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Frederick Martin (Fritz) Reiner (December 19, 1888 - November 15, 1963) was one of the great international conductors of opera and symphonic music in the 20th century.

Contents 1 Life 2 Repertoire 3 Technique 4 Personal Life 5 References 6 External links

He was born to a secular Jewish family in the Pest section of Budapest, Hungary. After preliminary studies in law (at his father’s urging), Reiner pursued the study of piano, piano pedagogy, and composition at the Franz Liszt Academy. During his last two years there his piano teacher was the young Béla Bartók. After early engagements at opera houses in Budapest and Dresden (where he worked closely with Richard Strauss) he moved to the United States of America in 1922 to take the post of Principal Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He remained until 1931, having become a naturalized citizen in 1928, then began to teach at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where his pupils included Leonard Bernstein and Lukas Foss. He conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 1938 to 1948 and made a few recordings with them for Columbia Records, then spent several years at the Metropolitan Opera, where he conducted a historic production of Strauss's Salome in 1949, with the Bulgarian soprano Ljuba Welitsch in the title role, and the American premiere of Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress in 1951. He also conducted and made a recording of the famous 1952 Metropolitan Opera production of Bizet's Carmen (opera), starring Rise Stevens. (At the time of his death he was preparing the Met's new production of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung.)

Even though his music-making had been American-focused since his arrival in Cincinnati, Reiner remained active in Europe throughout his time in the United States, so that when he became music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1953 he had a completely international career. The ten years that he spent in Chicago (his last concerts there were in the spring of 1963), mark the pinnacle of his career, and are best-remembered today through the many landmark, stereophonic recordings he made in Chicago's Orchestra Hall for RCA Victor from 1954 to 1962. His last recording, released in a special Reader's Digest boxed set, was a sterling performance of Brahms' fourth symphony, recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London's Kingsway Hall. He also appeared with members of the Chicago Symphony in a series of telecasts on Chicago's WGN-TV in 1953-54, and a later series of nationally-syndicated programs called Music from Chicago, some of which have been issued on DVD.

In his last years Reiner's health deteriorated as a result of a major heart attack he suffered in October of 1960. He died in New York City at the age of 74.

Reiner was especially noted as an interpreter of Strauss and Bartók and was often seen as a modernist in his musical taste; he and his compatriot Joseph Szigeti convinced Serge Koussevitzky to commission the Concerto for Orchestra from Bartók. In reality he had a very wide repertory and was known to admire Mozart's music above all else.

Reiner’s conducting technique was defined by its precision and economy, in the manner of Arthur Nikisch and Arturo Toscanini. It typically employed quite small gestures - it has been said that the beat indicated by the tip of his baton could be contained in the area of a postage stamp - although from the perspective of the players it was extremely expressive. The response he drew from orchestras was one of astonishing richness, brilliance, and clarity of texture (Igor Stravinsky called the Chicago Symphony under Reiner "the most precise and flexible orchestra in the world"); it was more often than not achieved with tactics that bordered on the personally abusive.

He was married three times and fathered two daughters, as well as a third daughter out of wedlock.

• Hart, Philip. Fritz Reiner: A Biography. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8101-1125-X

• Morgan, Kenneth. Fritz Reiner: Maestro & Martinet. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2005. ISBN 0-252-02935-6

• Article at allmusic.com

Preceded by Ernst von Schuch	Chief Conductor, Dresden Staatskapelle 1914–1921	Succeeded by Fritz Busch
Preceded by Eugène Ysaÿe	Music Director, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra 1922–1931	Succeeded by Eugene Goossens
Preceded by Otto Klemperer	Music Director, Pittsburgh Symphony 1938–1948	Succeeded by William Steinberg
Preceded by Rafael Kubelík	Music Director, Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1953–1963	Succeeded by Jean Martinon