Felix Weingartner

Felix Weingartner, who did much to shape the modern art of conducting, studied piano and composition in Graz, Austria with the composer W.A. Remy. On the recommendation of Hanslick, he received a stipend from the state, and in 1881 he went on to study philosophy at Leipzig University, later attending the Leipzig Conservatory where he made the acquaintance of Liszt. Liszt persuaded him to become a conductor and helped to produce Weingartner's first opera, Sakuntala, at Weimar in 1884. In the same year he began his conducting career in Königsberg. Thereafter, Weingartner was co...