View source for Georg Solti

{{Short description|Hungarian-British conductor (1912–1997)}}
{{redirect|Solti||Solti (surname)}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
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{{Hungarian name|Solti György}}
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[[File:Sir George Solti 6 Allan Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|upright=1|alt=portrait of a middle aged man, clean shaven and bald|Solti by [[Allan Warren]], 1975]]
'''Sir Georg Solti''' {{post-nominals|KBE|size=100%|country=GBR}} ({{IPAc-en|dʒ|ɔːr|dʒ|_|ˈ|ʃ|ɒ|l|t|i}} {{respell|jorj|_|SHOL|tee}},<ref>{{cite book|last1=Olausson|first1=Lena|last2=Sangster|first2=Catherine|year=2006|title=Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=362|isbn=0-19-280710-2}}</ref> {{IPA|hu|ˈʃolti|lang}}; born '''György Stern'''; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-sir-georg-solti-1238120.html|title=Obituary: Sir Georg Solti|last1=Goodwin|first1=Noël|authorlink=Noël Goodwin|date=8 September 1997|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=1 September 2019}}</ref> was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic [[Conducting|conductor]], known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt, and London, and as a long-serving music director of the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]]. Born in [[Budapest]], he studied there with [[Béla Bartók]], [[Leó Weiner]], and [[Ernő Dohnányi]]. In the 1930s, he was a ''[[répétiteur]]'' at the [[Hungarian State Opera House|Hungarian State Opera]] and worked at the [[Salzburg Festival]] for [[Arturo Toscanini]]. His career was interrupted by the rise of the [[Nazism|Nazis]]' influence on Hungarian politics, and being Jewish, he fled the [[Hungary between the World Wars#On the eve of World War II|increasingly harsh Hungarian anti-Jewish laws]] in 1938. After conducting a season of Russian ballet in London at the [[Royal Opera House]], he found refuge in Switzerland, where he remained during the Second World War. Prohibited from conducting there, he earned a living as a pianist.

After the war, Solti was appointed musical director of the [[Bavarian State Opera]] in [[Munich]] in 1946. In 1952, he moved to the [[Oper Frankfurt]], where he remained in charge for nine years. He took [[West German]] citizenship in 1953. In 1961, he became musical director of the [[The Royal Opera|Covent Garden Opera Company]], London. During his 10-year tenure, he introduced changes that raised standards to the highest international levels. Under his musical directorship, the status of the company was recognised with the grant of the title "the Royal Opera". He became an [[Honorary citizenship|honorary citizen]] of the coastal holiday town of [[Castiglione della Pescaia]], and a [[British citizen]] in 1972.

In 1969, Solti became music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a post he held for 22 years. He conducted many recordings and high-profile international tours with the orchestra. Solti relinquished the position in 1991 and became the orchestra's music director laureate, a position he held until his death. During his time as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's eighth music director, he also served as music director of the [[Orchestre de Paris]] from 1972 until 1975 and principal conductor of the [[London Philharmonic Orchestra]] from 1979 until 1983.

Known in his early years for the intensity of his music making, Solti was widely considered to have mellowed as a conductor in later years. He recorded many works two or three times at various stages of his career, and was a prolific recording artist, making more than 250 recordings, including 45 complete opera sets. The best-known of his recordings is probably [[Decca Records|Decca]]'s [[Der Ring des Nibelungen (Georg Solti recording)|complete set]] of [[Richard Wagner|Richard Wagner's]] ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'', made between 1958 and 1965. Solti's ''Ring'' has twice been voted the greatest recording ever made, in polls for ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'' magazine in 1999 and the [[BBC]]'s ''[[BBC Music Magazine|Music Magazine]]'' in 2012. Solti was repeatedly honoured by the recording industry with awards throughout his career. From 1963 to 1998, he won 31 [[Grammy Award]]s as a recording artist, making him the Grammy Awards' most-awarded artist until [[Beyoncé]] surpassed his record in 2023.

==Life and career==

===Early years===
Solti was born György Stern on Maros utca, in the [[Hegyvidék]] district of the [[Buda]] side of Budapest.<ref name=pappenheim>Pappenheim, Mark. [https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/classical-an-honourable-homecoming-at-last-1154127.html "Classical: An honourable homecoming – at last"], ''The Independent'', 3 April 1998, accessed 20 March 2016</ref> He was the younger of the two children of Teréz ({{née|Rosenbaum}}) and Móricz "Mor" Stern, both of whom were Jewish.<ref name=dnb>Follows, Stephen. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/68813 "Solti, Sir Georg (1912–1997)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2011, accessed 22 February 2012 {{subscription}}</ref> In the aftermath of the First World War it became the accepted practice in Hungary for citizens with Germanic surnames to adopt Hungarian ones. The territorial revisionist regime of [[Miklós Horthy|Admiral Horthy]] enacted a series of [[Magyarisation|Hungarianisation]] laws, including a requirement that state employees with foreign-sounding names must change them.<ref name=fox /> Mor Stern, a self-employed merchant, felt no need to change his surname, but thought it prudent to change that of his children.<ref name=fox /> He renamed them after [[Solt]], a small town in central Hungary.{{refn| The family had no connection with Solt, and Stern appears to have selected it at random.<ref name=dnb />|group= n}} His son's given name, György, was acceptably Hungarian and was not changed.<ref name=fox>Fox, Sue. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:LTIB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0F9247FFBB6DBA0F&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "Georg Solti&nbsp;– A Childhood"], ''The Times'', 1 July 1995</ref>

[[File:Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem 2013-ban felújított homlokzata.JPG|thumb|left|alt=exterior shot of ornate nineteenth century building|[[Franz Liszt Academy of Music|Franz Liszt Academy]], Budapest]]
Solti described his father as "a kind, sweet man who trusted everyone. He shouldn't have, but he did. Jews in Hungary were tremendously patriotic. In 1914, when war broke out, my father invested most of his money in a war loan to help the country. By the time the bonds matured, they were worthless."<ref name=fox /> Mor Stern was a religious man, but his son was less so. Late in life, Solti recalled, "I often upset him because I never stayed in the synagogue for longer than 10 minutes."<ref name=fox /> Teréz Stern was from a musical family, and encouraged her daughter Lilly, by eight years the elder of the children, to sing, and György to accompany her on the piano. Solti remembered, "I made so many mistakes, but it was invaluable experience for an opera conductor. I learnt to swim with her."<ref name=fox /> He was not a diligent student of the piano: "My mother kept telling me to practise, but what 10-year-old wants to play the piano when he could be out playing football?"<ref name=fox />

Solti enrolled at the Ernő Fodor School of Music in Budapest at the age of 10, transferring to the more prestigious [[Franz Liszt Academy of Music|Franz Liszt Academy]] two years later.<ref name=dnb /> When he was 12, he heard a performance of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]] conducted by [[Erich Kleiber]], which gave him the ambition to become a conductor.<ref>[[Edward Greenfield|Greenfield, Edward]]. [http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/October%201982/22/788181/ "Sir Georg Solti"], ''Gramophone'', October 1982, p. 22</ref> His parents could not afford to pay for years of musical education, and his rich uncles did not consider music a suitable profession; from the age of 13, Solti paid for his education by giving piano lessons.<ref name=fox />

The faculty of the Franz Liszt Academy included some of the most eminent Hungarian musicians, including [[Béla Bartók]], [[Leó Weiner]], [[Ernő Dohnányi]], and [[Zoltán Kodály]]. Solti studied under the first three, for piano, chamber music, and composition, respectively. Some sources state that he also studied with Kodály,<ref name=grove>[[Arthur Jacobs|Jacobs, Arthur]] and José A. Bowen. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/26170 "Solti, Sir Georg"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford Music Online, accessed 22 February 2012 {{subscription}}</ref><ref name=who>[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U182009 "Solti, Sir Georg"], ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007, accessed 22 February 2012 {{subscription}}</ref> but in his memoirs, Solti recalled that Kodály, whom he would have preferred, turned him down, leaving him to study composition first with [[Albert Siklós]] and then with Dohnányi.<ref>Solti, pp. 17 and 22</ref> Not all the academy's tutors were equally distinguished; Solti remembered with little pleasure the conducting classes run by Ernő Unger, "who instructed his pupils to use rigid little wrist motions. I attended the class for only two years, but I needed five years of practical conducting experience before I managed to unlearn what he had taught me".<ref>Solti. p. 20</ref>

