Hans Swarowsky was an Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 of Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 birth and Jewish descent.

Swarowsky was born in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. He studied the art of conducting under Felix Weingartner

Felix Weingartner

Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...

 and Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...

. His teachers in musical theory included Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...

 and Anton Webern

Anton Webern

Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...

.

Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...

 invited him to take on the permanent position as conductor of the Vienna State Opera

Vienna State Opera

The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...

.

He became a professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of conducting

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 at the Vienna Music Academy. His many conducting students included Leonid Nikolaev, Paul Angerer

Paul Angerer

Paul Angerer is an Austrian violist, conductor and composer.- Life :Angerer studied music theory and composition with Friedrich Reidinger and Alfred Uhl, and conducting with Hans Swarowsky...

, Claudio Abbado

Claudio Abbado

Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...

, Iván Fischer

Iván Fischer

Iván Fischer is a Hungarian conductor and composer. Born in Budapest into a Jewish musical family, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest...

, Jesús López-Cobos

Jesús López-Cobos

Jesús López-Cobos is a Spanish conductor.López-Cobos was born in Toro, Zamora, Castile-León, Spain. He studied at Complutense University of Madrid and graduated with a degree in philosophy...

, Zubin Mehta

Zubin Mehta

Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...

, Gustav Meier, Miltiades Caridis

Miltiades Caridis

Miltiades Caridis was a German-Greek conductor.Caridis was born in Gdańsk, then Free City of Danzig. His mother was a Danziger of German ethnicity, his father was a merchant from Greece. His family moved to Weimar Germany and he was raised in Dresden, but his family moved to Greece in 1938,...

, Alexander Alexeev, Giuseppe Sinopoli

Giuseppe Sinopoli

-Biography:Sinopoli was born in Venice, Italy, and later studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice under Ernesto Rubin de Cervin and at Darmstadt, including being mentored in composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen...

, Gianluigi Gelmetti

Gianluigi Gelmetti

Gianluigi Gelmetti is an Italian conductor and composer.He studied conducting with Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celibidache and Hans Swarowsky. He first conducted an orchestra in Siena at age 16....

, Brian Jackson

Brian Jackson (conductor)

Brian Jackson is a Canadian conductor, organist, and pianist of English birth. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1974...

, Alfred Prinz

Alfred Prinz

Alfred Prinz is an Austrian composer, clarinetist, and music educator. In 1947 he was awarded a Gold Medal at the Geneva Music Competition and in 1971 he won a composition award from the city of Vienna. His compositional output includes 7 symphonies, many concertos, several works for solo piano,...

, Bryan Fairfax

Bryan Fairfax

Bryan Fairfax is a retired Australian conductor based in the United Kingdom, who is known for his championing of little known or neglected works....

 and Albert Rosen

Albert Rosen

Albert Rosen was a conductor associated with the Wexford Festival and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. He had a strong affinity with the works of Czech composers such as Smetana, Dvořák, Martinů and Janáček. He was Austrian-born and Irish-naturalised.-Biography:Albert Rosen was born in...

. Swarowsky's lectures and essays were collected into the publication Wahrung der Gestalt (Keeping Shape), which today serves as an encyclopaedia for performance and conducting.

He died in Salzburg

Salzburg

-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, a few days before his 76th birthday.

External links

• Hans Swarowsky at the Bach Cantatas Website
• Brief entry on Swarowsky at a site devoted to Maurice Abravanel.