[[File:Pitz-kna.jpg|thumb|Pitz, left, with Hans Knappertsbusch, 1950s|alt=two middle-aged white men, clean shaven, shaking hands]]
'''Wilhelm Pitz''' (25 August 1897 – 21 November 1973) was a German chorus master and conductor. He re-established the Bayreuth Festival chorus for the postwar revival of the festival in 1951 and continued as its chorus master for twenty years. He was also chorus master of the Vienna State Opera, and in 1957 he selected and trained the singers of the newly created Philharmonia Chorus in London, remaining their chorus master until his retirement in 1971.
==Life and career== Wilhelm Pitz was born in Breinig in western Germany on 25 August 1897.<ref name=grove>Jacobs, Arthur. [https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.21870 "Pitz, Wilhelm"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001 {{subscription}}</ref> He was a violinist in the {{lang|de|Städtisches Orchester|italics=no}} at Aachen from 1913, and in 1933 became chorus master of the Aachen State Opera – with Herbert von Karajan as musical director. He was also director of the municipal choir. In 1947 he was appointed first conductor at the opera, a post he held until 1960.<ref name=grove/> On Karajan’s recommendation, he was appointed chorus master of the Bayreuth Festival for its postwar reopening in 1951. He undertook the selection and training of the choir, a task he continued to undertake at all the annual festivals until his retirement twenty years later.<ref name=times>"Obituary: Wilhelm Pitz", ''The Times'', 23 November 1973, p. 18</ref>
In addition to his work at Bayreuth, Pitz was chorus master of the Vienna State Opera, and in 1957 at the request of the proprietor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Legge, he selected and trained the Philharmonia Chorus, which made its début under Otto Klemperer in Beethoven's ''Choral'' Symphony.<ref>"Philharmonia Concert: The Crowning Ninth", ''The Times'', 13 November 1957, p. 3</ref> At first Pitz reinforced the amateur choir with a few professional singers, particularly for recordings, but the reinforcements were soon found unnecessary.<ref name=p88>Pettitt, p. 88</ref> Pitz would fly in from his home in Aachen for Wednesday and Thursday evening rehearsals and fly back on the Friday.<ref name=p88/> At rehearsals and recording sessions, seated behind a star conductor, he would often surreptitiously give signals to the chorus.<ref>Osborne and Thompson, p. 32</ref>
When the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus reformed themselves as self-governing bodies in 1964 Pitz remained the chorus master, and continued in that capacity until his retirement in 1971. In 1967 he marked his seventieth birthday by conducting the New Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra in Beethoven's ''Missa Solemnis'' at the Royal Festival Hall.<ref>"Pitz's vivid Beethoven Mass", ''The Daily Telegraph'', 16 October 1967, p. 15</ref> He also conducted the chorus and orchestra in performances of Handel's ''Messiah''.<ref name=times/>
With the Bayreuth Festival chorus and orchestra he recorded a set of choruses from ''Der fliegende Holländer'', ''Götterdämmerung'', ''Lohengrin'', ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'', ''Parsifal'' and ''Tannhäuser'', released on LP in 1960 and subsequently reissued on CD,<ref>Deutsche Grammophon SLPM 136 006 {{oclc|11773762}} and 00028942916920 {{oclc|950990443}}</ref> but as ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' puts it, "his special fame arose from the quality of his choral preparation for the concerts and recordings of Klemperer, Giulini, and others, and for Bayreuth".<ref name=grove/> His Bayreuth, Vienna and Philharmonia choruses feature on many recordings, singing under conductors including Sir John Barbirolli,<ref>{{oclc|427868904}}</ref> Daniel Barenboim,<ref>{{oclc|1120933856}}</ref> Karl Böhm,<ref>{{oclc|70805917}}</ref> Pierre Boulez,<ref>{{oclc|887608235}}</ref> André Cluytens,<ref>{{oclc|816125705}}</ref> Wilhelm Furtwängler,<ref>{{oclc|1184714475}}</ref> Carlo Maria Giulini,<ref>{{oclc|1184264209}}</ref> Herbert von Karajan,<ref>{{oclc|839039772}}</ref> Rudolf Kempe,<ref>{{oclc|1193297391}}</ref> Hans Knappertsbusch,<ref>{{oclc|1393167517}}</ref> Wolfgang Sawallisch,<ref>{{oclc|921336637}}</ref> Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt<ref>{{oclc|222009360}}</ref> and Sir Georg Solti.<ref>{{oclc|887616832}}</ref>
Pitz died in Aachen on 21 November 1973, aged 76.<ref name=grove/>
==Honours and reputation==
