Conductor, 74, died doing what he loved best
RIPThe late Rafael Kubelik, suffering heart tremors while conducting the Czech Philharmonic, begged to be left to die in the podium (he wasn’t).
Yesterday, the Brazilian conductor Jorge Rivero Tirado had a heart attack in mid-rehearsal with the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra in Guadalajara.
Medics who rushed to the scene were unable to revive him.
Tirado, who was rehearsing a popular programme of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Piazzolla, was the orchestra’s co-principal oboe.
You have forgotten the great maestro, Giuseppe Patane, who died during a performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Bayerisches Staatsoper. He was only 57.
Contemporary news report, here: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-31-mn-913-story.html
He was a fabulous conductor and a great character. He was a client of my mother’s and I have very fond memories of him.
Not to mention Sinopoli, Keilberth, Mitropoulos…
Eduard van Beinum, Jeffrey Tate
I was told by a conductor I played under that when Eduard van Beinum died on the podium, his son was playing in the orchestra.
Slipped disc has already done an entire posting on this somber topic. https://slippedisc.com/2021/04/when-conductors-die-in-action/
Did not Fritz Reiner have a heart attack while conducting Gotterdammerung in rehearsal at the Met?
Does anyone know of any famous conductors whose wish to drop dead at the podium was fullfilled at an age above the current average lifespan?
Rafael Frubeck de Burgos nearly collapsed on stage while conducting the National Symphony in The Pines of Rome. It would be his last performance; he died a few months afterwards. Here’s part of the Washington Post story:
“Frühbeck was obviously determined not to deny the audience the rousing pleasure of Respighi’s potboiler. He grabbed at the metal rail behind him and stood even as the orchestra began to trail off, not sure whether he was well enough to continue. He obviously wasn’t, but he continued anyway, cuing the percussion and brass with a few sharp gestures above his head as he sat, slumped, on the podium. A few moments before the end of the piece, he stood up and conducted its last moments.
The audience response was thunderous. Frühbeck turned and faced them, gave a wan smile, then left the stage. When he returned to acknowledge the ovation, many of the musicians, half or a third his age, were in tears.”
Felix Mottl suffered a heart attack on 21 June 1911 while conducting his 100th performance of Tristan in Munich. He was taken to a hospital where he died 11 days later on 2 July, aged 54, but not before marrying his longtime mistress, the soprano Zdenka Faßbender [from Wikipedia].
I would think that conducting Tristan 100× would do in any conductor. Most tenors, or at least their Heldenstimmer, don’t last beyond 10×.
When I was at the RAM,the great choral conductor Francis Jackson died just after the Des Irae in the Verdi Requiem. He certainly went the way he would have wanted. Not sure of his age.
What years at RAM?
67-71 HERE.
Yes great indeed and on stage one remembers the ambulance siren along Marylebone road as it drew closer.
Dimitri Mitropoulos died rehearsing the Mahler 3rd in Greece in the early 60s.
Mitropoulos collapsed while rehearsing Mahler’s 3rd symphony at La Scala, at age 64, in 1960.
Not Brazilian. He was Mexican. There is considerable distance
To Americans, it’s all South of the Border, all 10k km of it.
Still a huge difference.
A majority of US Americans don’t think along these lines.
This blog is English, not American and we both use miles…
Jorge was a fabulous musician and a wonderful oboist. I am proud to say he was my friend, and he was originally from Cuba, then he emigrated to México. He will be missed and always remembered.
I believe Bruno Walter wanted to, tries to die while conducting. My dad wanted to die singing like Leonard Warren. He almost made it. He took a nap after singing an afternoon concert and never woke up. Something Romantic about dieing while engaged on your favorite activity. It happens a lot, but during a different nightime activity.
And in all professions imaginable.
There were also some people who asked their ashes be scattered at their favorite concert and operatic venues. And wasn’t there an old guy who jumped to his death from the Met balcony?
John Philip Sousa was rehearsing the Ringgold Band in Reading, Pennsylvania on March 5, 1932 in preparation for their 80th anniversary concert the next day. He finished with “Stars and Stripes Forever” and retired to his room in the Abraham Lincoln Hotel. He was found dead from a heart attack later that evening.
OK, let’s get this right. First, his last name was Rivero, not Tirado. Tirado was his mother’s name. Second, he was originally Cuban, not Brazilian or Mexican. Looks as if it takes a village to write an article.
Being 75 I’m a bit upset at all these deaths of people in their 70s. As a non-musician maybe the best I can hope for is a sudden death while sitting at a concert! Or even better at an opera! A dramatic one. However, on reflection, I cannot wish the ‘aftermath’ on the public or performers.
Death is inevitable for all.
Three score & ten if you’re lucky.
Anything over 70 treat as a BONUS & ENJOY.
Don’t worry about it.
It will happen.
Just hope it’s easy, swift & painless.
God Bless everyone.
Happy listening & LIVE, LOVE & BE HAPPY UNTO THE END.
Don’t do it at the opera or they’ll cancel the show and everyone will be mad at you.
If I were to choose a piece of music to die on, I’d go for Isolde’s Liebestod.
Too morbid. I prefer to die happy, during Handel’s “Acis and Galatea” or Rossini’s “Cenerentola”.
My upbeat alternative would be Don Giovanni’s Champagne aria.
very interesting
With modern medicine it is nigh impossible to die on the podium, there’s a defibrillator backstage, there’s a doctor in the house, people know CPR, the hospital will hook you up to a machine, cryogenics will quick freeze your brain while you’re hooked up…
Better bring a pistol to the podium if you want a sure death, and better aim right, because if you miss by a centimeter, the hospital will hook you up…
And let’s not forget Jean Baptiste Lully who died of gangrene after striking his foot with his long staff on the podium