Herbert von Karajan

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

Herbert von Karajan conducting in 1941

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 [1]

Quotes about von Karajan

• Isaiah Berlin referred to Karajan as "a genius, with a whiff of sulphur about him".^{[citation needed]}

• 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 for whom only music matters.
  • 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