| Birth: | Jun. 1, 1906
London, England | | Death: | Mar. 22, 1979, France | 
Record Producer. Over a span of around 40 years, he gave the world a large catalog of classical recordings, many of which remain best-sellers. Raised in London, he did well in school, but quit at 16; after teaching himself to read music, and German, he was hired by HMV (later called EMI) in 1927 to write liner notes, and articles for the company's monthly magazine. During the 1930s, he was music critic for "The Manchester Guardian", and took-on progressively larger responsibility at HMV. Legge pioneered subscription recordings (for which customers pre-pay), and produced Elena Gerhardt's Hugo Wolf song cycles, and Artur Schnabel's complete recording of Beethoven's piano music. In 1937, he supervised Sir Thomas Beecham's complete "The Magic Flute", which continues in print. Impressed with Legge's work, Beecham hired him as assistant artistic director at Covent Garden, where he was successful in bringing numerous noted artists to London. After arranging concerts for the British troops during WWII, he moved to Vienna, and obtained the services of several out-of-work German artists for EMI recording projects. Josef Krips, soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (whom Legge married in 1953), Ludwig Weber, Herbert von Karajan, and others were to produce some of their finest work in these years. Legge also spotted the then-unknown Maria Callas; during her fairly short career, he proved able to handle her notoriously difficult temperment, and supervised production of virtually all of her records. In 1945, he formed the Philharmonia Orchestra for the express purpose of making recordings; Beecham conducted the first concert for one cigar, but soon found it difficult to work for his former employee. From the late 1940s thru the early 1960s, such conductors as von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Furtwangler, and Toscanini were to record, under Legge's supervision, what are still considered the definitive renditions of a number of classical compositions, both standard and esoteric. EMI's owners and Legge each found the other progressively difficult over the years, leading to Legge's retirement in 1964. He and Schwarzkopf gave joint master classes all over the world; appointed director of the Wexford Festival in 1967, he had to resign after a heart attack. Though he continued to produce Schwarzkopf's EMI recordings thru the mid 1970s, he was to supervise her last records in 1977 and 1979 with EMI rival Decca. Not an easy man to like, or to work for, Legge was still respected, even by rivals (such as Decca's John Culshaw), and still continually produced masterpieces that to this day form the major portion of EMI's classical sales, with his German repertoire generally considered a "gold standard". Of his work, he said: "I am convinced that in the arts, committees are useless...Democracy is fatal for the arts; it leads only to chaos or the achievement of new and lower common denominators of quality". (bio by: Bob Hufford)
Family links:
Spouse:
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915 - 2006)
Search Amazon for Walter Legge | | | Burial:
Zumikon Friedhof
Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: Bob Hufford
Record added: Apr 28, 2009
Find A Grave Memorial# 36459568 |
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Added by:
Anthony S
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