Music History Monday: Leopold Stokowski

We mark the death, on September 13, 1977 – 44 years ago today – of the British conductor Leopold Anthony Stokowski, in Nether Wallop, Hampshire, United Kingdom, 67.6 miles (give or take) southwest of London. Born in London on April 18 (the maestro and I share that day and month of birth) 1882, Stokowski was 95 years old when he died. He was still recording for Columbia Records at the time of his death; his contract with Columbia would have kept him in the recording studio until he was 100 years old. I will confess that I am always a bit loath to write about and celebrate conductors. It’s not that I have anything against conductors, it’s just that so many of them spend so much of their time celebrating themselves that I feel, well, superfluous. On just those lines, when it came to naked self-promotion and downright mythologizing, no conductor – and we mean not a one, not even Leonard Bernstein (who in many ways modelled his career on Stokowski’s) – could match Leopold Stokowski. I’ll present a quick overview of his life and career, after which we’ll delve into those aspects of that life and career that made Stokowski such a famous and such a paradoxical figure. See the full post - and join me - on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/56081868/