Rafael Kubelik: a master of the opera house and the concert hall

Son of the celebrated violin virtuoso Jan Kubelík, Rafael Kubelík (1914–1996) graduated from the Prague Conservatoire in 1933 as a violinist (rather a fine one: his final recital concert included a Paganini concerto).

Kubelík’s early conducting appointments were dogged by political circumstances beyond his control: in 1939 he became music director of Brno Opera, but the occupying Nazi authorities forced the company to close down in November 1941. He was subsequently appointed conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, but did nothing to endear himself to the Germans, refusing to give a Nazi salute to Karl Frank, the notorious Butcher of Prague.

After the war, Kubelík founded the Prague Spring Festival in 1946 and began to develop an international career. The Communist coup in February 1948 was the last straw for Kubelík and he left Czechoslovakia declaring that he’d already lived through one repressive regime and wasn’t about to submit to another. He was offered the post of Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra as successor to Sir Adrian Boult, but he turned this down, instead becoming Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His programming of twentieth-century music drew the ire of the influential critic Claudia Cassidy and of the orchestra board, and this unhappy appointment ended in 1953.  In 1955, Kubelík was appointed Music Director of the Royal Opera House in London, but – in spite of several extremely well-regarded productions – disagreements with the administration led to his early departure in 1958.

Iin 1960, Kubelík was appointed Eugen Jochum’s successor as chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) in Munich, taking up the post in 1961 and remaining there until 1979. Finally, Kubelík had found a long-term home and over two decades he performed a vast repertoire as well as making a large number of recordings, many of them for Deutsche Grammophon. After his retirement, Kubelík maintained warm relations with the BRSO but ill-health meant that he had to greatly reduce his concert engagements. In 1990, the Czech Velvet Revolution – and the installation of democratic government in Prague – enabled Kubelík to make a triumphant return to his homeland, and to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, for concerts including Smetana’s Má vlast and Dvořák’s New World Symphony.

Kubelík’s reputation has largely rested on his substantial discography, but his broadcast concerts for Bavarian Radio reveal the breadth of his repertoire, particularly in the twentieth century, including works by Bartók, Berg, Britten, Debussy, Janáček, Messiaen, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Szymanowski that he never recorded commercially

Rafael Kubelík was an outstanding musician with nothing of the ‘star conductor’ about him.  His methods were collegial, and he was also a hard worker, famous for his thorough rehearsals. The results were consistently impressive and often very exciting. He radiated musical energy and always found ways to characterise and animate even the most familiar pieces. Whether in opera or symphonic repertoire, his players and singers responded with a freshness and intensity that mean we now have a remarkable legacy to explore.