===Pianist and conductor===
After graduating from the academy in 1930, Solti was appointed to the staff of the [[Hungarian State Opera House|Hungarian State Opera]].{{refn|This appointment came under the scope of another of Horthy's laws, requiring that state employees must be able to prove that their families had lived in Hungary for at least 50 years. Mor Stern went to the records office in his native village of [[Balatonfőkajár]] and found documents showing that his family had lived there for more than 250 years.<ref>Solti, p. 3</ref>|group= n}} He found that working as a ''répétiteur'', coaching singers in their roles and playing at rehearsals, was a more fruitful preparation than Unger's classes for his intended career as a conductor.<ref name=dnb /> In 1932, he went to [[Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe|Karlsruhe]] in Germany as assistant to [[Josef Krips]], but within a year, Krips, anticipating the imminent rise to power of [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] and the [[Nazism|Nazi]]s, insisted that Solti should go home to Budapest, where at that time Jews were not in danger.<ref>Solti, p. 31</ref> Other Jewish and anti-Nazi musicians also left Germany for Budapest. Among other musical exiles with whom Solti worked there were [[Otto Klemperer]], [[Fritz Busch]], and Kleiber.<ref name=dnb /> Before Austria fell under Nazi control, Solti was assistant to [[Arturo Toscanini]] at the 1937 [[Salzburg Festival]]:
[[File:Hungarian State Opera House(PDXdj).jpg|thumb|alt=exterior of a large neo-classical theatre|[[Hungarian State Opera House]]]]

{{blockquote|Toscanini was the first great musical impression in my life. Before I heard him live in 1936, I had never heard a great opera conductor, not in Budapest, and it was like a lightning flash. I heard his ''[[Falstaff (opera)|Falstaff]]'' in 1936 and the impact was unbelievable. It was the first time I heard an ensemble singing absolutely precisely. It was fantastic. Then I never expected to meet Toscanini. It was a chance in a million. I had a letter of recommendation from the director of the Budapest Opera to the president of the Salzburg Festival. He received me and said: "Do you know ''[[The Magic Flute|Magic Flute]]'', because we have an influenza epidemic and two of our repetiteurs are ill? Could you play this afternoon for the stage rehearsals?"<ref name=canning>Canning, Hugh. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:LSTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0F92979FFAB2939D&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "The electric conductor&nbsp;– Sir Georg Solti"], ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', 9 December 1990</ref>|}}

After further work as a répétiteur at the opera in Budapest, and with his standing enhanced by his association with Toscanini, Solti was given his first chance to conduct, on 11 March 1938.{{refn|Solti wrote that, as far as he knew, he was the first unconverted Jew to conduct at the State Opera.<ref>Solti, p. 35</ref>|group= n}} The opera was Mozart's ''[[The Marriage of Figaro]]''. During that evening, news came of the German invasion of Austria.<ref name=times>[http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:LTIB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0F924C9A27B2EE4D&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "Sir Georg Solti&nbsp;– Obituary"], ''The Times'', 8 September 1997</ref> Many Hungarians feared that Hitler would next invade Hungary; he did not do so, but Horthy, to strengthen his partnership with the Nazis, instituted [[Hungary between the World Wars#On the eve of World War II|anti-semitic laws]], mirroring the [[Nuremberg Laws]], restricting Hungary's Jews from engaging in professions.<ref>Levy, p. 323</ref> Solti's family urged him to move away.<ref name=dnb /> He went first to London, where he made his [[The Royal Opera|Covent Garden]] debut, conducting the [[London Philharmonic Orchestra|London Philharmonic]] for a Russian ballet season.<ref>"Opera and Ballet", ''The Times'', 2 July 1938, p. 10</ref> The reviewer in ''[[The Times]]'' was not impressed with Solti's efforts, finding them "too violent, for he lashed at the orchestra and flogged the music so that he endangered the delicate, evocative atmosphere."<ref name=ballet>"Covent Garden Ballet&nbsp;– Carnaval", ''The Times'', 15 July 1938, p. 14</ref> At about this time Solti dropped the name "György" in favour of "Georg".<ref>Solti, p. 5</ref>

After his appearances in London, Solti went to Switzerland to seek out Toscanini, who was conducting in [[Lucerne]]. Solti hoped that Toscanini would help find him a post in the U.S. He was unable to do so, but Solti found work and security in Switzerland as vocal coach to tenor Max Hirzel, who was learning the role of Tristan in [[Tristan und Isolde|Wagner's opera]].<ref name=dnb /> Throughout the Second World War, Solti remained in Switzerland.<ref name=canning /> He did not see his father again; Mor Stern died of diabetes in a Budapest hospital in 1943.<ref>Solti, p. 54</ref> Solti was reunited with his mother and sister after the war.<ref>Solti, p. 55</ref> In Switzerland, he could not obtain a work permit as a conductor, but earned his living as a piano teacher.<ref>Solti, p. 59</ref> After he won the 1942 [[Geneva International Music Competition|Geneva International Piano Competition]], he was permitted to give piano recitals, but was still not allowed to conduct.<ref>Solti, p. 56</ref> During his exile, he met Hedwig (Hedi) Oeschli, daughter of a lecturer at Zürich University; they married in 1946.<ref name=dnb /> In his memoirs, he wrote of her, "She was very elegant and sophisticated. ... Hedi gave me a little grace and taught me good manners&nbsp;– although she never completely succeeded in this. She also helped me enormously in my career".<ref>[http://www.georgsolti.com/ "Salzburg & Swiss exile"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208231539/http://www.georgsolti.com/ |date=8 February 2007 }}, Georg Solti, accessed 23 February 2012</ref>

===Munich and Frankfurt===
With the end of the war, Solti's luck changed dramatically. He was appointed musical director of the [[Bavarian State Opera]] in Munich in 1946.<ref>Robinson, p. 13</ref> In normal circumstances, this prestigious post would have been an unthinkable appointment for a young and inexperienced conductor,{{refn| Solti's predecessors included prominent conductors such as [[Hans von Bülow]], [[Hermann Levi]], [[Richard Strauss]], [[Bruno Walter]], [[Hans Knappertsbusch]], and [[Clemens Krauss]].|group= n}} but the leading German conductors such as [[Wilhelm Furtwängler]], [[Clemens Krauss]], and [[Herbert von Karajan]] were prohibited from conducting pending the conclusion of [[denazification]] proceedings against them.<ref name=dnb /> Under Solti's direction, the company rebuilt its repertoire and began to recover its prewar eminence.<ref name=grove /> He benefited from the encouragement of the elderly [[Richard Strauss]], in whose presence he conducted ''[[Der Rosenkavalier]]''.<ref name=grove /> Strauss was reluctant to discuss his own music with Solti, but gave him advice about conducting.<ref>Solti, pp. 78–79</ref>
[[File:Georges Solti and Nikita Magaloff (1965) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg|thumb|alt=two men, both bald, one standing and one sitting|upright|Solti (l) with the pianist [[Nikita Magaloff]]]]
In addition to the Munich appointment, Solti gained a recording contract in 1946. He signed for [[Decca Records]], not as a conductor, but as a piano accompanist.<ref>Culshaw (1967), p 30</ref> He made his first recording in 1947, playing Brahms's [[Violin Sonata No. 1 (Brahms)|First Violin Sonata]] with violinist [[Georg Kulenkampff]].<ref name=d /> He was insistent that he wanted to conduct, and Decca gave him his first recording sessions as a conductor later in the same year, with the [[Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra]] in Beethoven's ''[[Egmont (Beethoven)|Egmont]]'' overture.<ref name=d /> Twenty years later, Solti said, "I'm sure it's a terrible record, because the orchestra was not very good at that time and I was so excited. It is horrible, surely horrible&nbsp;– but by now it has vanished."<ref>Culshaw (1967), p. 31</ref> He had to wait two years for his next recording as a conductor, in London, Haydn's ''[[Symphony No. 103 (Haydn)|Drum Roll]]'' symphony, in sessions produced by [[John Culshaw]], with whose career Solti's became closely linked over the next two decades.<ref>Culshaw (1967), p. 32</ref> Reviewing the record, ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|The Gramophone]]'' said, "The performance of the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Georg Solti (a fine conductor who is new to me) is remarkable for rhythmic playing, richness of tone, and clarity of execution."<ref>[http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/July%201950/16 "Haydn Symphony No. 103 in E flat"], ''The Gramophone'', July 1950, p. 16</ref> ''[[The Record Guide]]'' compared it favourably with [[EMI Classics|EMI]]'s rival recording by [[Thomas Beecham|Sir Thomas Beecham]] and the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra|Royal Philharmonic]].<ref>Sackville-West, p. 355</ref>

