Rudolf Alberth (writing into the 1950s: Albert) (28 March 1918 – 29 May 1992) was a German conductor. Born in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Alberth originally studied in composition at the Hoch Conservatory, however instead took up interest as a conductor and made his conducting debut in 1945. Alberth was strongly committed to

contemporary music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial ...

, in particular with the Bayerischer Rundfunk and conducted numerous world premieres at home and abroad. In the 1950s he collaborated with

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...

in Paris and conducted the premiere of Messiaen's composition ''

Oiseaux exotiques ''Oiseaux exotiques'' (''Exotic birds'') is a piece for piano and small orchestra by Olivier Messiaen. It was written between 5 October 1953 and 3 January 1956 and was commissioned by Pierre Boulez. It is dedicated to Yvonne Loriod, the composer ...

'' in the

Théâtre Marigny The Théâtre Marigny is a theatre in Paris, situated near the junction of the Champs-Élysées and the Avenue Marigny in the 8th arrondissement. It was originally built to designs of the architect Charles Garnier for the display of a panoram ...

on 10 March 1956. In 1964 Alberth was appointed principal conductor of the

Niedersächsisches Symphonie-Orchester The Niedersächsische Symphonie-Orchester (original name:Niedersachsenorchester, later: Niedersächsisches Symphonie-Orchester) from Hanover (NSO) was founded in 1934. Chief conductor until 1938 was Fritz Lehmann. History At the beginning of ...

in Hannover which he conducted until the dissolution of the orchestra at the end of the 1967/1968 concert season. Alberth has left numerous recordings in the BR archives, including his own works; commercial recordings are also available from Telefunken and the French ''Club de Disques''. He is the author of a book in which he presents personal experiences and reflections on music: ''Da capo. Heiteres und Nachdenkliches aus meinem Musikerleben'', Munich: Langen Müller 1980. Alberth died in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

at age 74.

References

External links

*
Rudolf Alberth
on Munich University * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alberth, Rudolf 1918 births 1992 deaths Musicians from Frankfurt German composers German conductors (music) 20th-century German musicians