The Battle of Vienna

Vienna hadn't heard such music in years--and it was all because the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's two conductors hated each other so.

Wilhelm Furtwaengler had the edge in prestige but Herbert von Karajan, who is only 39, was pressing him closely. Twenty-three years younger than Furtwaengler, Karajan was obviously a man of whom the world would be hearing more.

Karajan conducted the first concert of the Vienna season, and from then on he and Furtwaengler took turns. Whatever Karajan did, Furtwaengler set out to do better. When Karajan played an 18th Century classical suite by Locatelli, Furtwaengler followed with a Handel suite. When Karajan conducted Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, Furtwaengler played Tchaikovsky's Sixth.

Furtwaengler is a conductor who swoops and sweeps; Karajan's conducting is as precise as his beat. But he is just as much of a showman. He conducts everything from memory and with his eyes shut. When he finishes a piece, he holds a moment of silence before allowing any applause. Then, as if waking from a trance, he droops off stage.

Karajan is one of Austria's best skiers, and a man who likes fast cars and high living. He first crossed his rival's path back in the Nazi heyday. He was a dark and dapper little Austrian with relentless ambition, a Nazi before the Anschluss (Karajan's part-Jewish wife became one of Germany's five "honorary Aryans"). Goebbels backed Furtwaengler; Goring backed Karajan. When Karajan became director of the Berlin State Opera, Furtwaengler never got over it. And when Furtwaengler was the first to be de-Nazified, Karajan in turn was furious. "They can stop me for one year or for ten years; I have time," he said.

Last week, as Vienna's concert season drew toward its close, it was obvious that no one would stop him for long. He is already scheduled to direct this summer's festival in his native Salzburg. Says crack Vienna Critic Heinrich Kralik: "He is still young and will grow. If he continues his development, he may achieve Toscanini." But, says cocksure Conductor Karajan, who once assisted Toscanini at the Salzburg festival: "Toscanini is Italian and I'm an Austrian. Nothing comes of emulating another conductor."

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