University of Virginia Library

Leads Vienna Symphony Orchestra

Sawallisch Opens Artists Series Tonight

By Stefan Lopatkiewicz
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Under the leadership of its brilliant
young conductor, Wolfgang
Sawallisch, the Vienna Symphony
Orchestra will perform in University
Hall tonight as the first
program of this year's Artists Series.

The orchestra is one of the
most distinguished of Europe and
has been called by an American
critic, "a first class ensemble. . .
of highly disciplined, cultivated
artists."

Tonight's program includes
Schubert's Symphony No. 6 in
C major, Richard Strauss's tone
poem, "Tod und Verklarung,"
and Beethoven's Symphony No.

5 in C minor, "The Great."

Mr. Sawallisch is one of Europe's
fastest rising conductors.
Largely self-taught, he earned a
major musical reputation before
the age of 40.

He first appeared with the
Vienna Symphony in 1957, and
became its permanent conductor
three years later at the age of 37.

The union was a happy one,
as the orchestra responded under
his complete command of the art
of conducting, his profound insights
into music, and his youthful
verve.

Mr. Sawallisch was the youngest
conductor ever to play in the
Bayreuth Festival when he conducted
there in 1954.

This is the second American
tour for the Vienna Symphony.
Resisting many offers to tour the
United States he waited for the
moment when he would be able
to appear together with his own
orchestra on this side of the Atlantic.

The opportunity finally occurred
in 1963, and the resulting
tour was widely acclaimed. The
New York Times wrote it hoped
the tour was "the first of many."

Unlike orchestras under the
patronage of the nobility and
wealthy, the Vienna Symphony
makes its music available to the
largest number of people in all
classes.

Ferdinand Lowe, a pupil of
Bruckner's, was the first conductor
of the Vienna Symphony,