In 1951, Solti conducted at the Salzburg Festival for the first time, partly through the influence of Furtwängler, who was impressed by him.<ref name=s85>Solti, pp. 85–86</ref> The work was Mozart's ''[[Idomeneo]]'', which had not been given there before.<ref name=s85 /> In Munich, Solti achieved critical and popular success, but for political reasons, his position at the State Opera was never secure. The view persisted that a German conductor should be in charge; pressure mounted, and after five years, Solti accepted an offer to move to [[Frankfurt]] in 1952 as musical director of the [[Oper Frankfurt]].<ref name=dnb />{{refn|Solti's successor at Munich was the German [[Rudolf Kempe]].|group= n}} The city's opera house had been destroyed in the war, and Solti undertook to build a new company and repertoire for its recently completed replacement. He also conducted the symphony concerts given by the opera orchestra.<ref name=s94 /> Frankfurt's was a less prestigious house than Munich's and he initially regarded the move as a demotion,<ref name=s94>Solti, p. 94</ref> but he found the post fulfilling and remained at Frankfurt from 1952 to 1961, presenting 33 operas, 19 of which he had not conducted before.<ref>Solti, p. 127</ref> Frankfurt, unlike Munich, could not attract many of the leading German singers. Solti recruited many rising young American singers such as [[Claire Watson]] and [[Sylvia Stahlman]],<ref>Solti, pp. 100 (Watson) and 101 (Stahlman)</ref> to the extent that the house acquired the nickname "Amerikanische Oper am Main".{{refn|"The American Opera on the [[Main (river)|Main]]", a play on the title of the [[Deutsche Oper am Rhein]]&nbsp;– the German Opera on the Rhine&nbsp;– at [[Düsseldorf]].<ref>Solti, p. 100</ref>|group= n}} In 1953, the West German government offered Solti German citizenship, which, being effectively stateless as a Hungarian exile, he gratefully accepted. He believed he could never return to Hungary, by then under communist rule.<ref>Solti, p. 96</ref> He remained a German citizen for two decades.<ref>Solti, p. 105</ref>

During his Frankfurt years, Solti made appearances with other opera companies and orchestras. He conducted in the Americas for the first time in 1952, giving concerts in Buenos Aires.<ref>Solti, p. 92–93</ref> In the same year, he made his debut at the [[Edinburgh Festival]] as a guest conductor with the visiting [[Hamburg State Opera]].<ref>Robinson, p. 16</ref> The following year, he was a guest at the [[San Francisco Opera]] with ''[[Elektra (opera)|Elektra]]'', ''[[Die Walküre]]'', and ''Tristan und Isolde''.<ref>Solti, p. 102</ref> In 1954, he conducted ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' at the [[Glyndebourne Festival Opera|Glyndebourne Festival]]. The reviewer in ''The Times'' said that no fault could be found in Solti's "vivacious and sensitive" conducting.<ref>"Glyndebourne Opera&nbsp;– 'Don Giovanni'", ''The Times'', 8 July 1954, p. 5</ref> In the same year Solti made his first appearance with the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]], at the [[Ravinia Festival]].<ref>[http://www.georgsolti.com/ "Career highlights"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208231539/http://www.georgsolti.com/ |date=8 February 2007 }}, Georg Solti, accessed 23 February 2012</ref>  In 1960, he made his debut at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in New York City, conducting ''Tannhäuser'', and he continued to appear there until 1964.<ref>[http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm Search: "Solti"], Metropolitan Opera Archives, accessed 10 June 2012</ref>

In the recording studios, Solti's career took off after 1956, when John Culshaw was put in charge of Decca's classical recording programme. Culshaw believed Solti to be "the great Wagner conductor of our time",<ref>Culshaw (1967), p. 52</ref> and was determined to record the four operas of ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'' with Solti and the finest Wagner singers available.<ref>Culshaw (1967), pp. 52–53</ref> The cast Culshaw assembled for the cycle included [[Kirsten Flagstad]], [[Hans Hotter]], [[Birgit Nilsson]] and [[Wolfgang Windgassen]].<ref>Culshaw (1967), pp. 273–274</ref> Apart from ''[[Arabella]]'' in 1957, in which he substituted when [[Karl Böhm]] withdrew, Solti had made no complete recording of an opera until the sessions for ''[[Das Rheingold]]'', the first of the ''Ring'' tetralogy, in September and October 1958.<ref name=d /> In their respective memoirs, Culshaw and Solti told how [[Walter Legge]] of Decca's rival EMI predicted that ''Das Rheingold'' would be a commercial disaster ("'Very nice,' he said, 'Very interesting. But of course you won't ''sell'' any.'")<ref>Culshaw (1967), p. 91</ref>{{refn|Solti and Culshaw recalled Legge's words slightly differently, though the import was the same; Solti remembered Legge's words as, "A beautiful work, but you won't sell fifty copies."<ref>Solti, p. 113</ref>|group= n}} The success of the recording took the record industry by surprise. It featured for weeks in the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' charts, the sole classical album alongside best sellers by [[Elvis Presley]] and [[Pat Boone]], and brought Solti's name to international prominence.<ref>Culshaw (1967), p. 124</ref> He appeared with leading orchestras in New York City, Vienna, and Los Angeles, and at Covent Garden, he conducted ''Der Rosenkavalier'' and [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]]'s ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)|A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''.<ref name=dnb />

===Covent Garden===
[[File:Royal Opera House.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=interior of grand 19th-century theatre|Royal Opera House, Covent Garden]]
In 1960, Solti signed a three-year contract to be music director of the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] from 1962.<ref name=s124 /> Even before he took the post, the philharmonic's autocratic president, [[Dorothy Buffum Chandler|Dorothy Chandler]], breached his contract by appointing a deputy music director without Solti's approval. Although he admired the chosen deputy, [[Zubin Mehta]], Solti felt he could not have his authority undermined from the outset, and he withdrew from his appointment.<ref name=s124 /> He accepted an offer to become musical director of [[The Royal Opera|Covent Garden Opera Company]], London. When first sounded out about the post, he had declined it. After 14 years of experience at Munich and Frankfurt, he was uncertain that he wanted a third successive operatic post.<ref name=h257>Haltrecht, p. 257</ref> Moreover, founded only 15 years earlier, the Covent Garden company was not yet the equal of the best opera houses in Europe.<ref>Haltrecht, p. 237</ref> [[Bruno Walter]] convinced Solti that it was his duty to take on Covent Garden.<ref>Haltrecht, p. 259</ref>

