Deutsche Bundespost Centenary of Otto Nossan Klemperer

DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST on 7 May 1985 issued a centenary First Day Cover stamp of Otto Nossan Klemperer who was a Jewish German-born conductor/composer and described as "the last of the few really great conductors of his generation," despite his much-cited tendency to extremely slow tempos.  This postmarked maxim card originated from Berlin.

Klemperer studied music first at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, and later at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin under James Kwast and Hans Pfitzner. He followed Kwast to three institutions and credited him with the whole basis of his musical development. In 1905, he met Gustav Mahler while conducting the off-stage brass at a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Resurrection. He also made a piano reduction of the second symphony. The two men became friends, and Klemperer became conductor at the German Opera in Prague in 1907 on Mahler's recommendation. Mahler wrote a short testimonial, recommending Klemperer, on a small card which Klemperer kept for the rest of his life. Later, in 1910, Klemperer assisted Mahler in the premiere of his Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand.

Klemperer went on to hold a number of positions, in Hamburg (1910–1912); in Barmen (1912–1913); the Strasbourg Opera (1914–1917); the Cologne Opera (1917–1924); and the Wiesbaden Opera House (1924–1927). From 1927 to 1931, he was conductor at the Kroll Opera in Berlin. In this post he enhanced his reputation as a champion of new music, playing a number of new works, including Janáček's From the House of the Dead, Schoenberg's Erwartung, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, and Hindemith's Cardillac.

Klemperer is less well known as a composer, but like other famous conductors such as Furtwängler, Walter and Markevitch, he wrote a number of pieces, including six symphonies (only the first two were published), a Mass, nine string quartets, many lieder and the opera Das Ziel.

One of his greatest struggles was with cyclothymic bipolar disorder, which exacerbated his personal and professional relationships.  He was the father of actor Werner Klemperer, and the diarist Victor Klemperer was a cousin.