Dr Frieder Weissman

I know of at least three performance of Jorge Bolet's performance with Dr Weissmann in Scranton, PA, but the Havana connection is interesting - he was succeeded by Alberto Bolet in 1953:

4 October 1944

Masonic Temple (Scranton, Pennsylvania)

Scranton Philharmonic/Frieder Weissmann

12 March 1945

Scranton, Pennsylvania

Scranton Philharmonic/Frieder Weissmann

14 March 1949

Masonic Temple, Scranton, PA.

Liszt, Concerto No. 2 in A major

Scranton Philharmonic/ Frieder Weissmann

22 April 1951 (10:45am) and Monday 23 (9:30pm)

Havana

Brahms, Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat Op.83

Orquesta Filarmónica de La Habana and Frieder Weissmann

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Buenos Aires 1934-7; Cincinnati & New York 1937-9; Scranton 1943-50; Havana 1950-1953...

As an artist of Jewish descent, Weissmann left Germany in June 1933 for the Netherlands. This was followed by six-month stays - alternating with the Netherlands - in Argentina from 1934 to 1937, where he gave concerts in Buenos Aires Radio Splendid and at the Teatro Colón. It was also in Buenos Aires that Weissmann, who had acquired Argentinian citizenship in 1935, married his second wife Rosita Chevallier-Boutell in 1937. As successor to Artur Rodziński, he took over the direction of the Orquesta Filarmónica de La Habana in Havana, Cuba, from 1950 to 1953.  He died in Amsterdam, Holland.  Moriz Rosenthal recorded Chopin's first concerto for Parlophon in Berlin (1930-31) with Frieder Weissmann (1893-1984) and the Orchester der Staatsoper Berlin.

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'When I left Cuba, the famous symphony of Havana, which had 16 first violins, 16 second violins, and all the woodwinds and brasses one could ever dream of, was stil going strong. That same year, however the excellent first viola, Granat [*J. Wolfgang Granat (1918–1998)] (who is now with the Philadelphia orchestra) and the equally famous first cellist, Odnoposoff [Adolfo Odnoposoff (1917 – 1992)] (who is now in Mexico) had both already left…. Why I too left such a splendid orchestra, readers will surely understand that I cannot discuss here and now!

'It had been one of my dreams, since 1949, to conduct that very orchestra and I had succeeded in realizing it. It was a glorious; exciting, and happy time for four years. But alas, during 1953, general conditions deteriorated and although the conductor always received his full pay, quite often the men did not get theirs.

'Anyway, in 1954 I left, and have not chosen to return since, although I had been announced with – amongst others- Erich Kleiber (whose assistant I once was at the Berlin State Opera at the start of my career). I was hoping and waiting for a more favourable turn of events to call me back, but that turn of course never came.

'Igor Markevitch came to Havana for a short while, but the shadows which had fallen over everything quickly deepened, and the checkered career of the orchestra – as always in the wake of any political upheaval- ran its course. By now the main first instrumentalists had left, some for the US, some for Latin America. Today they have in Havana the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, which is in the hands of the conductor Mandici [Enrique González Mántici (1912-1974)], who was already a devout communist when he was conducting at C.M.Q., the famous Havana radio station. I have heard that there is a full season, but it does not seem to amount to anything of musical value. That beautiful, ambitious and -especially in the strings- fantastically sensuous sounding orchestra went the way everything went in Cuba. How can such things happen?'

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Musical Courier June 1953: Huberto de Blanck mentions Cuban orchestral music conducted by Weissmann, e.g. Julian Orbón’s Homenaje a la Tondilla, a piece inspired by Spanish 18th century themes which was cordially received.