Biographer [[Montague Haltrecht]] suggests that Solti seized the breach of his Los Angeles contract as a convenient pretext to abandon the philharmonic in favour of Covent Garden.<ref>Haltrecht, p. 258</ref> In his memoirs, though, Solti wrote that he wanted the Los Angeles position very much indeed.<ref name=s124>Solti, pp. 124–125</ref> He originally considered holding both posts in tandem, but later acknowledged that he had had a lucky escape, as he could have done justice to neither post had he attempted to hold both simultaneously.<ref name=s124 /> Coinciding with his first season at Covent Garden in 1961-62, he also served as music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for one season.<ref>Solti and Sachs, 134.</ref> In Dallas he conducted 21 concerts over two one-month periods.<ref>{{Cite news |title=What Sank the Dallas Symphony Orchestra--After 74 Years?; The Sad Story of Dallas May Hold Some Lessons |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/06/09/148824052.html |date=9 June 1974 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/dallas-symphony-orchestra |accessdate=2 October 2025 |website=Texas State Historical Association }}</ref>

Solti took up the musical directorship of Covent Garden in August 1961.<ref>Haltrecht, p. 264</ref> The press gave him a cautious welcome, but some concern arose that under him a drift away from the company's original policy of opera in English might occur. Solti, however, was an advocate of opera in the vernacular,<ref name=what>"What Sort of Opera for Covent Garden?", ''The Times'', 9 December 1960, p. 18</ref>{{refn|At Munich and Frankfurt, the usual practice had been to give non-German operas in German translation.<ref>Solti, p. 76</ref>|group= n}} and he promoted the development of British and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] singers in the company, frequently casting them in his recordings and important productions in preference to overseas artists.<ref>Haltrecht, p. 295</ref> He demonstrated his belief in vernacular opera with a triple bill in English of Ravel's ''[[L'heure espagnole]]'', Schoenberg's ''[[Erwartung]]'', and Puccini's ''[[Gianni Schicchi]]''.<ref>"Solti's Success with Opera in English", ''The Times'', 18 June 1962, p. 5</ref> As the decade went on, however, more and more productions had to be sung in the original language to accommodate international stars.<ref name=w21>"Sir David Webster's 21 Years at Covent Garden", ''The Times'', 12 April 1965, p. 14</ref>

{{Quote box |quoted=true |bgcolor=#F3F0FD |salign=right| quote = [Solti] announced his intention of making Covent Garden "quite simply, the best opera house in the world", and in the opinion of many he succeeded.| source = ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'' <ref name=grove />|align=left| width=250px}}

Like his predecessor [[Rafael Kubelík]], and his successor [[Colin Davis]], Solti found his early days as musical director marred by vituperative hostility from a small clique in the Covent Garden audience.<ref>Haltrecht, pp. 207 (Kubelik) and 271 (Solti); and Canning, Hugh. "Forget the booing, remember the triumph", ''The Guardian'', 19 July 1986, p. 11 (Davis)</ref> Rotten vegetables were thrown at him,<ref name=dnb /> and his car was vandalised outside the theatre, with the words "Solti must go!" scratched on its paintwork.<ref name=h271>Haltrecht, p. 271</ref> Some press reviews were strongly critical; Solti was so wounded by a review in ''The Times'' of his conducting of ''The Marriage of Figaro'' that he almost left Covent Garden in despair.<ref name=canning />{{refn|The anonymous ''Times'' reviewer had complained of Solti's "supercharged, chromium-plated account of the score ... many details were simply glossed over ... heartless and featureless."<ref>"Mr. Solti Skates over the Score", ''The Times'', 31 May 1963, p. 15</ref> ''[[The Observer]]'', however, had praised the conductor's "intelligence and sensitivity".<ref>Tracey, Edmund. "Masterstrokes in a masterpiece", ''The Observer'', 2 June 1963, p. 23</ref> and ''[[The Guardian]]'' spoke of "tremendous verve plus ''real'' security in the ensemble on stage".<ref>Hope-Wallace, Philip. "Le Nozze di Figaro", ''The Guardian'', 31 May 1963, p. 9</ref>|group= n}} The chief executive of the Opera House, [[David Webster (opera manager)|Sir David Webster]], persuaded him to stay with the company, and matters improved, helped by changes on which Solti insisted.<ref>Haltrecht, p. 279</ref> The chorus and orchestra were strengthened,<ref name=dnb /> and in the interests of musical and dramatic excellence, Solti secured the introduction of the ''[[stagione]]'' system of scheduling performances, rather than the traditional repertory system.{{refn|Under the old repertory system, a company would have a certain number of operas in its repertoire, and they would be played throughout the season in a succession of one- or two-night performances, with little or no rehearsal each time. Under the ''stagione'' system, works would be revived in blocks of perhaps 10 or more performances, fully rehearsed for each revival.<ref>[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O003207 "Stagione"], ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', ed. [[Stanley Sadie]], Grove Music Online Oxford Music Online, accessed 2 March 2012 {{subscription}}</ref>|group= n}} By 1967, ''The Times'' commented that "Patrons of Covent Garden today automatically expect any new production, and indeed any revival, to be as strongly cast as anything at the Met in New York, and as carefully presented as anything in [[La Scala|Milan]] or [[Vienna State Opera|Vienna]]".<ref name=t20>"Twenty marvellous years at Covent Garden", ''The Times'', 13 January 1967, p. 14</ref>

The company's repertory in the 1960s combined the standard operatic works with less familiar pieces. Among the most celebrated productions during Solti's time in charge was [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg's]] ''[[Moses und Aron|Moses and Aaron]]'' in the 1965–66 and 1966–67 seasons.<ref>Goodman, pp. 57–59</ref> In 1970, Solti led the company to Germany, where they gave ''Don Carlos'', ''Falstaff'', and ''Victory'', a new work by [[Richard Rodney Bennett]]. The public in Munich and Berlin were, according to the ''[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]]'', "beside themselves with enthusiasm".<ref>''Quoted'' in Lebrecht, p. 281</ref>

Solti's bald head and demanding rehearsal style earned him the nickname "The Screaming Skull".<ref name=dnb /> A music historian called him "the bustling, bruising Georg Solti&nbsp;– a man whose entire physical and mental attitude embodied the words 'I'm in charge'."<ref>Morrison, p. 217</ref> Singers such as [[Peter Glossop]] described him as a bully,<ref>Glossop, p. 147</ref> and after working with Solti, [[Jon Vickers]] refused to do so again.<ref>Haltrecht, pp. 289–290</ref>{{refn|Solti later expressed doubt about this view of his tenure at Covent Garden. He maintained that if he had been an autocrat, he was a benign one, and stories that he terrified singers were exaggerated: "There were not many scandals in my Covent Garden career; a few, but not serious&nbsp;– not à la Toscanini or à la Karajan. I didn't have those, not really."<ref>Canning, Hugh. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:LSTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtxf:ctx&rft_dat=0F92A2FA8CA356F9&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "A life on record"], ''The Sunday Times'', 14 September 1997</ref>|group= n}} Nevertheless, under Solti, the company was recognised as having achieved parity with the greatest opera houses in the world.<ref name=t20 /> [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] conferred the title "the Royal Opera" on the company in 1968.<ref>"The Royal Opera", ''The Times'', 24 October 1968, p. 3</ref> By this point, Solti was, in the words of his biographer Paul Robinson, "after Karajan, the most celebrated conductor at work".<ref>Robinson, p. 44</ref> By the end of his decade as music director at Covent Garden Solti had conducted the company in 33 operas by 13 composers.{{refn|The operas new to the company's repertoire were: ''[[La damnation de Faust]]'', ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)|A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', ''[[Iphigénie en Tauride]]'', ''[[Orfeo ed Euridice]]'', ''[[Gianni Schicchi]]'', ''[[L'heure espagnole]]'', ''[[Erwartung]]'', ''[[Moses und Aron|Moses and Aaron]]'', ''[[Arabella]]'', ''[[Die Frau ohne Schatten]]'', ''[[Eugene Onegin (opera)|Eugene Onegin]]'', ''[[Falstaff (opera)|Falstaff]]'' and ''[[La forza del destino]]''. The other operas Solti conducted before stepping down in 1972 were: ''[[Fidelio]]'', ''[[Billy Budd (opera)|Billy Budd]]'', ''[[Così fan tutte]]'', ''[[Don Giovanni]]'', ''[[Le nozze di Figaro]]'', ''[[The Magic Flute]]'', ''[[The Tales of Hoffmann]]'', ''[[Der Rosenkavalier]]'', ''[[Elektra (opera)|Elektra]]'', ''[[Salome (opera)|Salome]]'', ''[[Don Carlos]]'', ''[[Otello]]'', ''[[Rigoletto]]'', ''[[Der fliegende Holländer]]'', ''[[Das Rheingold]]'', ''[[Die Walküre]]'', ''[[Siegfried (opera)|Siegfried]]'', ''[[Götterdämmerung]]'', ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'' and ''[[Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg|Die Meistersinger]]''.<ref name=roh>[http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/SearchResults.aspx?person=Solti&searchtype=performance&page=0 "Performance search results&nbsp;– Solti"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709040951/http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/SearchResults.aspx?person=Solti&searchtype=performance&page=0 |date=9 July 2019 }}, Royal Opera House Collections Online, accessed 3 March 2012</ref>|group= n}}

