Joseph Keilberth

Joseph Keilberth (April 19, 1908 – July 20, 1968) was a German conductor who specialized in opera. He started his career in the State Theatre of his native city, Karlsruhe. In 1940 he became director of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague. Near the end of World War II he became principal conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle. In 1949 he became chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, formed mainly of Germans expelled from post-war Czecho... more

Joseph Keilberth (April 19, 1908 – July 20, 1968) was a German conductor who specialized in opera. He started his career in the State Theatre of his native city, Karlsruhe. In 1940 he became director of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague. Near the end of World War II he became principal conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle. In 1949 he became chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, formed mainly of Germans expelled from post-war Czechoslovakia under the Beneš decrees. He died in Munich in 1968 after collapsing while conducting Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde in exactly the same place as Felix Mottl had done in 1911. Keiberth made the first stereo recording of Wagner's Ring Cycle in 1955. Among his other recordings, his interpretations of Weber's Der Freischütz made in 1958 for EMI, and a 'live' set of Richard Strauss's Arabella (featuring Lisa Della Casa and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau) made in 1963 for DG are still considered among the best versions. He conducted the tv... less