One attribute that hasn't been discussed much is the ability of a conductor who is also a music director to build and shape an orchestra. That definitely takes time and means that the MD has to stay with the orchestra long enough that there is significant turnover from retirements, etc. MTT was MD of the San Francisco Symphony for 25 years, not the record for a major orchestra (in recent times Ozawa was with the BSO longer and a bit earlier, Karajan was MD of the Berlin Philharmonic for 33 years), but 25 years is very unusually long and his imprint on the SFS will be felt for decades. Of course there were founders of orchestras who started with the clean slate - like Beecham with both the London Philharmonic and later his Royal Philharmonic, Ansermet with his Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva.
One interesting story is that Pierre Monteux was brought in by the London Symphony aroun 1960. The LSO (the first professional orchestra in London and generally considered the best of several great orchestras there) had fallen on hard times and he was brought in to bring the orchestra back to its previous level. Monteux was 86 at the time and had the reputation of being both a great conductor and beloved by musicians and audiences. He had famously conducted by the Ballets Russes in Paris and conducted the first performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in 1913. He asked the LSO for and was given a 25 year contract with an extension of 25 years. Monteux died 3 years later, and was credited with a major positive transformation of the LSO during that short time.
Larry
One interesting story is that Pierre Monteux was brought in by the London Symphony aroun 1960. The LSO (the first professional orchestra in London and generally considered the best of several great orchestras there) had fallen on hard times and he was brought in to bring the orchestra back to its previous level. Monteux was 86 at the time and had the reputation of being both a great conductor and beloved by musicians and audiences. He had famously conducted by the Ballets Russes in Paris and conducted the first performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in 1913. He asked the LSO for and was given a 25 year contract with an extension of 25 years. Monteux died 3 years later, and was credited with a major positive transformation of the LSO during that short time.
Larry
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