Obituary: Rolf Liebermann

THE COMPOSER Rolf Liebermann was one of the most influential figures of the post-war musical scene, especially of opera, along with such luminaries as Walter Legge, Herbert von Karajan and Sir Rudolf Bing, all of whom he outlived. It was as an opera administrator that he was best known, at the Hamburg Opera 1959-72, and as director of the Paris Opera from 1973 to 1980.

Born in Zurich in 1910, Liebermann studied law at that university and music at the Jose Berr Conservatory, and went on to study composition in Budapest and Vienna under Hermann Scherchen, to whom he became secretary and assistant in 1937-38. Scherchen was one of the foremost advocates of contemporary music and had conducted the premieres of many 20th-century masterpieces from Schonberg's Pierrot Lunaire to works of Berg, Webern, Dallapiccola and Henze, and he remained a major influence and friend of Liebermann until his death in 1966.

In 1938 Liebermann returned to Switzerland to become a music critic and at the same time studied serial 12-tone technique with Wladmir Vogel. Being Jewish he kept out of Nazi-dominated countries until after the Second World War, but a strong anti-Nazi message runs through the stage works he wrote then and later.

He became a producer for Swiss radio in 1945 (until 1950) and for the Beromunster Radio Orchestra (until 1957), often working with other German radio stations while composing for the stage and concert hall. An electic with a daring technique that incorporated jazz and popular musical elements with erudite new musical techniques, Liebermann was considered a leader among post-war composers, but had already proved himself to be an administrator of great competence and imagination.

When the Hamburg Opera - which, like other German musical institutions, had been allowed to start again under the strict control of the occupying powers - was looking for a general manager, he was the ideal candidate. As he pointed out in his autobiography Opernjahre (1977), one thing the candidate had to be was Jewish.

Liebermann took on Hamburg in 1957 and made it not only the European centre of excellence in musical standards, but the main venue for new operatic works. He promoted the early careers of Placido Domingo and Mirella Freni among many others. His repertory balanced modern and traditional works, reviving forgotten composers and giving specialist conductors a chance to perform their individual enthusiasms. During this time he virtually stopped composing.

His most successful work was the 1954 Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra, which quickly acquired international notoriety and helped to create his reputation as an enfant terrible whose dignified and authoritative presence covered a deep vein of playful naughtiness. No modern administrator has been able as easily as Liebermann to do exactly what he wanted, however controversial, with so little opposition.

His principal operas, Lenore 40/45 (first performed in Basel in 1952), Penelope (Salzburg 1954) and The School for Wives (Louisville, Kentucky 1955), were well received, but after doing the round of German opera houses, had few revivals. The reason was that Liebermann never diluted the energy he put into his current occupation, and without new output a career languishes. He knew he could return to composition whenever he wanted, but the attractions of being at the centre of the musical world were too seductive to be laid aside, even temporarily.

In 1973 he was invited by President Pompidou to take over and reform the Paris Opera which had fallen on bad times with a poor administration, low musical standards and a culture of constant strikes. At that time Covent Garden and the ENO between them offered a wide and adventurous repertoire at affordable prices. Liebermann took London as his model and imposed a benevolent but firm hand on the Parisian anarchy, retiring musicians and chorus members who should have been pensioned years earlier, and engaging the best artists, whatever their background or nationality.

He employed new producers, some like Joseph Losey from the cinema, others from theatres and opera houses in Germany, Britain, Italy and elsewhere. He widened the repertoire as he had done in Hamburg, where he had introduced Penderecki, Krenek, Britten, Berg and Janacek, but now with more traditional works, superbly well done.

When attacked by Pierre Boulez for his new-found conservatism, he recruited him to conduct the world premiere of the complete three-act Lulu, which had just been made possible by the death of Alban Berg's widow, who had blocked it all her life.

He persuaded Olivier Messiaen, the renowned religious composer and teacher of the French avant-garde, including Boulez, to write an opera in his final years. St Francois d'Assise, a long, daringly conceived portrait, had little dramatic action but much musical originality; at one point the angel of music descends from heaven to demonstrate what the music of heaven sounds like.

Under Liebermann unequalled performances of Otello, Parsifal, Don Giovanni and Boris Godunov were given, but at great expense to the state. Some were filmed and he contended that the future of opera depended partly on finance from film versions; in this he was prophetic.

He retired in 1980,at the age of 70, intending to return to composition. His first project was an operatic adaptation of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, much of which had been completed before permission was asked from the author, who politely declined. Stoically Liebermann went on with other composition. He was, however, unable to resist involvement in live performance and accepted the presidency of the Salzburg Festival, while continuing to act as adviser elsewhere.

In his Paris years, he made the opera more international, bringing in leading figures from all over the world. The avant-garde had its place in performance of work by Stockhausen and Kagel for instance, but less prominently than in Hamburg. His pioneering spirit has survived him: Hugues Gall, in charge of the two leading state opera houses in Paris, was previously part of his team.

As a composer Liebermann well merits a revival. His varied style would be enjoyed by both traditionally minded and progressive audiences. He wrote superbly for the voice, and in his few late works the music is closer to tonal models and bel canto than earlier. One of his last major compositions, La Foret (1987), has a libretto by his wife, Helene Vidal; another, Cosmopolitan Greetings (1988), is scored for jazz singers and symphony orchestra.

Rolf Liebermann was a Berliozian character, daring and with a giant vision. Aside from his music, his historical reputation may be similar to Diaghilev's, who was an inspirer of others. In addition to Opernjahre and its French version, Actes et Enteractes (1976), still unpublished in Britain, he made a sumptuous album of the productions of his Paris years.

Rolf Liebermann, composer and administrator: born Zurich 14 September 1910; married Helene Vidal; died Paris 2 January 1999.