RAFAEL KUBELIK Conductor large autographed Jean Pierre Leloir photograph 1985

Description

Original autographed and inscribed 8” x 11.75” Jean-Pierre Leloir photograph “live action” photograph of the legendary Czech-Swiss conductor, 1985.  The photographer has signed on the bottom left corner of the image and also on the verso above his blind stamp.
Kubelik (1914-1996) had one of the most storied conducting careers of the 20th Century.  A man of music and conscious he rebelled against the Nazi’s and the Communists.  The son of violinist Jan Kubelik, like his Father and siblings was a violinist by training and also an accompanist.  He left the Prague Conservatory and in 1933 and made his Czech Philharmonic debut as a conductor in 1934. From 1935-1936 he accompanied his Father on the piano during his tour of the United States.  In 1936 he was made a conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.  In 1939 he was appointed Music Director of the Brno Opera which lasted until the Nazi’s shut the company down in 1941.  With the drain of talent in Prague he was brought back in 1941 to become Principal Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.  He had to hide in the Czech countryside from the Nazi’s in 1944 after he refused to give the Nazi salute and conduct Wagner.  After the War was over in 1945 he was once again the Principal Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic and a founder of the Prague Spring Festival.  He remained there until 1948; when the Communists took over the Country he left defecting on a regular conducting gig at the Edinburgh Festival.  In 1950 he was appointed Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, he was forced out in 1953 as the Board felt he was leading too many contemporary works.  In 1955 he was named Music Director of the Royal Opera at Covent Garden where he remained until 1958.  From 1969 to 1979 he was the Music Director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony and for a year under Goran Gentele 1973-1974 he was the Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera.  The balance of his career he worked with major orchestras throughout the world as a guest conductor.  After the Velvet Revolution in 1990, Kubelik did return and both conduct and record with the Czech Philharmonic.
The photographer, Jean-Pierre Leloir (1931-2010) was one of the great photographers in the performing arts in Paris.  His photographs of both Jazz and Classical musicians are among the best of the 20th Century and his original photographs sell regularly at auction in the photography arena.  This is an original twice signed Leloir.
Harmonie Autographs and Music, Inc.
Music Antiquarian and Appraiser
New York, New York
All items guaranteed authentic