Name
Mengelberg Willem

Variant name
Joseph Wilhelm Mengelberg

Gender
Male

Birth
March 28, 1871 Utrecht

Death
March 22, 1951 Sent

Descriptive Note

Willem Mengelberg was the son of renowned Dutch-German sculptor Friedrich Wilhelm Mengelberg. Mengelberg began his musical studies in Utrecht and was then accepted to the Cologne Conservatory, where he specialized in piano and composition. In 1891, he became general music director of the city of Lucerne,  Switzerland, and in 1895 he was appointed principal conductor of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, where he remained until 1945. There he the premieres of a number of Strauss and Bartók masterpieces, as well as pieces by Mahler, Beethoven, Liszt, and Tchaikovsky. Starting in 1922, he took annual trips to New York to conduct the Philharmonic, which he left in 1930.

During World War II, Mengelberg accepted invitations to conduct in Germany, and because of his conciliatory attitude toward the Nazis, from 1945 on he was forbidden to conduct in the Netherlands. Mengelberg retreated to exile in Switzerland.

On the occasion of the Turin Exposition, as part of the series of Concerti sinfonici, in the Pavilion of Festivals and Concerts, Mengelberg was invited to direct:

On May 20, 1911: Pieces by Arcangelo Correlli, Beethoven, Wagner, and Liszt.

On May 23, 1911: pieces by Niels Gade, Edward Grieg, Franco Da Venezia, and Beethoven.

Roles
Performing Artists, Conductors (Musicians)