Karajan vs. Niebeling: the maestro and filmmaker`s conflict beyond the screen

Abstract

This article departs from Herbert von Karajan’s dissatisfaction with filmmaker Hugo Niebeling’s work on the video recording of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony - as documented in Karajan: Maestro for the Screen (2009). Our aim is to analyze the aesthetics of Niebeling`s imagery and speculate reasons beyond those highlighted in the documentary as the primary cause for the maestro’s rejection of the director’s approach: namely, the alleged overshadowing of music by visuals. To this end, the works of Taylor (2012, 2013) and Zumthor (1993, 2002) will serve as theoretical foundations, as their theories on performance emphasize the centrality of images, gestures, and corporeality in constructing musical meaning, operating in complementarity with the sonic dimension. Additionally, we will analyze Karajan’s performance of the first movement of Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 in two distinct settings: rehearsal and concert. Here, a marked reduction in gestural expressiveness at the concert - compared to a far more eloquent bodily practice in rehearsal - would stem from the same underlying issue as his discontent with Niebeling’s visual work: Karajan’s constrained vision of performance.