Steinberg, William (actually, Hans Wilhelm)

Steinberg, William (actually, Hans Wilhelm), eminent German-born American conductor; b. Cologne, Aug. 1, 1899; d. N.Y., May 16, 1978. He studied piano and violin at home; conducted his own setting for chorus and orch. of a poem from Ovid’s Metamorphoses in school at the age of 13; then took lessons in conducting with Hermann Abendroth, in piano with Lazzaro Uzielli, and in theory with Franz Bölsche at the Cologne Cons., graduating in 1920, with the Wullner Prize for conducting. He subsequently became assistant to Otto Klemperer at the Cologne Opera, and in 1924 became principal conductor. In 1925 he was engaged as conductor of the German Theater in Prague; in 1929 he was appointed Generalmusikdirektor of the Frankfurt am Main Opera, where he brought out several modern operas, including Berg’s Wozzeck. With the advent of the Nazi regime in 1933, he was removed from his position and became conductor for the Jewish Culture League, restricted to Jewish audiences. In 1936 he left Germany and became one of the conductors of the Palestine Orch., which he rehearsed and prepared for Toscanini, who subsequently engaged him as an asst. conductor of the NBC Sym. Orch. in N.Y. in 1938. His career as an orch. conductor was then connected with major American orchs. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1944. He was music director of the Buffalo Phil. (1945–52); in 1952 he was appointed music director of the Pittsburgh Sym. Orch.; concurrently, he served as music director of the London Phil. (1958–60) and of the Boston Sym. Orch. (1969–72); he retired from his Pittsburgh post in 1976. He also made many guest conducting appearances with major U.S. and European orchs. His performances were marked by impeccable taste and fidelity to the music; in this respect he was a follower of the Toscanini tradition.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire