# Did Claudio Abbado really fire half the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic?



## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

This is a story I have seen repeated many times. After Claudio Abbado became principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, he fired a large portion of the musicians and replaced them with his own hires.

The part of this that sounds strange to me is that the musicians would just accept this without putting up a fight. I find it hard to believe that Abbado could just do what he wanted and that the orchestra wouldn't have a say in the matter. There must have been a union or some other kind of organization representing the musicians. As far as I understand the players in the orchestra are state employees and as such must have had certain rights.

So does anyone have further knowledge about what really happened? How many players were actually dismissed? How did Abbado go about to achieve this? How can one find reliable sources of information about this case?


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

It's almost certainly at least wildly exaggerated. The Berlin Phil fell out with its principal conductor of 30 years, Karajan, in the mid-1980s because Karajan wanted to hire Sabine Meyer against the vote of the orchestra. It's almost inconceivable that a few years later the orchestra would have let Abbado who AFAIK was in no way a huge favorite, it was actually a surprise that they voted for him in favor of the likes of Levine and Maazel (who was so angry about it that he didn't work with them for years afterwards), fire and hire at will.
However, it could be that there was a fairly large number of musicians hired by Karajan in the late 1950s or early 1960s reaching retirement age during the 1990s with Abbado.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The orchestra's site states:


> When Claudio Abbado took up his new duties, the Berlin Wall had just come down. Berlin and the two German states found themselves in political upheaval. It was a turning point - for both Germany and the Berliner Philharmoniker. "I'm Claudio for everyone. No titles!" With these words - as simple as they were revolutionary - he presented himself as the new boss, without any airs. A change of generations took place in the orchestra: many long-serving musicians retired, and younger ones took their positions.


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## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

Yes, it makes a lot more sense to me that many musicians reached retirement age or chose to retire after Abbado became principal conductor. That would have given him the opportunity to select new players for the orchestra.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

What I should have added above: The orchestra "won" vs. Karajan in the causa Sabine Meyer. 
Which makes it even more unlikely that Abbado could do much against the explicit will of the majority of the musicians, even for regular replacements of retired players. 

Of course, there will always some people be discontent with a principal conductor change, some might lose status, other will benefit. So there could have been a fraction angry about some hires but I don't remember anything bordering on scandal back then, certainly not comparable to the quarrel about Meyer a few years earlier.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Judging by the process which resulted in the hiring of Kirin Petrenko, I think the Orchestra collectively has more power over the choice of selecting a Music Director than the MD has in hiring/firing individual players


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

I wish someone does all of them now.


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## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

This may be a case where, like with recordings, the conductor gets credit for everything that happens with the orchestra.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

For a start, the Berlin Phil. only has a 'Chief Conductor', not a 'Music Director', and that person certainly does not have the power to fire a musician, at least not after the musician has successfully passed their probationary period and voted in as a full member by the orchestra.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

hammeredklavier said:


> I wish someone does all of them now.


Can I ask the reason behind your negative assessment of the ensemble at this time?


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

AndorFoldes said:


> This is a story I have seen repeated many times.


Where? I can't find it from an internet search thus far.


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## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

Forster said:


> Where? I can't find it from an internet search thus far.


I tried myself now. Found these:



> But after 1989, Abbado's artistry seemed to have taken an about-face, and as if to prove his determination, he replaced two-thirds of the personnel in the Berlin Philharmonic.


https://topear.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/claudio-abbado-passes-away-80-1933-2014/



> Mr. Abbado has replaced 45 of the orchestra's members with young players of his own choosing, all of them evidently musicians of the highest caliber, who have blended perfectly with the masters from the ancien régime.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB844809850791229000 (1996)



> During his tenure in Berlin, Abbado replaced more than 80 members of the orchestra, virtually eradicating all traces of Karajan's particular musical personality (while still pursuing his goal of a super-refined ensemble sound).


https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-5303/


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

The problem is that as other people have pointed out, Abbado did no have such power to wield. During Abbado's tenure many people were replaced, but they were in all likelihood not candidates handpicked by Abbado because that would have been legally and practically impossible. Unless the rules totally changed after 1984 and this is unlikely as the orchestra "won" in the Sabine Meyer case and would not have yielded such power to a new conductor.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

I imagine a lot of them would have felt it was time to retire after K died - many of them had likely been in the orchestra for many of those 30 years. It was, if you like, an 'old' orchestra. And Abbado was there a decade. There may even have been some turnover among younger players who weren't enamored with Abbado too.
It was the kind of generational change you'd expect after a 30-year reign by an autocrat, in other words.
Shoddy journalism, in other words; as was mentioned, everything the orchestra did being chalked up to the conductor.


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