Word: conductor
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Munch received an extensive musical education from his parents, but this was directed towards his becoming a violinist, not a conductor. It was not untill relatively late in life that he began to conduct. In 1919, Munch was appointed professor at the Conservatory and concertmaster of the Municipal Orchestra in his native city--Strasbourg. This orchestra is now conducted by his brother Fritz...
...made his official debut as conductor, and soon received invitations from all over Europe. Then in 1935, he was appointed head of the Paris Philharmonic, and three years later became the conductor of the Paris Conservatory Orchestra, France's oldest and one of the world's best...
During the Second World War, Munch faced the same problems which confronted all musicians in occupied countries, and came up with what many people consider the most intelligent solution. To protect the members of his orchestra, he was obliged to continue conducting and thus keep a foreign conductor out. He defended his musicians from possible capture by the Germans on political grounds, and did not allow investigations of religious or racial backgrounds. At first he refused to conduct before Nazi audiences at all, but when obliged to go so, he accepted his fees and turned them over to the Resistance...
...occupation gave Munch his chance to get the world-wide reputation he did not have time to acquire before 1939. He was the first conductor invited across the Channel, and soon after he was touring Europe, South America, Palestine, and Egypt...
Munch was invited to the United States first by the New York Philharmonic, but because of booking confusions, he made his American debut in Boston. (This is probably the principal reason why today he is conductor of the Boston Symphony and not the New York Philharmonic...