ChoralNet

The professional networking site for the global online choral community.

You are here: Home / Others / Conductor as dictator

Conductor as dictator

by Leave a Comment


A podcast on station WQXR talks about changing role of the orchestra conductor.
It was Arturo Toscanini whose famously broke batons, berated musicians and even threw a score at his orchestra during rehearsals, all we were told, in the service of the music. By the 1960s, collective bargaining agreements and workplace rules helped to do away with such behavior. Or did they?
They cite several recent examples in which conductors were disciplined or fired, then go on to say:

What is interesting about these incidents — though they’re hardly alone — is how the misbehavior was exposed: often through blogs, video clips and other social media.

“We’re experiencing a kind of Arab Spring among orchestra musicians,” says Norman Lebrecht, author of several books including Why Mahler? which is just out in paperback.

 
I’d say that this is less of an issue for most church or community choirs, because they are general volunteer-based, and if you alienate your volunteers they just leave. But school conductors sometimes have tantrums. Don’t know about professional choirs; do their conductors throw their stands if they don’t like what they hear?
 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hi, Allen.  I’m not sure this is even an issue any more IN GENERAL, although it can certainly be an issue in specific cases.
     
    Item:  A conducted ensemble is always a collaboration, but never a democracy.  A conductor does not NEED ego, but does need to understand and accept the responsibility that goes with the gig.  When I conduct I take that responsibility.  When I don’t, the decisions are not up to me.  It’s a matter of “the buck stops here.”
     
    Item:  When I was in grad school there were both conductors and stage directors on the faculty who deserved, based on their musicianship, creativity and knowlege, to be working in major opera houses, but their tendency to blow up and abuse their students explains quite well why they were not.
     
    Item:  The article equates orchestra conductors with orchestra management.  In many cases–perhpas MOST cases–that simply isn’t true.  A conductor is HIRED by management, and can be fired by management, according to the provisions of a contract.  In fact the real problems with American orchestras today (I don’t know much about those in Europe) are almost always the result of incompetent management, as the present situation in Louisville amply demonstrates, NOT the result of autocratic conductors.
     
    Item:  Does a conductor in fact have a right to ask orchestra members to re-audition?  It depends.  And what it depends on is not a clash of personalities, but what is actually written in the contract under which the orchestra AND the conductor operate.  Simple.  But aside from that, yes, it’s a demand that definitely needs to be sold to the musicians and not just imposed on them if it’s to have a positive result.  That comes under interpersonal relations. 
     
    Item:  A university situation is not all that different from a community situation in some ways.  Music majors are generally required to be in a large ensemble, but non-majors are not, and can choose to drop out if they are displeased with a conductor’s behavior.  We have to SELL what we do.  And even music majors can petition either their applied teacher or if necessary their Department Head or Dean to be excused from the ensemble requirement, if they can cite specific abuses or incompatibilities, and NO conductor wants to be called on the carpet as a result of such complaints, which a Department Head or Dean MUST make a decision about.  Secondary schools may be a different ballgame, although there are no “music majors” there and any student can walk at the end of any semester.
     
    It does seem as if searching the world for examples and coming up with Brazil and Russia–and not major orchestras at that–sort of tends to disprove the thesis of the article in the first place.
     
    All the best,
    John

  2. I’m surprised this is still a question.  From my perspective, the tyrant conductor is a myth: a story invented in the past, based in truth but not truly accurate.  It seems like most of Norman Lebrecht’s comments are colored by cultural myth of the tyrant conductor and the bad behavior of a few exceptions rather than by the real state of conducting.  I think Anne Midgette is much closer to the mark when she says that there are jerks everywhere, but for the most part conductors have embraced collaboration as a philosophy.  It’s how I’ve been trained, and how I see other young conductors being trained.  
     
     
     
     
     

  3. I’ve experienced lots of absolutely wonderful choral directors — “human” in all the best senses of the word. They’re respectful, kind, sensitive, empathetic, et cetera.
     
    But I’ve seen the Temperamental Artist as well, and have seen them lead large programs and amass huge followings. I think the Choral Director as Dictator is still very much with us, perhaps for the following reasons:
    • The position too often invites a power imbalance, with the director imbued with far too much. While the model is changing, singers have often been seen as disempowered organ stops … while directors and their Artistry have been revered.
    • People who like power are going to be attracted to the above. Unfortunately, some directors like power for reasons which turn out to be unhealthy for the rest of us.
    • Cognitive dissonance — people want to reduce emotional tension and dissonance in the face of conflict, and will rationalize or think it away. In a choir with a tyrannical director, singers might say, “But we sound so good” or “It’s really our fault; we’re not meeting his standards.”
    Ultimately, all of this sometimes leads to tyrannical directors being tolerated for years; or even revered for their entire careers. While many people still see this sort of leader as “the way directors are,” I’m confident that things are changing for the better.
     
    Thanks for bringing this up, Allen.
     
    All my best,
     
    Tom
     
     

  4. The time for a discussion on this topic is now!
     
    At the 2012 ACDA east conference at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence there is a scheduled discussion on Conductor’s Ethics on Thursday, February 16th at 11:30am.

    Here is the overview:

    I Can’t Believe I Said That!
    How does we what we say to our choirs and how we say it affect the way they rehearse and perform? Are we are aware of our tone of voice when we give directions? Do we bully our choirs? Are we too gentle when a firmer hand is needed? Are we able to “bring people in to the room” during or after their busy days to focus on the tasks ahead. This discussion will allow conductors to increase their self awareness of how they might come across to those in front of them, and how to turn around negativity into positive and constructive statements for more effective interpersonal relationships with our singers. Discussion topics will also include professional ethics and jealousy and social media and its’ effect on conductor’s behavior.

     
    Panelists will be:
    Dr. Mary Ellen Junda, conductor of The Main Street Singers, a community children’s choir established by South Church in New Britain in 2004.  She also established a children’s choir known as Treble Makers.  She is a professor at the University of Connecticut .
    Jack Goodwin, director of the NY Choral Society
    Richard Coffey director Connecticut Choral artists
    David Anderegg, PhD is a clinical psychologist practicing in Lenox, Massachusetts.
    Moderator: Andrea Goodman, Western MA director of the Cantilena Chamber Choir, Saratoga Choral Festival, and the Northern Berkshire Choral.

     

Leave a Reply

© 2026 American Choral Directors Association. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy