THE AGE

OBITUARY
Georg Tintner
Conductor
Born Vienna, 22 May 1917
Died Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2 October 1999, aged 82

By Maria Vandamme and William Hennessy

One of the finest post-war conductors, Georg Bernhard Tintner lived and worked in Australia for all but three of the years between 1954 - 1987. These three years (from 1967) were spent mostly in London., where he has been honoured with major obituaries in the leading London newspapers - The Times, The Independent and the Daily Telegraph.

Georg Tintner was a powerful formative and regenerative force for two generations of Australian musicians. He had a similar impact in Canada during the last twelve years of his life, and in New Zealand prior to his Australian years.

He was never as well known as his talents merited. Whether this was because of his unorthodox conducting technique, his unpretentious life style, or professional jealousy of him is not entirely clear. Certainly he had few of the worldly qualities generally considered essential for success in his chosen profession. On the whole he was the antithesis of the glamorous, networking, self-promoting conductor. His was a purity of purpose that set him apart from most of his peers.

A Viennese Jew, Tintner fled Nazi persecution in 1938, eventually arriving in New Zealand where he lived until coming to Australia in 1954. In Australia he held conducting posts with the WA Opera, The Australian Opera and The Queensland Theatre Orchestra. He also appeared as a guest conductor with all the major Australian orchestras. In 1987, for lack of an ongoing Australian position he accepted the conductorship of Symphony Nova Scotia, a position, he held till his death. During these Canadian years he also appeared with all the leading Canadian orchestras.

At the age of 80 Tintner finally had opportunity to reveal to the world the fruits of his life-long dedication to the music of his beloved Bruckner. Tintner's recordings of the complete Bruckner Symphonies have been released on the Naxos label to major world-wide acclaim. He was hailed as the greatest living Bruckner master and compared favourably with Furtwaengler, and von Karajan.  Norman Lebrecht, writer of The Maestro Myth, wrote that these recordings are interpretations of spiritual purity and structural certitude.

Anecdotes of the colourful, uncompromising white-haired Tintner abound. One of a hot Sydney afternoon in the 1960s with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in rehearsal was typical.

In the sweltering non-airconditioned Chatswood studios Tintner was finding the orchestra listless and unresponsive. He left the podium only to return wearing two thick jumpers. He then continued to conduct in his usual vigorous manner.. It can be done! he insisted.

Tintner had an uncommon capacity for intimate friendship, though his friendships were rarely with those in power. One might reasonably speculate that his aversion for the establishment had its roots in his boyhood experiences as a Jewish member of the Vienna Boys Choir. He made the point that so great was his suffering as a Jew at the hands of the Catholic priests that the arrival of the Nazis in Vienna a decade later was initially the cause of little concern to him. . Amongst the many highlights of his conducting in Australia were blazing performances of Beethoven's Fidelio in 1975 with the Australian Opera, a 1983 Hobart performance of rare beauty and grandeur of the Messiah and performances of the music of Mahler, Bruckner, Beethoven and Schubert during his ten years with the Queensland Theatre Orchestra (now the Queensland Philharmonic). The fine work ethic, completely lacking in cynicism, which he fostered in this orchestra remains even to this day.

Honorary doctorates were conferred on him by Queenslands Griffith University and two Nova Scotian universities. He was a member of the Order of Canada and received the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation, which cited him for "his significant contribution to compatriots, community and to Canada." Georg Tintner also received the Officer's Cross of the Austrian Order of Merit and the Silver Cross of Honour from the City and Province of Vienna. Although he lived and worked in Australia more than in any other country he received no Australian Government honours.

The words of Georg Tintners favourite song, Mahler's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen," make for poignant reading at this time -

"I am dead to the hurly burly of the world
And repose in a place of quietness!
I live alone in my heaven,
In my loving, in my song!"

Georg Tintner died by his own hand after a six year struggle with cancer. He married three times: Rosa Muriel Norman in 1941 - they had three sons and four daughters; Cecilia Gretel Lawrence in 1965; and finally, in 1978, the writer and critic, Tanya Buchdahl who survives him.

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Maria Vandamme is a CD and television documentary producer and founder of Melba Recordings.
William Hennessy is head of string and orchestral studies at the University of Melbourne.