In 1964, Solti separated from his wife. He moved into the [[Savoy Hotel]], where not long afterwards he met [[Valerie Pitts]], a British television presenter, sent to interview him.<ref>Robinson, p. 38</ref> She, too, was married, but after pursuing her for three years, Solti persuaded her to divorce her husband. Solti and Valerie Pitts married on 11 November 1967.<ref>Solti, p. 137</ref> They had two daughters.<ref name=who />

===Chicago Symphony Orchestra===
In 1967, Solti was invited to become music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It was the second time he had been offered the post. The first had been in 1963 after the death of the orchestra's conductor, [[Fritz Reiner]], who made its reputation in the previous decade.<ref name=patmore /> Solti told the representatives of the orchestra that his commitments at Covent Garden made it impossible to give Chicago the eight months a year they sought.<ref name=prov /> He suggested giving them three and a half months a year and inviting [[Carlo Maria Giulini]] to take charge for a similar length of time. The orchestra declined to proceed on these lines.<ref name=prov />

[[File:Sir Georg Solti 10.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Solti (1975)]]
When Solti accepted the orchestra's second invitation, they agreed that Giulini should be appointed to share the conducting.{{refn|The management of the orchestra had privately hoped for a triumvirate of famous conductors, with Karajan as chief and Solti and Giulini as guests, but Karajan declined.<ref name=o560>Osborne, p. 560</ref> Karajan's biographer Richard Osborne comments that the outcome was probably fortunate for the Chicago Symphony, as it gained "a music director who in the fullness of time would devote a large part of his life to the orchestra."<ref name=o560 />|group= n}} Both conductors signed three-year contracts with the orchestra, effective from 1969.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3392541|title = Bulletin Board|journal = Music Educators Journal|volume = 55|issue = 8|pages = 111–115|year = 1969|doi = 10.2307/3392541}}</ref>

One of the members of the Chicago Symphony described it to Solti as "the best provincial orchestra in the world."<ref name=prov>Greenfield, Edward. "The great provincials", ''The Guardian'', 4 October 1971, p. 8</ref> Many players remained from its celebrated decade under Reiner, but morale was low, and the orchestra was $5M in debt.<ref name=dnb /> Solti concluded that raising the orchestra's international profile was essential. He ensured that it was engaged for many of his Decca sessions, and Giulini and he led it in a European tour in 1971, playing in 10 countries. This was the first time in its 80-year history that the orchestra had played outside of North America.<ref name=prov /> The orchestra received plaudits from European critics,<ref>[https://archive.today/20130131142706/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagodefender/access/884351992.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+6,+1971&author=&pub=Chicago+Daily+Defender+(Daily+Edition)+(1960-1973)&edition=&startpage=20&desc=Symphony+returns+prepares+for+71-72+season "Symphony returns"], ''[[Chicago Defender|Chicago Daily Defender]]'', 6 October 1971, p. 20</ref>{{refn|After the orchestra played at the [[Edinburgh Festival]], critic [[William Mann (critic)|William Mann]] wrote, "I am tempted to describe it as the United States' most completely accomplished orchestra. It has the fine attack of the [[New York Philharmonic|New York Phil]] under [[Leonard Bernstein|Bernstein]], the radiance of the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra|Boston]] under [[Erich Leinsdorf|Leinsdorf]], the classic elegance of the [[Cleveland Orchestra|Cleveland]] under [[George Szell|Szell]], and to these qualities it adds, under Solti, a warm, human musical expressiveness that one associates with European rather than modern American orchestras."<ref>Mann, William. "Chicago SO", ''The Times'', 6 September 1971, p. 8</ref> After one of the London concerts, [[Alan Blyth]] wrote, "nobody could doubt that this is about the most formidably equipped orchestra in the world at present".<ref>Blyth, Alan. "Chicago SO/Solti", ''The Times'' 5 October 1971, p. 17</ref>|group= n}} and was welcomed home at the end of the tour with a [[ticker-tape parade]].<ref name=dnb />

The orchestra's principal flute player, Donald Peck, commented that the relationship between a conductor and an orchestra is difficult to explain: "Some conductors get along with some orchestras and not others. We had a good match with Solti and he with us."<ref>Peck, p. 7</ref> Peck's colleague, violinist Victor Aitay, said, "Usually conductors are relaxed at rehearsals and tense at the concerts. Solti is the reverse. He is very tense at rehearsals, which makes us concentrate, but relaxed during the performance, which is a great asset to the orchestra."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930072236/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900761-1,00.html "Into the Fray"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', 11 April 1969 {{subscription}}</ref> Peck recalled Solti's constant efforts to improve his own technique and interpretations, at one point experimentally dispensing with a baton, drawing a "darker and deeper, much more relaxed" tone from the players.<ref>Peck, p. 8</ref>
{{Quote box |quoted=true |bgcolor=#F3F0FD |salign=right| quote = It's a marvelous thing to be musically happily married. ... I am and I know. I'm a romantic type of musician, and this is a romantic orchestra. That is our secret... |source= Sir Georg Solti (1973)<ref>Bender, William. [http://csoarchives.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/079-time-magazine-article-1973.pdf "Solti and Chicago: A Musical Romance"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', 7 May 1973, p. 56</ref>|align=right| width=250px}}

As well as raising the orchestra's profile and helping it return to prosperity, Solti considerably expanded its repertoire. Under him, the Chicago Symphony gave its first cycles of the symphonies of [[Anton Bruckner|Bruckner]] and [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]]. He introduced new works commissioned for the orchestra, such as Lutosławski's [[Symphony No. 3 (Lutosławski)|Third Symphony]], and Tippett's [[Symphony No. 4 (Tippett)|Fourth Symphony]], which was dedicated to Solti.<ref name=dnb /> Another new work was Tippett's ''Byzantium'', an orchestral song-cycle, premiered by Solti and the orchestra with [[soprano]] Faye Robinson. Solti frequently programmed works by American composers, including [[Charles Ives]] and [[Elliott Carter]].<ref name=dnb />

Solti's recordings with the Chicago Symphony included the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler.<ref name=d /> Most of his operatic recordings were with other orchestras, but his recordings of Wagner's ''[[Der fliegende Holländer]]'' (1976), Beethoven's ''[[Fidelio]]'' (1979), Schoenberg's ''[[Moses und Aron]]'' (1984) and his second recordings of ''[[Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg|Die Meistersinger]]'' (1995) and Verdi's ''[[Otello]]'' (1991) were made with the Chicago players.<ref name=d />

