Five Conductors Who Died on the Podium
by Emily E. Hogstad , Interlude The best conductors are often workaholics intensely devoted to their craft and career. So it’s no surprise that over the course of music history, quite a few conductors have died or suffered fatal injuries while on the podium. Today, we’re looking at the stories of five conductors who did what they loved until the very end of their lives – and what music they were conducting when they passed away. Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Lully by Paul Mignard Lully was born in Tuscany in 1632. Historians don’t know a lot about his childhood, but it appears that he studied both music and dancing. When he was in his early teens, he was plucked off the street by a chevalier who was searching for an Italian conversation partner for his niece, Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, who was heiress to one of the greatest fortunes in Europe. This was his introduction to the French aristocracy. In 1653, he made a big impression whi...