There was a time when Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Austrian conductor who turns 80 on Sunday, was vilified by the musical establishment in Vienna.
Harnoncourt is one of the pioneers of what in the classical music world is known as "historical" or "period performance practice". And back in the 1950s, when he set up his period instrument ensemble Concentus Musicus, his insistent questioning of the established norms of the classical music scene raised hackles in Europe's musical capital.
The idea of playing renaissance, baroque and early classical music using performance techniques dating back to that period and on historical instruments rather than their modern-day equivalents, made the well-known works of Bach, Haydn and Beethoven sound totally new and unfamiliar.
And performances by Concentus Musicus were regularly scoffed at by critics and boycotted by fellow musicians.
Nowadays, however, Harnoncourt's concerts -- be they with Concentus Musicus or modern-instrument ensembles such as the Vienna or Berlin Philharmonics -- are always sold out.
He has his own summer music festival, the Styriarte, in the city of Graz where he grew up.
And ORF public television is marking the maestro's 80th birthday by televising live the premiere -- which Harnoncourt is conducting -- of a new production of Haydn's rarely performed "Il mondo della luna" at the Theater an der Wien opera house.
For a man on the threshold of his ninth decade, Harnoncourt has a schedule that would daunt anyone half his age.
In addition to "Il mondo della luna", which he will conduct six times between December 5-22, he also has four concerts lined up with the Vienna Philharmonic of the oratorio "The Book with Seven Seals" by Franz Schmidt (1874-1939) in Vienna and Linz.
Harnoncourt returns to the Austrian capital's legendary Musikverein concert hall with his Concentus Musicus in January, March and June and will conduct Mozart's "Idomoneo" at the Zurich Opera House in February and March.
In June and July, he'll be in his home town of Graz for the Styriarte.
Nevertheless, Harnoncourt cautions concert managers that he "comes with a sell-by date".
"Of course I have plans. But I warn anyone who is planning something with me."
The tall maestro with bushy eyebrows and piercing gaze was forced to postpone a series of concerts in the Musikverein in October for health reasons.
And he has similarly pulled out of a new production of Alban Berg's "Lulu" at next year's Salzburg Festival.
Harnoncourt is blue-blooded and was born Johann Nicolaus de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt in Berlin on December, 6, 1929 to a granddaughter of a Habsburg Archduke and an Austrian count.
He showed early on a keen interest in the arts and studied the cello at Vienna's Academy of Music, joining the Vienna Symphony Orchestra as cellist in 1952.
But the authoritarianism of conductors enraged his rebellious intellect.
His intensive research into historical instruments and period performance practice led him to set up Concentus Musicus in 1953 and it began giving concerts in 1957.
Over the years, Harnoncourt's ideas have gained wider currency, and now even the world's greatest modern-instrument orchestras like the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics use key elements of period practice, such as articulation, tempi, phrasing and the absence of vibrato.
Nevertheless, he hates being pigeon-holed.
"I don't like the word 'authenticity'. It's dangerous. I'm not interested in museum music. My intention is not to do a guided tour through Bach's oeuvre," Harnoncourt once said in an interview.
He is not restricted exclusively to early music and conducts and records repertoire from classical to romantic and even 20th century music.
Last year he conducted Stravinsky's opera "The Rake's Progress" and George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess".
Still on his wish list are "a number of works by Bartok and Berg".
Nevertheless, "I can't imagine a life where all one's wishes are fulfilled," he said.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
