Peter Maag
Encyclopedia
Life
He was born on 10 May 1919 in St. GallenSt. Gallen
St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic...
, Switzerland and died on 16 April 2001 in Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, Italy.
His father, Otto, was a Lutheran minister and his mother, Nelly, a violinist who performed in the Capet Quartet as second violinist. His great uncles were conductors Emil
Emil Steinbach (conductor)
Emil Steinbach was a German conductor and composer. He was particularly known for his interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner. He notably conducted the first public performance of Wagner's Siegfried Idyll in 1877...
and Fritz Steinbach
Fritz Steinbach
Fritz Steinbach was a German conductor and composer who was particularly associated with the works of Johannes Brahms. Born in Grünsfeld, he was the brother of conductor Emil Steinbach. He studied at the Leipzig Conservatory and in Vienna. Among his teachers were Martin Gustav Nottebohm and Anton...
. Peter attended the universities of Zürich, Basel, and Geneva. He was mentored by Karl Barth
Karl Barth
Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...
and Emil Brunner
Emil Brunner
Heinrich Emil Brunner was a Swiss Protestant theologian. Along with Karl Barth , he is commonly associated with neo-orthodoxy or the dialectical theology movement....
in theology, and Karl Jaspers
Karl Jaspers
Karl Theodor Jaspers was a German psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspers turned to philosophical inquiry and attempted to discover an innovative philosophical system...
in philosophy. He studied piano and theory with Czesław Marek in Zürich and received further training on piano with Alfred Cortot
Alfred Cortot
Alfred Denis Cortot was a Franco-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most renowned 20th-century classical musicians, especially valued for his poetic insight in Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.-Early life and education:Born in Nyon, Vaud, in the...
in Paris. His conducting mentors were Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Swiss conductor.- Biography :Ansermet was born in Vevey, Switzerland. Although he was a contemporary of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer, Ansermet represents in most ways a very different tradition and approach from those two musicians. Originally he was a...
, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...
, and Franz von Hoesslin. Son Georg Maag is writer of children's books Georg maag.
Association with Furtwangler
He described his association with Wilhelm Furtwängler to be the most important in his life. He performed as pianist in a Furtwängler concert with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G majorPiano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, was composed in 1805–1806, although no autograph copy survives.-Musical forces and movements:...
. As recounted by Maag, Furtwängler told him: “"Why don't you try to conduct? I have observed you while you were playing the concert tonight, staring at the orchestra more than at the keyboard. It was more you than me that have given the entry”. He followed Furtwängler advice to start out at a small theatre.
His new career began as répétiteur
Répétiteur
Répétiteur , repetitore , or Korrepetitor / Repetitor , originally from the French verb répéter meaning "to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse"....
and then director at the Swiss Theater Biel-Solothurn 1943-46. After the first season at Biel-Solothurn was over he served as an assistant to Furtwängler prior to the opening of his second season there. After Biel-Solothurn, he became Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Swiss conductor.- Biography :Ansermet was born in Vevey, Switzerland. Although he was a contemporary of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer, Ansermet represents in most ways a very different tradition and approach from those two musicians. Originally he was a...
's assistant with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall...
.
Conductor
Maag was first conductor at the Düsseldorf Opera 1952-55. He became Generalmusikdirektor of the Bonn City Theater 1955-1959. His first appearance at the Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
Covent Garden was in 1959, with Mozart's Die Zauberflote. In the same year he made his debut at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. His U.S. debut was as guest conductor in 1959 of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and he made his U.S. opera debut in 1961 at the Lyric Theatre in Chicago with Mozart’s Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
.
Retreat into Religion
In 1962, Maag abandoned his musical career. Believing he was losing touch with music and theology, he sought guidance first from the Greek Orthodox Church and then planned to spend a few months at a Buddhist monastery near Hong Kong. "I decided it was time to retire because I was having too much success," Maag said. A few months spread to over two years. “Those two years spent meditating and praying in a small cell purified my soul." Maag’s retreat proved to be a detriment to his career when he returned to the world of conducting.Return to Conducting
He was the chief conductor of the Vienna VolksoperVienna Volksoper
The Vienna Volksoper is a major opera house in Vienna, Austria. It gives about three hundred performances of twenty-five productions during an annual season running from September through June....
