Karl Muck

Karl Muck (born Oct. 22, 1859, Darmstadt, Hesse-Darmstadt [Germany]—died March 3, 1940, Stuttgart, Ger.) was a German conductor considered one of the greatest conductors of the works of Richard Wagner.

The son of an amateur musician, Muck obtained a Ph.D. in classical philology while virtually training himself in conducting. In 1880 he made his debut in Leipzig with the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Engagements in Zürich, Salzburg, Brno, and Graz followed in which he devoted himself almost entirely to opera. In 1886 Muck was appointed principal Kapellmeister of the Deutsches Landestheater in Prague. His performances of Der Ring des Nibelungen established him as a major Wagner interpreter. He was made principal Kapellmeister at the Berlin Opera in 1892, becoming general music director there in 1908. During that period he also directed the Silesian music festivals in Görlitz. His performances of Parsifal at Bayreuth became an established tradition of three decades.

In 1912 Muck became director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Embittered by 14 months’ internment in the United States in 1918–19 as an enemy alien, he returned to Germany, where from 1922 to 1933 he conducted the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.