After relinquishing the position of music director in 1991, Solti continued to conduct the orchestra, and was given the title of music director laureate. He conducted 999 concerts with the orchestra. His 1,000th concert was scheduled for October 1997, around the time of his 85th birthday, but Solti died that September.<ref>Tommasini, Anthony. [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/21/arts/classical-music-living-an-adventure-to-the-end.html?scp=8&sq=&pagewanted=all "Living an Adventure to the End"], ''The New York Times'', 21 September 1997</ref>

===Later years===
In addition to his tenure in Chicago, Solti was music director of the [[Orchestre de Paris]] from 1972 to 1975.<ref name=who /> From 1979 until 1983, he was also principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.<ref name=who /> He continued to expand his repertoire. With the London Philharmonic, he performed many of [[Edward Elgar|Elgar]]'s major works in concert and on record.<ref name=d /> Before performing Elgar's two symphonies, Solti studied the composer's own recordings made more than 40 years earlier, and was influenced by their brisk tempi and impetuous manner.<ref name=eg /> [[Edward Greenfield]], music critic for ''[[The Guardian]]'', wrote that Solti "conveys the authentic frisson of the great Elgarian moment more vividly than ever before on record."<ref name=eg>Greenfield, Edward. "Echoing Elgar", ''The Guardian'', 11 July 1972, p. 10</ref> Late in his career he became enthusiastic about the music of [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]], whom he admitted he failed to appreciate fully during the composer's lifetime.<ref>Solti, p. 228</ref> He made commercial recordings of seven of Shostakovich's fifteen symphonies.{{refn|His commercial recordings of Shostakovich symphonies were Nos. 1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 15.<ref name=d />|group=n}}

{{Quote box |quoted=true |bgcolor=#F3F0FD|salign=right| quote = His podium personality, exuberant and forceful, was clearly imprinted upon his music-making as he snarled and ferociously stabbed his baton. ... It became a cliché to say he mellowed as he got older, but his performances remained thrilling right to the end.| source = ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'' <ref name=grove />|align=left|width=250px}}

In 1983, Solti conducted for the only time at the [[Bayreuth Festival]]. By this stage in his career, he no longer liked abstract productions of Wagner, or modernistic reinterpretations, such as Patrice Chéreau's 1976 Bayreuth ''[[Jahrhundertring|Centenary Ring]]'', which he found grew boring on repetition.<ref>Greenfield, Edward. [http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/August%201981/25/743687/ "Sir Georg Solti"], ''Gramophone'', August 1981, p. 25</ref> Together with the director [[Peter Hall (director)|Sir Peter Hall]] and designer [[William Dudley (designer)|William Dudley]], he presented a ''Ring'' cycle that aimed to represent Wagner's intentions. The production was not well received by German critics, who expected radical reinterpretation of the operas.<ref>Heyworth, Peter. "Why ''The Ring'' went wrong", ''The Observer'', 7 August 1983</ref> Solti's conducting was praised, but illnesses and last-minute replacements of leading performers affected the standard of singing.<ref>[[Bernard Levin|Levin, Bernard]]. "A sand-blast and polish by a master", ''The Times'', 17 August 1983, p. 8</ref> He was invited to return to Bayreuth for the following season, but was unwell and withdrew on medical advice before the 1984 festival began.<ref>Hewson, David. "Solti quits 'Ring' production", ''The Times'', 26 May 1984, p. 5</ref>

In 1991, Solti collaborated with actor and composer [[Dudley Moore]] to create an eight-part television series, ''Orchestra!'', which was designed to introduce audiences to the symphony orchestra.<ref>Jenkins, Garry. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:LSTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0F9297F2EDEC3FFB&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "Orchestrating a return to musical roots&nbsp;– Dudley Moore and Sir Georg Solti"], ''The Sunday Times'', 13 May 1990</ref> In 1994, he directed the "Solti Orchestral Project" at [[Carnegie Hall]], a training workshop for young American musicians.<ref>Holland, Bernard. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03EFDE163DF936A25755C0A962958260 "Georg Solti, Teacher, Leads Carnegie's Orchestral Workshop"], ''The New York Times'', 15 June 1994; and Oestreich, James R. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9805E0D71E3DF937A15755C0A962958260 "Master and Pupils Mesh As Solti Project Concludes"], ''The New York Times'', 24 June 1994</ref> The following year, to mark the 50th anniversary of the [[United Nations]], he formed the World Orchestra for Peace, which consisted of 81 musicians from 40 nations.<ref>[http://www.worldorchestraforpeace.com/content/WOFP_biog.pdf History], World Orchestra for Peace, accessed 28 February 2012</ref> The orchestra has continued to perform after his death, under the conductorship of [[Valery Gergiev]].<ref>[http://www.worldorchestraforpeace.com/orchestra/valery-gergiev/default.aspx "Valery Gergiev"], World Orchestra for Peace, accessed 8 March 2012</ref>

Solti regularly returned to Covent Garden as a guest conductor in the years after he relinquished the musical directorship, greeted with "an increasingly boisterous hero's welcome" (''Grove'').<ref name=grove /> From 1972 to 1997, he conducted 10 operas, some of them in several seasons. Five were operas he had not conducted at the Royal Opera House before: Bizet's ''[[Carmen]]'', Wagner's ''[[Parsifal (opera)|Parsifal]]'', Mozart's ''[[Die Entführung aus dem Serail]]'', Verdi's ''[[Simon Boccanegra (opera)|Simon Boccanegra]]'', and a celebrated production of ''[[La traviata]]'' (1994), which propelled [[Angela Gheorghiu]] to stardom.<ref name=roh /><ref>Kettle, Martin. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:GRDC&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=130E0321A78DEE48&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "Quickfire revival sees hit-and-miss Gheorghui reprise star role"], ''The Guardian'', 10 July 2010</ref> On 14 July 1997 he conducted the last operatic music to be heard in the old house before it closed for more than two years for rebuilding.{{refn|Solti conducted the finale of ''Falstaff'', with the singers led by [[Bryn Terfel]], in a joint opera and ballet farewell. His successors, Sir Colin Davis and [[Bernard Haitink]] also conducted at this gala.<ref>Whitworth, Damian and Dalya Alberge. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:LTIB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0F924C5B0ED30ABA&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "Opera buffs round off gala night with a takeaway"], ''The Times'', 15 July 1997</ref>|group= n}} The previous day he had conducted what proved to be his last symphony concert. The work was Mahler's [[Symphony No. 5 (Mahler)|Fifth Symphony]]; the orchestra was the Zurich Tonhalle, with whom he had made his first orchestral recording 50 years earlier.<ref name=d />

Solti died suddenly, in his sleep, on 5 September 1997 while on holiday in [[Antibes]] in the south of France.<ref>Fay, Stephen. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:TND1&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=13204891A1E2D5D0&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggdocs&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "Solti dies in sleep at 84"], ''[[The Independent on Sunday]]'', 7 September 1997</ref> He was 84. After a state ceremony in Budapest, his ashes were interred beside the remains of Bartók in [[Farkasréti Cemetery]].<ref>Pappenheim, Mark. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:TND1&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=13204E2F259A28E0&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "Classical: An honourable homecoming&nbsp;– at last"], ''[[The Independent]]'', 3 April 1998</ref>

==Recordings==
{{Main|Georg Solti discography}}
Solti recorded throughout his career for the Decca Record Company. He made more than 250 recordings, including 45 complete opera sets.<ref name=deccaweb>[http://www.deccaclassics.com/artist/biography?ART_ID=SOLGE "Solti, Georg"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103234448/http://www.deccaclassics.com/artist/biography?ART_ID=SOLGE |date=3 November 2012 }}, Decca Classics, accessed 22 February 2012</ref> During the 1950s and 1960s, Decca had an alliance with [[RCA Victor]], and some of Solti's recordings were first issued on the RCA label.<ref name=d />

