Georg Lennart Schnéevoigt (8 November 1872 – 28 November 1947) was a Finnish conductor and cellist, born in

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus n ...

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...

, which is now in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, to Ernst Schnéevoigt and Rosa Willandt.

Career

Schnéevoigt began his career as a cellist performing throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

in the 1890s. He was principal cellist of the

Helsinki Philharmonic The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (in Finnish: ; in Swedish: ; literal English translation: Helsinki City Orchestra; commonly abbreviated as HPO) is an orchestra based in Helsinki, Finland. Founded in 1882 by Robert Kajanus, the Philharmonic Orc ...

from 1896 to 1902. After this, he conducted many orchestras including the Kaim Orchestra (now the

Munich Philharmonic The Munich Philharmonic (german: Münchner Philharmoniker, links=no) is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Ra ...

Orchestra), Riga Philharmonic Orchestra which he founded, Oslo Philharmonic (1919–1921), the Stockholm Concert Society (later the

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra ( sv, Kungliga Filharmonikerna or , literal translations, "Royal Philharmonic" or "Royal Philharmonic Orchestra") is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm. Its principal venue is the Konserthuset. His ...

), the

Sydney Symphony The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra that was initially formed in 1908. Since its opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has been its home concert hall. Simone Young is the orchestra's chief conductor and fir ...

, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. From 1930 until his death in 1947, Schnéevoigt was chief conductor of the

Malmö Symphony Orchestra The Malmö Symphony Orchestra ( sv, Malmö Symfoniorkester) is a Swedish orchestra, based in Malmö. Since 2015, it has been resident at the Malmö Live Concert Hall. The orchestra has a complement of 94 musicians. History The orchestra was fo ...

. In Europe young Schnéevoigt was considered skilled, but by an accounting of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Schnéevoigt's conducting style was characterised as "flaccid", "paunchy", "phlegmatic", and "plodding", with "little or no sense of direction so far as discipline was concerned". This notwithstanding, his passion for the music of Sibelius was such that he cried when conducting his works. The accounting by Los Angeles Philharmonic is not in accordance with the contemporary critique of Schnéevoigt's conducting. The critiques published in the papers of Los Angeles during 1927–1929 were mainly positive and especially Schnéevoigt's Mahler interpretations were applauded. A reason for Schnéevoigt's apparent loss of reputation, may be that he was succeeded by two legendary conductors (

Artur Rodziński Artur Rodziński (2 January 1892 – 27 November 1958) was a Polish-American conductor of orchestral music and opera. He began his career after World War I in Poland, where he was discovered by Leopold Stokowski, who invited him to be his ass ...

and

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (14 May 18856 July 1973) was a 20th-century conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the US, Hungary and finally Britain. His early career was in opera houses, but he was later better known as a concer ...

) and so his achievements were forgotten.

Life

Schnéevoigt's married pianist Sigrid Sundgren-Schnéevoigt in 1907, she and Schnéevoigt would often perform together. Schnéevoigt died in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

, Sweden in 1947 at the age of 75, he was buried at Hietaniemi Cemetery.

Schnéevoigt and Sibelius

Schnéevoigt was a close friend of composer

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

and often performed Sibelius's orchestral music. He conducted the first performance in Finland of '' Luonnotar'' in January 1914. He discovered the manuscripts of Sibelius's tone poems "Lemminkäinen and the Maidens" and "Lemminkäinen in Tuonela" (from the ''

Lemminkäinen Suite The ''Lemminkäinen Suite'' (also named ''Four Legends'' or ''Four Legends from the Kalevala''), Op. 22, is a four-movement symphonic poem for orchestra completed in 1895 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece was originally conceived ...

''), which had been thought lost, and gave their first performance since 1894. On 3 June 1934, Schnéevoigt and the Finnish National Orchestra traveled to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, there Schnéevoigt made the first recording of Sibelius's Symphony No 6. It was originally planned for

Robert Kajanus Robert Kajanus (2 December 1856 – 6 July 1933) was a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher. In 1882, he founded the Helsinki Orchestral Society, Finland's first professional orchestra. As a conductor, he was also a notable champion and in ...

, a close friend of Sibelius, to record the symphony, but because of his death in 1933 it was instead done by Schnéevoigt.

References

External links

Georg Schnéevoigt biography.
Divine Art Recordings Group. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schneevoigt, Georg 1872 births 1947 deaths Musicians from Vyborg People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish people of German descent Finnish classical cellists Finnish conductors (music) People of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra