Biography

A famous conductor of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, he was an apparent Nazi sympathizer during WW II, and unlike other conductors of the period (such as Furtwangler) who were eventually exonerated, Mengelberg was stripped of all his powers and sent into exile in Switzerland for daring to kowtow to the Nazis.

Willem Mengelberg comes from a family of music lovers and composers, including his brother Karel and his grand nephew Misha Mengelberg.

Concurrent with his four-decade tenure as Musical Director of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, he was also Musical Director of the New York Philharmonic, 1921 - 30, the last two years as co-conductor with Arturo Toscanini. During his tenure, the Philharmonic presented numerous U.S. and world premieres, Gershwin's great "An American in Paris" among the latter.

Although excoriated during his later years (and since) as a collaborationist during the Nazi occupation of Holland, he did use at least some of his influence with the Nazis for good: Of all the Jewish members of the Concertgebouw and their families captured by the Nazis, not one died in the camps, supposedly the direct result of discreet influence peddling on Mengelberg's part.