Fickle Fame
On July 16, I heard on the CBC that one of the world's best-known conductors, Herbert von Karajan, had died. It came to
me as a shock that The Globe and Mail did not mention it in any of the 19 headlines on
the first page of the next day's paper. Further, there was no mention of it in
either of the nine articles in the arts section.
Finally, I found a column about Mr. Karajan's death on the very last page of the
"C" section, titled Death Notices And Obituaries. Since I do not have time to
read a paper from cover to cover, I would not have known about his passing had I
not listened to the radio.
This is hard to understand, considering that Mr. von Karajan made more
recordings than any other conductor (about 800); that he conducted since the
Second World War at every major music festival; that his recordings are an
indispensable part of every radio station and music institution in every
country; and that his numerous opera performances on video have been heard and
seen by millions - musicians and laymen. And what is especially important is
that Mr. von Karajan's recordings - like Toscanini's - will remain a very
important document of our time when nobody will remember who Barbara Dodd or
Wayne Gretzky were.
But maybe it was Mr. von Karajan's own fault that his death
did not seem important enough to waste space on the first page of The Globe.
After all, he was never accused of killing his wife, which makes him much less
interesting than Helmut Buxbaum or Colin Thatcher; he put so much time and
effort in the direction and conducting of the Salzburg Festival that he never
seemed to find time to state if he agreed or disagreed with the "Meech Lake
Accord", or, whether he belonged to the "pro-choice" group or the
anti-abortionists. And as the Dubin Inquiry failed to mention his name, we shall
never know if his performances were enhanced by steroids.
Oskar Morawetz
Professor Emeritus
Faculty of Music
University of Toronto
