24 January 2025
P.R. Jenkins
Spotlight Schoenberg: “Verklärte Nacht”

Karajan naturally interpreted Arnold Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” not in its original form as a string sextet but in the version for string orchestra made by the composer. Karajan, talking to Richard Osborne about the orchestration of Strauss’ “Metamorphosen”, also remarked:
“I feel the same about Schoenberg’s ‘Verklärte Nacht’; it is a much more effective piece when it is played in the version for orchestral strings.”
The work, written in 1899, is Schoenberg’s most popular, a tristanesque masterpiece for chamber ensemble based on a poem by Richard Dehmel with tragic love and guilt but unlike many other late-romantic operas or tone poems with a happy ending. It seems like a perfect work for Karajan’s orchestral sound vision and indeed, “in ‘Verklärte Nacht’ the late-romantic string writing becomes, in Karajan’s expert vinification, as pungent as a late-gathered Gewürztraminer; yet the psychodynamics of the piece are powerfully suggested, the girl, who is carrying another man’s child, and her lover feeding and dousing their passions in the moonlit wood. (Richard Osborne)” It is all the more astonishing that he didn’t conduct “Verklärte Nacht” any earlier than the other works of the Second Viennese School on his groundbreaking LP box. The first time was a concert in 1972. On the other hand, it is the only work of the Second Viennese School that he had in his repertoire up to his last concerts. Peter Uehling wrote: “This work with its musical style in the tradition of Wagner’s ‘Tristan’ was of course no problem for Karajan. Apart from the refined sound, Karajan is also very precise in shaping the form.” In autumn 1988, Karajan combined the Schoenberg with one of his most frequently performed works, Brahms’ first symphony, for a European tour (Lucerne – Vienna – Paris – London) with the Berlin Philharmonic. Christopher Breunig described Karajan’s last-ever London concert: “Karajan listens to, anticipates and adjusts the sound. His gestures are limited: more like reminders of how he used to direct those players […] Above all, one felt he was still perfecting readings: as if in a workshop. Playing not for the present but in preparation for some other, future time.”
Several biographers report that Leonard Bernstein attended one of Karajan’s last concerts featuring “Verklärte Nacht” in Vienna in autumn 1988 and visited him backstage during the interval. As nobody dared to disturb the conversation of the living legends, the interval in the Musikverein took 50 minutes. Franz Endler asked Bernstein what they had talked about and he said that he told Karajan:
“I conducted this piece many times as ballet music [Schoenberg’s authorized it in 1942 for Antony Tudor and the American Ballet Theatre] and I know it like few other pieces. I have never heard it like this. And I meant it.”
Karajan said that Bernstein was very kind and very enthusiastic. They thought about “doing something together”, a mutual tour with the Vienna Philharmonic in Japan was one option. Karajan’s death stopped all further plans.
Though newspapers and other media characterized them as competitors and opponents, both men admired each other for their special talents. Karajan called Bernstein “Mister Music” and Bernstein was deeply affected by Karajan’s death in 1989. He interrupted a concert in Paris and asked the audience to stand up for a minute of silence for “la mémoire d’un collègue, le grand maître Herbert von Karajan”. At the Vienna Philharmonic’s memorial ceremony Bernstein conducted the slow movement of Beethoven’s opus 135 in a version for string orchestra.
— P.R. JenkinsRichard Osborne: “Karajan. A Life in Music” Chatto & Windus, London. 1998
Peter Uehling: “Karajan. Eine Biographie” Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg. 2006
“Conversations with Karajan” Edited with an Introduction by Richard Osborne. Oxford University Press. 1989
Franz Endler: “Karajan – Eine Biographie” Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg. 1992