“He is Not an Artist But a Trust”: Herbert von Karajan’s Global Career and the (A)political Economy of Classical Music

The career of conductor Herbert von Karajan (1908–89) is often considered exemplary for twentieth-century classical musicianship. At the same time, Karajan remains a controversial figure both with regard to his affiliation with National Socialism and his role in the commercialization of classical music. Going beyond biographical approaches, this article argues that Karajan’s appearances in Europe, North America, East Asia, and the Middle East, together with his turn toward musical mass production, served to shield him from postwar political protests. A consideration of Karajan’s global career also requires expanding the traditional focus on international musical relations as cultural diplomacy projects to include the role of the music industry in twentieth-century classical musical life. From the 1950s, the infrastructures of Karajan’s career emerged as a global system of musical production and distribution based on cooperation with selected partners, on recordings, festival performances, intercontinental tours, and media innovations. Collaborations with European, American, and Asian record companies and music agents helped Karajan to detach his career from political ideas of music-making such as those related to denazification, national representation, or democratization. Instead, infrastructures allowed Karajan to promote an apolitical understanding of global audience participation through individual music consumption.