Scott Morrison ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

> Possibly apocryphal, but possibly not:
>
> Wilhelm Furtwangler and his German manager, a man named Mendelssohn,
> are walking in downtown Berlin.  Furtwangler sees a record shop and
> decides to go in and see how sales of his records are doing.  His manager
> goes with him.  He goes up to the young clerk and says, "Do you have
> Beethoven's 5th Symphony conducted by Furtwangler?  ...
> ... This goes on for a while, with the 3rd, 4th and
> 6th symphonies, the Missa Solemnis, and Fidelio.  No Furtwangler.  

Well, one bit is certainly apocryphal: WF never performed the Missa
Solemnis after 1930 and certainly made no recording.

> Furtwangler says in exasperation, "Don't you have ANY Beethoven conducted
> by Furtwangler?" And the clerk, equally annoyed, says, "Who the hell is
> this Furtwangler anyway?

I cannot believe that anyone in Berlin in the relevant timeframe
would not have known who Furtwaengler was. Bit like not knowing who
Simon Rattle was in Birmingham - even my mother, who never attended
concerts, was proud of him.

|Deryk Barker
|email: [log in to unmask]

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