===Honours=== Pitz was made an honorary OBE in 1969 and held the {{lang|de|Grosses Verdienstkreuz}} of the German Federal Republic. The Wilhelm Pitz Prize, inaugurated in his honour after his death, is presented to the most distinguished artists of the Bayreuth Festival by members of the festival chorus.<ref>Hotter, p. xvii</ref>
===Reputation=== In 1967 the music critics Edward Greenfield, Philip Hope-Wallace, William Mann and Alec Robertson collectively dubbed Pitz "prince among chorus masters".<ref>March, p. 52</ref> The Decca producer John Culshaw wrote of him:
{{blockindent|Wilhelm Pitz, who was to prepare the {{lang|de|Götterdämmerung}} chorus for us, is a charming man and to my mind the greatest chorus master in the world. To watch him at work is not only a lesson in choral training, but a study in psychology. An uninformed observer might be excused for thinking that Pitz was not earning his money, for he infrequently raises his voice and his manner is always subdued. But by the time he has finished with a chorus, one need have no doubt about the result. He knows how to reveal whatever good qualities any particular chorus has; and he knows how to minimize its weaknesses. He is a very great choral trainer.<ref>Culshaw, pp. 180–181</ref>}}
When Sir William Walton heard Pitz rehearsing the chorus in ''Belshazzar's Feast'' he stood listening intently and on taking the podium he asked the chorus, "Why can't you do it like that for me?"<ref>Boyden, p. 51</ref> In his memoirs in 1992 Daniel Barenboim wrote that he had learned a lot from Pitz, "a rare musician and a wonderful choral conductor", and praised his ability to achieve "a huge range of expression through very detailed differentiation between legato and marcato singing, and a combination of the two".<ref>Barenboim, p. 100</ref>
Pitz was celebrated not only in Germany and Britain but in France also. Pierre Sabatier wrote in {{lang|fr|Revue des Deux Mondes}} in 1954,"{{lang|fr|Les chœurs dirigés par Wilhelm Pitz sont d'une perfection qui ne saurait être dépassée; en particulier dans le Crépuscule des Dieux et dans Tannhäuser|italic=no}}" ("The choirs directed by Wilhelm Pitz are of a perfection that cannot be surpassed; particularly in {{lang|de|Götterdämmerung}} and {{lang|de|Tannhäuser}}").<ref>Sabatier, Pierre. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/44595063 "Bayreuth 1954: Traditions et Révolution"], {{lang|fr|Revue des Deux Mondes}}, 15 August 1954, p. 690 {{subscription}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book | last = Barenboim | first = Daniel | authorlink = Daniel Barenboim | title = A Life in Music | year = 1992 | location = New York | publisher = Scribner's | url = https://archive.org/details/danielbarenboiml0000bare/page/100/mode/2up | url-access = registration | isbn = 0-68-419326-4}} * {{cite book | last = Boyden | first = John | authorlink = John Boyden | title = Stick to the Music: Scores of Orchestral Tales | year = 1984 | location = London | publisher = Hutchinson | url = https://archive.org/details/sticktomusicscor0000unse/page/50/mode/2up | url-access = registration | isbn = 0-09-158800-6}} * {{cite book|last= Culshaw |first= John|authorlink=John Culshaw|year= 1967|title= Ring Resounding |location= London |publisher= Secker & Warburg|url=https://archive.org/details/ringresoundingre0000culs |url-access = registration|isbn=978-0-436-11800-5 }} * {{cite book | last= Hotter| first=Hans | authorlink=Hans Hotter | title=Memoirs | year=2006 | location=Boston | publisher=University Press of New England |url=https://archive.org/details/hanshottermemoir00hott/page/n7/mode/2up |url-access = registration| isbn=978-1-55553-661-9 }} * {{cite book | editor-last = March | editor-first = Ivan | editor-link = Ivan March | year = 1967 | title = The Great Records | location = Blackpool | publisher = Long Playing Record Library | oclc = 555041974}} * {{cite book | editor-last = Osborne | editor-first = Charles | editor-link = Charles Osborne (music writer) | editor2 = Kenneth Thomson | title = Klemperer Stories: Anecdotes, Sayings and Impressions of Otto Klemperer | year = 1980 | location = London | publisher = Robson Books | url = https://archive.org/details/klempererstories0000unse/page/32/mode/2up | url-access = registration | isbn = 0-09-158800-6}} * {{cite book | last = Pettitt | first = Stephen | title = Philharmonia Orchestra: A Record of Achievement 1945–1985 | year = 1985 | location = London | publisher = Robert Hale | isbn = 978-0-7090-2371-5 }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitz, Wilhelm}} Category:1897 births Category:1973 deaths Category:German choral conductors Category:People from Aachen