Who was Sergiu Celibidache?
Born on the 28th of June, 1912 in Romania, Celibidache (pronounced Cheh-lih-bih-dah-cker) left for Berlin - after a brief theoretical training in Bucharest with Theodor Rogalski - for thorough musical studies at the Musikhochschule and philosophical ones at the University in the capital of Germany. There he obtained the PhD in musicology with a thesis on Josquin des Pres's Polyphonic Art. He made his debut as a chorus conductor in Berlin (1941) and was extremely successful at the music desk of the philharmonic of Berlin (1945) where he would become an international level conductor in only 7 years (1945-1952). He traveled as conductor - invited at the Scala Orchestra in Milan, at Fenice in Venice, at the Stockholm Radio Orchestra, the Royal Chapel in Copenhagen, the State Orchestra in Bremen, the National Orchestra of France, in Paris, the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra - and reached the climax of his career at the Munchen Philharmonic (1979-1996). A reputed professor of the phenomenology of music and of conducting, Sergiu Celibidache held courses in many centers in Europe, USA and Asia, settling as professor at the University in Mainz. Among his disciples were also many Romanians (Cristian Mandeal, Horia Andreescu, Emil Simon, Florin Totan, Octav Caleia, Rasvan Cernat, Aurelian Octav Popa, Petre Brancusi, Eliodor Rau, Madalin Voicu, Iancu Dumitrescu, Miron Ratiu, and so on). He came to Romania with the Stockholm Radio Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic, but it was in Bucharest, at the Romanian Athenaeum, conducting the George Enescu Philharmonic that he achieved the magnificent successes. The times that Sergiu Celibidache was in Bucharest represented a reenactment of young George Enescu's event-concerts at the end of the 19th century, in the same concert hall and in front of the same enthusiastic Romanian audience, who experienced moments of national pride for the existence of such musicians of unequalled artistic value.
Compared with the most extraordinary conductors in the world and of all times (Nikisch, Toscanini, Furtwangler, Karajan, Mehta, Bernstein) Sergiu Celibidache remains in the gallery of Romanian conductors as the unsurpassed interpreter of the works of Bruckner, Brahms, Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky. The phenomenal hearing, the fabulous memory (he knew more than 300 scores by heart), the Latin temperament, fiery and full of energy, made Celibidache a legendary hero even during his life time. At his death, the foreign press considered him a "magician of the baton", an "orchestra diva [sic!]". For our musicians he became an idol of perfection and will remain an absolute model of the national art of conducting.