Harnoncourt announces his retirement!

[Gurn Blanston]

End of an era! 

Nicholas Harnoncourt, one of the mainstays of the Early Music movement, announced his retirement on December 5 in a handwritten note which was inserted into the program guide at a Concentus musicus Wien concert which he had to miss due to illness.

Love him or hate him, if you listened to music in the last 40 years, you certainly know who he is!

[Brian]

Sounds like health forced his hand - too bad; truly a historic conductor. One whose recordings I sometimes love and sometimes hate, but he always commands respect.

[aligreto]

A well respected and, in his time, a ground breaking musician who leaves behind a wonderful legacy. May he enjoy a well earned rest 

[king ubu]

here's the handwritten note:

[arkiv]

86 y.o. and  in good faculties.

[Gurn Blanston]

86 y.o. and  in good faculties.

Yes, we should all be so fortunate!

[Wakefield]

Unfortunately, it's a whole generation of formidable musicians which will saying goodbye in the coming years.

We have been blessed with many of them having lived long and fruitful lives (Leonhardt, Paul Badura-Skoda, Anner Bylsma, Jorg Demus and so on).

I hope Mr. Harnoncourt recovers his health and still lives many years in good shape, if not as a conductor to add some clever books and essays to his output.

[Gurn Blanston]

Unfortunately, it's a whole generation of formidable musicians which will saying goodbye in the coming years.

We have been blessed with many of them having lived long and fruitful lives (Leonhardt, Paul Badura-Skoda, Anner Bylsma, Jorg Demus and so on).

I hope Mr. Harnoncourt recovers his health and still lives many years in good shape, if not as a conductor to add some clever books and essays to his output.

Amen to all that, especially the last. He is well-qualified to write a very interesting book.

[Karl Henning]

+ 1

[Jo498]

He wrote at least two that came out in the early 1980s or so (sometimes based on liner notes), the titles are Baroque Music Today: Music As Speech : Ways to a New Understanding of Music ("Musik als Klangrede") and The Musical Dialogue - Thoughts on Monteverdi, Bach and Mozart ("Der musikalische Dialog") and there are a few more recent ones based on interviews with Johanna Fürstauer as well as a biography by Monika Mertl but these have apparently not been translated.

[asin]0931340055[/asin] [asin]1574670239[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

[asin]1574670239[/asin]

I'm telling the publisher I should like to read that on Kindle 

[Brahmsian]

Harnoncourt will forever hold a special place for me.  My first major purchase to solidify my transition into classical music was Harnoncourt and Chamber Orchestra of Europe's complete set of Beethoven's symphonies. 

[Jo498]

Harnoncourt will forever hold a special place for me.  My first major purchase to solidify my transition into classical music was Harnoncourt and Chamber Orchestra of Europe's complete set of Beethoven's symphonies. 

This was probably the first set I consciously bought as a second recording of music I already had almost as soon as it came out or only a little later. Even before or shortly after the Beethoven I also got the Mozart g minor symphony (although this one had already appeared in a cheapo series and was almost 10 years old in ~1992).

[Gurn Blanston]

He wrote at least two that came out in the early 1980s or so (sometimes based on liner notes), the titles are Baroque Music Today: Music As Speech : Ways to a New Understanding of Music ("Musik als Klangrede") and The Musical Dialogue - Thoughts on Monteverdi, Bach and Mozart ("Der musikalische Dialog") and there are a few more recent ones based on interviews with Johanna Fürstauer as well as a biography by Monika Mertl but these have apparently not been translated.

[asin]0931340055[/asin] [asin]1574670239[/asin]

Maybe an end-of-career retrospective now, since things have changed so much in the last 30 years since he wrote Musical Dialog.

[Marc]

Harnoncourt will forever hold a special place for me.  [....]

For me, too.

Palm Sundays during childhood: Radio, Concertgebouw, Bach's Passions, Harnoncourt.
My first intense classical music experiences.
With my (still growing ) ears almost pressed into the audio speakers.

Long may he live!

[Wakefield]

He wrote at least two that came out in the early 1980s or so (sometimes based on liner notes), the titles are Baroque Music Today: Music As Speech : Ways to a New Understanding of Music ("Musik als Klangrede") and The Musical Dialogue - Thoughts on Monteverdi, Bach and Mozart ("Der musikalische Dialog") and there are a few more recent ones based on interviews with Johanna Fürstauer as well as a biography by Monika Mertl but these have apparently not been translated.

This one and Haynes' The End of Early Music have been the two books that more deeply have influenced my own conception of Early Music.

[Gurn Blanston]

This one and Haynes' The End of Early Music have been the two books that more deeply have influenced my own conception of Early Music.

You would say that, Gordo; I ordered the other one (Musical Dialog)this morning! It will be here Wednesday, giving me an intriguing read for the weekend.

[Wakefield]

You would say that, Gordo; I ordered the other one (Musical Dialog)this morning! It will be here Wednesday, giving me an intriguing read for the weekend.

I'm sure it will be a great reading, Gurn.

Harnoncourt writes really well. His books and essays are always very clear in style and ideas; but never simplistic. He clearly tries to convey different nuances suggested to him by his experience both as a performer and conductor.

Ideas contrasted with actual experience. A nice mix, isn't it? 

[Gurn Blanston]

I'm sure it will be a great reading, Gurn.

Harnoncourt writes really well. His books and essays are always very clear in style and ideas; but never simplistic. He clearly tries to convey different nuances suggested to him by his experience both as a performer and conductor.

Ideas contrasted with actual experience. A nice mix, isn't it? 

Nice mix indeed; there are too many theoreticians speaking from without their nether regions. 

[Mookalafalas]

Harnoncourt will forever hold a special place for me.  My first major purchase to solidify my transition into classical music was Harnoncourt and Chamber Orchestra of Europe's complete set of Beethoven's symphonies. 

  A similar experience for me.  I got his Brahms set after reading a glowing review, and played it repeatedly (I had a boom-box with a 3 disc carousel) for a long time.  It wasn't til 15 years later that I made the full crossover to classical, however...