Solti was one of the first conductors who came to international fame as a recording artist before being widely known in the concert hall or opera house. Gordon Parry, the Decca engineer who worked with Solti and Culshaw on the ''Ring'' recordings, observed, "Many people have said 'Oh well, of course John Culshaw made Solti.' This is not true. He gave him the opportunity to show what he could do."<ref name=patmore>Patmore, David. [https://www.proquest.com/docview/850692175 "Sir Georg Solti and the Record Industry"], ''ARSC Journal'' 41.2 (Fall 2010), pp. 200–232 {{subscription}}</ref>

Solti's first recordings were as a piano accompanist, playing at sessions in Zurich for violinist Georg Kulenkampff in 1947.<ref name=d>Stuart, Philip. [http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/discography/decca.html ''Decca Classical, 1929–2009''], AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music, accessed 22 February 2012</ref> Decca's senior producer, [[Victor Olof]] did not much admire Solti as a conductor<ref>Culshaw (1982) p. 88</ref> (nor did Walter Legge, Olof's opposite number at EMI's [[Columbia Graphophone Company|Columbia Records]]),<ref>Schwarzkopf, p. 79</ref> but Olof's younger colleague and successor, Culshaw, held Solti in high regard. As Culshaw, and later [[James Walker (conductor)|James Walker]], produced his recordings, Solti's career as a recording artist flourished from the mid-1950s.<ref name=d /> Among the orchestras with whom Solti recorded were the [[Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra|Berlin Philharmonic]], Chicago Symphony, London Philharmonic, [[London Symphony Orchestra|London Symphony]] and [[Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra|Vienna Philharmonic]] orchestras.<ref name=d /> Soloists in his operatic recordings included [[Birgit Nilsson]], [[Joan Sutherland]], [[Régine Crespin]], [[Plácido Domingo]], [[Gottlob Frick]], [[Carlo Bergonzi (tenor)|Carlo Bergonzi]], [[Kiri Te Kanawa]], [[Ben Heppner]] and [[José van Dam]].<ref name=d /> In concerto recordings, Solti conducted for, among others, [[András Schiff]], [[Julius Katchen]], [[Clifford Curzon]], [[Vladimir Ashkenazy]], and [[Kyung-wha Chung]].<ref name=d />

Solti's most celebrated recording was Wagner's ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen (Georg Solti recording)|Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'' made in Vienna, produced by Culshaw, between 1958 and 1965. It has twice been voted the greatest recording ever made, the first poll being among readers of ''Gramophone'' magazine in 1999,<ref>[http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/December%201999/40/806832/ "Gramophone Classics"], ''Gramophone'', December 1999, p. 40</ref> and the second of professional music critics in 2011, for the [[BBC]]'s ''[[BBC Music Magazine|Music Magazine]]''.<ref name=solti100>[http://www.roh.org.uk/news/anniversary-of-sir-georg-soltis-birth-to-be-celebrated "Anniversary of Sir Georg Solti's birth to be celebrated"], Royal Opera House, accessed 15 March 2012</ref> This recording is heard in the film ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' during the helicopter attack scene.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nautil.us/issue/30/identity/how-i-tried-to-transplant-the-musical-heart-of-apocalypse-now |title="Nautilus Issue 30: Transplanting the Musical Heart of Apocalypse Now" |access-date=9 April 2021 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428183214/https://nautil.us/issue/30/identity/how-i-tried-to-transplant-the-musical-heart-of-apocalypse-now |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Honours and memorials==
[[File:Solti_György_emléktáblája_XII_Maros_utca_29.jpg|thumb|left|alt= close-up shot of Solti commemorative plaque|Commemorative plaque on the Maros utca building where Solti was born, Budapest]]
Honours awarded to Solti included the British [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] (honorary), 1968,<ref name=who /> and an honorary knighthood (KBE), 1971,<ref>Birthday Honours", ''The Times'', 12 June 1971, p. 10</ref> which became a substantive knighthood when he took British citizenship in 1972, after which he was known as Sir Georg Solti.<ref name=dnb /> He was also awarded [[honorary citizenship]] from the coastal town of [[Castiglione della Pescaia]], in [[Tuscany]], a holiday destination particularly frequented by celebrities where he owned a holiday house and used to spend the summer holidays with his wife and daughters.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=La morte di Solti Roccamare, un registro per le firme di cordoglio - Il Tirreno|url=https://ricerca.gelocal.it/iltirreno/archivio/iltirreno/1997/09/08/LG102.html|access-date=14 December 2020|website=Archivio - Il Tirreno|language=it|archive-date=28 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028005607/https://ricerca.gelocal.it/iltirreno/archivio/iltirreno/1997/09/08/LG102.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In Castiglione, the Georg Solti Accademia and the main piazza within the town's historic hamlet are named after Solti.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vacanze a casa Solti - la Repubblica.it|url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2013/07/10/vacanze-casa-solti.html|access-date=14 December 2020|website=Archivio - la Repubblica.it|language=it}}</ref> Furthermore, Solti received a number of honours from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and the US.{{refn|The international honours included the Médaille de Vermeil de la Ville de Paris, 1985; Loyola-Mellon Humanities Award, 1987; Medal of Merit, City of Chicago, 1987; Order of the Flag (Hungary), 1987; Gold Medal of the [[Royal Philharmonic Society]], 1989; [[Frankfurter Musikpreis|Frankfurt Music Prize]], 1992; [[Léonie Sonning Music Prize]], 1992; [[Kennedy Center Honors|Kennedy Center Award]], 1993; Hans Richter Medal, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, 1993; Von Bülow Medal, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, 1993; Commander, [[Order of Leopold (Belgium)]], 1993; Middle Cross, Order of Merit with Star (Hungary), 1993; [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany|Grosses Verdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband]] (Germany), 1993; [[Order of Saint James of the Sword|Ordem Militar de Sant'Iago da Espada]] (Portugal), 1994; Commandeur, [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]] (France), 1995; and Knight Grand Cross, [[Order of Merit of the Italian Republic]], 1996.<ref name=who /><ref>[http://www.sonningmusik.dk/cms/view/index.asp?ipageid=572 "Recipients of Leonie Sonning's Music Prize, 1959–2010"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206162756/http://www.sonningmusik.dk/cms/view/index.asp?ipageid=572 |date=6 February 2012 }}, Léonie Sonning Music Foundation, accessed 28 February 2012</ref>|group= n}} He received honorary fellowships or degrees from the [[Royal College of Music]] and [[DePaul University|DePaul]], [[Furman University|Furman]], [[Harvard University|Harvard]], [[University of Leeds|Leeds]], [[University of London|London]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], [[University of Surrey|Surrey]] and [[Yale University|Yale]] universities.<ref name=who />[[File:Solti György sírja.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Grave with elaborate carved headstone and plain slab with inscription. There are fresh flowers on the grave.|Solti's grave, Budapest]]

