and EMI. He conducted many opera recordings which received various awards. Among these were the Diapason Award in 1966 and 1967; also in 1967 he received the Grand Prix du Disque.[42] In 1968 he was presented with the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis and also the Dutch Edison Award. In 1973, the Vienna Mozart Society awarded him the Mozart Medal.[42] Abbado received the 1997 Grammy Award in the Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without conductor) category for "Hindemith: Kammermusik No. 1 With Finale 1921, Op. 24 No. 1" and the 2005 Grammy Award in the Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra) category for "Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3" performed by Martha Argerich.
In 2012, Abbado was voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame that April, and in May, he received the conductor prize at the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards.[43][44]
Abbado received honorary doctorates from the universities of Ferrara (1990), Cambridge (1994), Aberdeen (1986)[16][53] and Havana.
On 30 August 2013, President Giorgio Napolitano, appointed Abbado to the Italian Senate as a Senator for life, in honour of his "outstanding cultural achievements". Abbado became a member of the Public Education and Cultural Heritage Commission of the Italian Senate on 25 September 2013.[54]