Furtwangler In Munich

Wilhelm Furtwangler in 1908. In this photograph, Furtwangler is a dead ringer for the young Samuel Clemens.

Furtwangler was 22 years old in 1908, and working as a repetiteur at the Court Opera in Munich.

In two seasons in Munich, Furtwangler was never given a single conducting assignment, despite the fact that he had arrived in Munich with conducting experience elsewhere, having previously conducted performances in several theaters, including the opera house in Zurich.

Furtwangler’s father, the famed archeologist Adolf, had died the previous year in Athens while supervising excavations in Greece. At the time of his death, Adolf had been Director of Munich’s Glyptothek, holder of one of Europe’s most distinguished collections of Greek and Roman antiquities.