In celebration of his 75th birthday in 1987, a bronze [[Bust of Sir Georg Solti|bust of Solti]] by [[Elisabeth Frink|Dame Elisabeth Frink]] was dedicated in [[Lincoln Park]], Chicago, outside the [[Lincoln Park Conservatory]].<ref>Eckert, Thor Jr. [https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/1015/lms15.html "Milestone for Maestro Solti – Chicago style"], ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', 15 October 1987, accessed 21 March 2012</ref> It was first displayed temporarily at the Royal Opera House in London.<ref>[http://www.cpdit01.com/resources/planning-and-development.fountains-monuments-and-sculptures/Grant%20Park/Sir%20Georg%20Solti%20Bust.pdf "Grant Park: Sir Georg Solti Bust"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729105408/http://www.cpdit01.com/resources/planning-and-development.fountains-monuments-and-sculptures/Grant%20Park/Sir%20Georg%20Solti%20Bust.pdf |date=29 July 2013 }}, [[Chicago Park District]], accessed 21 March 2012</ref> The sculpture was moved to [[Grant Park (Chicago)|Grant Park]] in 2006 in a new ''Solti Garden'', near Orchestra Hall in [[Symphony Center]].<ref>
[http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/things_see_do/attractions/park_district/sir_george_solti_bust.html "Sir George ''<nowiki>{{sic}}</nowiki>'' Solti Bust (in Grant Park)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620221317/http://explorechicago.org/city/en/things_see_do/attractions/park_district/sir_george_solti_bust.html |date=20 June 2010 }}, ''Explore Chicago'', accessed 28 February 2012</ref> In 1997, to commemorate the 85th anniversary of his birth, the City of Chicago renamed the block of East Adams Street adjacent to Symphony Center as "Sir Georg Solti Place" in his memory.<ref>[https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/10/22/solti-to-be-honored-with-own-street-sign/ "Solti To Be Honored With Own Street Sign"], ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', 22 October 1997</ref>

Record industry awards to Solti included the Grand Prix Mondial du Disque (14 times) and 31 [[Grammy Awards]] (besides a special Trustees' Grammy Award, shared with John Culshaw, for the recording of the ''Ring'' (1967) and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1996)).<ref name=who /> He held the record for [[Grammy Award milestones|most Grammy wins of all time]], until Beyoncé tied and later beat the record [[65th Annual Grammy Awards|in 2023]].<ref name=deccaweb /> In September 2007, as a tribute on the 10th anniversary of his death, Decca published a recording of his final concert.<ref name=d />

After Solti's death, his widow and daughters set up the Solti Foundation to assist young musicians.<ref>[http://www.soltifoundation.com/thefoundation.php "The Foundation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028005608/http://www.soltifoundation.com/thefoundation.php |date=28 October 2021 }}, The Solti Foundation, accessed 28 February 2012</ref> Solti's memoirs, written with the assistance of [[Harvey Sachs]], were published the month after his death.<ref>Solti and Sachs, passim</ref> Solti's life was also documented in a 1997 film by Peter Maniura, ''Sir Georg Solti: The Making of a Maestro.''<ref>{{cite book|last=Maniura |first=Peter |year= 1997|title=Sir Georg Solti: The Making of a Maestro |location=Chatsworth, CA |publisher=R M Associates |oclc= 48093380}}</ref>

In 2012, a series of events under the banner of "Solti @ 100" was announced, to mark the centenary of Solti's birth. Among the events were concerts in New York City and Chicago, and commemorative exhibitions in London, Chicago, Vienna, and New York City.<ref name=solti100 /> In the same year, Solti was voted into the inaugural [[Gramophone Hall of Fame|''Gramophone'' "Hall of Fame"]].<ref>"Sir Georg Solti" ''Gramophone'', accessed 10 April 2012</ref>

The [[Sir Georg Solti International Conductors' Competition]], which occurs every two years in Frankfurt, is named in his honour.<ref>Franks, Rebecca. [http://www.classical-music.com/news/winners-international-conductors-competition-sir-georg-solti-announced "Winners of International Conductors' Competition Sir Georg Solti announced"], [[BBC Music Magazine]], 25 September 2012</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=n}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book|last= Culshaw |first= John |year= 1967|title= Ring Resounding |location= London |publisher= Secker & Warburg |isbn= 0-436-11800-9}}
* {{cite book|last= Culshaw |first= John |year= 1982|title= Putting the Record Straight |location= London |publisher= Secker & Warburg |isbn= 0-436-11802-5 }}
* {{cite book|last=Glossop |first=Peter |year=2004 |title= Yorkshire Baritone|location=Oxford |publisher=Guidon |isbn=0-9543617-3-3 }}
* {{cite book|last=Goodman |first=Lord |author2=Lord Harewood |year=1969 |title= A Report on Opera and Ballet in the United Kingdom, 1966–69|location=London |publisher= Arts Council of Great Britain|oclc= 81272}}
* {{cite book |last=Haltrecht |first=Montague |year=1975 |title=The Quiet Showman&nbsp;– Sir David Webster and the Royal Opera House |location=London |publisher=Collins |isbn=0-00-211163-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/quietshowmansird00halt }}
* {{cite book|last=Lebrecht|first=Norman|author-link=Norman Lebrecht|year=2000|title=Covent Garden: The Untold Story: Dispatches from the English Culture War, 1945–2000|location=London |publisher= Simon and Schuster|isbn=0-684-85143-1}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Richard S. |year=2005 |title=Antisemitism: a historical encyclopedia of prejudice and persecution, Volume 1 |location=Santa Barbara |publisher=ABC-CLIO |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Tdn6FFZklkcC&pg=PA323&dq=Horthy
|isbn=1-85109-439-3 }}
* {{cite book | last= Morrison | first= Richard | title= Orchestra&nbsp;– The LSO| location=London | publisher= Faber and Faber | year=2004| isbn=0-571-21584-X}}
* {{cite book|last=Osborne|first=Richard|author-link=Charles Osborne (music writer)|year=1998|title=Herbert von Karajan|location=London|publisher=Chatto and Windus|isbn=1-85619-763-8}}
*{{cite book | last=Peck | first=Donald| title=The Right Place, the Right Time: Tales of Chicago Symphony Days| location=Bloomington and Indianapolis | publisher=Indiana University Press | year=2007 | isbn= 0-253-11688-0}}
* {{cite book|last= Robinson |first= Paul |year= 1979|title =Solti |location= London |publisher= Macdonald and Jane's |isbn= 0-354-04288-2}}
* {{cite book | last=Sackville-West| first=Edward| author-link=Edward Sackville-West, 5th Baron Sackville|author2=Desmond Shawe-Taylor|author2-link=Desmond Shawe-Taylor (music critic)| title=The Record Guide| location=London| publisher=Collins| year=1955 | oclc=474839729 }}
* {{cite book|last=Schwarzkopf|first=Elisabeth|author-link=Elisabeth Schwarzkopf|year=1982|title=On and Off the Record: A Memoir of Walter Legge|location=London|publisher=Faber and Faber|isbn=0-571-11928-X}}
*{{cite book | last=Solti | first=Georg |author2=Harvey Sachs|author2-link=Harvey Sachs| title=Solti on Solti| location=London | publisher=Chatto and Windus | year=1997 | isbn=0-7011-6630-4}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite news |last=Rhein |first=John von |date=7 September 1997 |title=Legacy of Solti reverberates in Orchestra Hall |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52311755/georg-solti-rhein-1/ |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |location=Chicago |pages=49, 59 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=28 May 2020}} [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52312049/georg-solti-rhein-2/ continued on page 59]
*Duffie, Bruce (October 1995) [http://www.bruceduffie.com/solti.html Two Conversations with Sir Georg Solti]. ''[[The Instrumentalist (magazine)|The Instrumentalist]].''

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Georg Solti}}
* Georg Solti [https://web.archive.org/web/20070208231539/http://www.georgsolti.com/ official website]
* The Solti Foundation [http://www.soltifoundation.com/ official website]
* {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0000599035}}
* {{IMDb name|nm0813614}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141013130541/http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/loebmusic/exhibitions/solti/ "Music, First and Last": Scores from the Sir Georg Solti Archive], virtual exhibit, Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, [[Harvard Library]]
* There are also significant archival holdings at [https://cso.org/about/rosenthal-archives/ CSO Rosenthal Archives], the British National Archives, and the [http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm Metropolitan Opera Archives].

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{{succession box | title=[[Royal Opera House|Music Director, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden]] | before=[[Rafael Kubelík]] | years=1961–1971 | after=[[Colin Davis]]}}
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