George Szell (/?s?l/; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He is widely considered one of the twentieth century's greatest conductors. He is remembered today for his long and successful tenure as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, and for the recordings of the standard classical repertoire he made in Cleveland and with other orchestras.Szell came to Cleveland in 1946 to take over a respected if undersized orchestra, which was struggling to recover from the disruptions of World War II. By the time of his death he was credited, to quote the critic Donal Henahan, with having built it into "what many critics regarded as the world's keenest symphonic instrument." Through his recordings, Szell has remained a presence in the classical music world long after his death, and his name remains synonymous with that of the Cleveland Orchestra. While on tour with the Orchestra in the late 1980s, then-Music Director Christoph von Dohnányi remarked, "We give a great concert, and George Szell gets a great review."
At Cleveland, we begin to rehearse where other orchestras leave off.
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Fact
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Single-handedly demolished the reputation of conductor Enrique Jorda, then the conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Szell had been invited to guest conduct the orchestra, and was shocked at the lack of preparation among the musicians, for which he blamed Jorda. His criticism led directly to Jorda's dismissal.
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When former Metropolitan Opera General Manager (1950 - 1972) Sir Rudolf Bing was told that Szell was his own worst enemy, Bing supposedly replied, "Not while I am alive!"
Conducted opera in Prague and Berlin; left Germany when Hitler rose to power.
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Was on his way back to Europe in 1939 when WWII broke out, leaving him marooned in New York City. Conducted at the Metropolitan Opera from 1942 to 1946, when he was offered the post of permanent conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra.
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Was also serving as Music Advisor and senior guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic at the time of his death, after Leonard Bernstein stepped down as music director.
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Became a US citizen in 1946.
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He made the then (1946) obscure Cleveland Orchestra into one of the great orchestras of the world and into one of the five leading orchestras in the United States - the others being the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
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Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra (1946-1970).
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Mozart in the Jungle
2016
TV Series performer - 3 episodes
Orchestra of Exiles
2012
Documentary performer: "Violin Concerto in D., Op. 61: I. Allegro Ma Non Troppo"
Le mirage
1992
performer: "Im Abendrot"
Puzzle
1974/II
Short performer: "Symphony nr. 40"
Begone Satan
1973
Short performer: "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28"
$2 Million
