Arthur Nikisch: Connecting Cultures in a Fragmenting World

Considers Nikisch as a primary link between the later nineteenth century performance practice, and the twentieth-century 'fetishisation' of the superstar conductor as a commercially driven phenomenon.


The Hungarian-born conductor Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922) was among the first of the new breed of virtuoso conductors who came to prominence in the immediate aftermath of Wagner. As a youthful violinist in the Vienna Court Orchestra, he played under Wagner, Verdi and Brahms; in 1895 he reached th...