Fritz Reiner

Fritz Reiner (December 19, 1888 - November 15, 1963) was a symphonic music conductor.

He was born to a secular Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, and (after preliminary studies in law) studied piano and conducting

Fritz Reiner (December 19, 1888 - November 15, 1963) was a symphonic music conductor.

He was born to a secular Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, and (after preliminary studies in law) studied piano and conducting at the Franz Liszt Academy where his teachers included Béla Bartók. After early engagements at opera houses in Budapest and Dresden (where he worked closely with Richard Strauss) he moved to the United States of America in 1922 to take the post of Principal Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He held the post until 1931, having become a naturalized citizen in 1928, then began to teach at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where his pupils included Leonard Bernstein and Lukas Foss. He conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 1938 to 1948, but it was as conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1953-63) that he found greatest fame. He also had many important engagements at the Metropolitan Opera, including leading a memorable production of Strauss's Salome in 1949 with the Bulgarian soprano Ljuba Welitsch in the title role. At the time of huis death he was preparing the Metropolitan's new production of Wagner's Götterdämmerung.