1964-68. His Metropolitan Opera debut was made on 23 September 1972 with Mozart's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
. He became artistic director of the Teatro Regio di Parma
Teatro Regio di Parma
Teatro Regio di Parma is a famous 19th century opera house and opera company in Parma, Italy. The theatre was originally known as the Teatro Ducale....
in 1972 and the Teatro Regio in Turin in 1974. He held posts at the RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin and the Orquesta Nacional de España
Orquesta Nacional de España
The Orquesta Nacional de España is a symphonic orchestra based in Madrid, Spain.-History:Although working since in 1937 during the Spanish civil war, the orchestra was legally founded in 1940, by the merging of the Perez Casas' Filarmónica and the Orquesta Sinfónica of Arbós...
. He was the music director of the Berner Symphonie-Orchester
Berner Symphonie-Orchester
The Berner Symphonie-Orchester is one of Switzerland's major orchestras and consists of about 100 musicians. It was founded in 1877 in the capital Bern....
1984-91. Peter Maag has been the Principal Conductor of Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto from 1983 to 2001. He was also a frequent guest conductor with orchestras and opera houses worldwide.
Recordings
He began recording for Decca RecordsDecca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
in October 1950 with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall...
. These monaural
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
recordings included Mozart's Symphony No. 29
Symphony No. 29 (Mozart)
The Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201/186a, was completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on 6 April 1774. It is, along with Symphony No. 25, one of his better known early symphonies. Stanley Sadie characterizes it as "a landmark .....
and Symphony No. 34
Symphony No. 34 (Mozart)
Symphony No. 34 in C Major, K. 338, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780, and completed on August 29.The work is scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings....
and Serenade No. 9 "Posthorn".
Maag's early stereophonic sound
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
recordings for Decca were well-received and many have remained in the catalogs for decades. The original LPs, particularly with the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, have become collector's items. He began recording with the London Symphony Orchestra in February 1957. This included a series of Mendelssohn and Mozart works, and the Schumann Piano Concerto
Piano Concerto (Schumann)
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.54, is a famous Romantic concerto by Robert Schumann, completed in 1845.Schumann had begun several piano concerti before this one: In 1828, he had begun one in E-flat major; from 1829-31 he worked on one in F major, and in 1839, he wrote one movement of a concerto...
. Maag’s favorite recordings came from this association: Mozart’s Symphony No. 29
Symphony No. 29 (Mozart)
The Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201/186a, was completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on 6 April 1774. It is, along with Symphony No. 25, one of his better known early symphonies. Stanley Sadie characterizes it as "a landmark .....
and Symphony No. 34
Symphony No. 34 (Mozart)
Symphony No. 34 in C Major, K. 338, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780, and completed on August 29.The work is scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings....
.
Maag also recorded two LPs with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
The Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire was a symphony orchestra established in Paris in 1828. It gave its first concert on 9 March 1828 with music by Beethoven, Rossini, Meifreid, Rode and Cherubini....
in November 1958 with works of Chopin, Delibes, and Rossini.
For Decca he also recorded Verdi's Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich von Schiller. The first performance was given at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on December 8, 1849...
with the National Philharmonic Orchestra
National Philharmonic Orchestra
The National Philharmonic Orchestra was a British orchestra created exclusively for recording purposes. It was founded by RCA producer Charles Gerhardt and orchestra leader / contractor Sidney Sax due in part to the requirements of the Reader's Digest-History:...
in June 1975 and Paer's Leonora
Leonora
-People:*Leonora , a feminine given name*Leonora of Castile *Leonora of England*John Leonora, research scientist, Loma Linda University-Arts and entertainment:...
with the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra (likely the Bavarian State Orchestra
Bavarian State Orchestra
The Bayerisches Staatsorchester is the orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera.- History :Founded in the times of Ludwig Senfl the orchestra, specializing in musica sacra, belonged to the finest ones in Europe already under Orlando di Lasso . In 1651 the Italian opera was introduced in Munich...
) in June and July 1978.
Other labels he recorded for include Arts, Conifer, Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
, MCA Records, Naxos Records
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
, Nuova Era, RCA Red Seal Records
RCA Red Seal Records
RCA Red Seal Records is a classical music label and is now part of Sony Masterworks.The Red Seal label was begun in 1902 by the Gramophone Company in the United Kingdom and was quickly picked up by its United States affiliate, the Victor Talking Machine Company, and its president, Eldridge R. Johnson...
, and Vox Records
Vox Records
VOX Records is a budget classical record label. The name is Latin for "voice."-History:Vox was founded in 1945, starting out with 78-rpm discs, specializing in licensed pressings of classical recordings made in Europe. It was one of the last major recording companies to adopt stereo recording,...
.
