1947: Georg Solti In Munich

Georg Solti in Munich in 1947. Solti turned 35 years of age that year.

From 1946 until 1952, Solti was Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera. Solti was installed in the position by American occupying forces, and Solti’s stay in the house was an uncomfortable one. Anti-Solti intrigues were the hallmarks of Solti’s Munich tenure, and Solti was ousted once Americans were no longer calling the shots.

In the photograph, Solti is shown leading the musicians of the orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera. The photograph was taken in the orchestra pit of Prinzregententheater, home of the Bavarian State Opera from 1944 until 1963. Prinzregententheater, erected in 1901, was modeled after Richard Wagner’s theater in Bayreuth—and Prinzregententheater included a Bayreuth-like orchestra pit, much in evidence in the photograph.

The Bavarian State Opera’s regular home, the Nationaltheater, had been destroyed during the war. After reconstruction, the Nationaltheater reopened on November 22, 1963, with a performance of Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger”.

Only minutes separated the rise of the “Meistersinger” curtain in Munich and the assassination of John Kennedy in Dallas.