Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989)
Filed under the name Herbert · February 22, 2026
Herbert von Karajan led the Berlin Philharmonic for decades and became one of the most recorded conductors in the history of classical music, which is precisely the sort of subject I can discuss with genuine, unreserved delight, having attended more performances of that orchestra's recordings, live and recorded, than I probably should admit in a column meant to be about someone else entirely. There is something in the sheer discipline of conducting an ensemble that large, for that long, and being recorded so extensively that one's interpretations become, essentially, the standard by which others are measured for generations afterward. My late husband and I attended several performances under conductors trained in Karajan's own tradition, which I mention not to name-drop, though I suppose I have, but because that kind of lineage in classical music genuinely fascinates my genealogist's instincts nearly as much as an old family tree does. A great conductor's influence, like a great family line, tends to travel further and longer than anyone realizes at the time.