Daniel Barenboim, the celebrated conductor and musical director of Berlin’s premier opera house, long considered untouchable, is the subject of allegations of bullying. Former employees describe him as a leader “who can be inspiring and generous, but also authoritarian, mercurial and frightening.”
He follows in a line of harsh taskmaster prima-donna conductors like Italian Arturo Toscanini and Hungarian George Solti, the latter being nicknamed was “The Screaming Skull,” because of his bald head and temper.
Barenboim was born 15 November 1942 at 11.35 am Buenos Aires, Argentina and has four planets in ultra-determined and intense Scorpio in his 10th house of career and ambition. His Mars in Scorpio conjunct his Midheaven and Mercury all square Pluto, so he’ll have an exceptionally sharp tongue and high levels of frustrations which will explode.
His Scorpio Sun conjunct a charming Venus is in a lucky trine to Jupiter and square an Aquarius Moon – so lots of pluses but also some high-octane tendencies as well.
Georg Solti, 21 October 1912, Budapest had certain similarities to Barenboim in his chart with his Mars in penetrating and vengeful Scorpio conjunct Mercury and sextile Pluto; with his Mars and Sun being square a Neptune Uranus opposition – ego-centric and explosive.
Toscanini, 25 March 1867 3 am Parma, Italy; had his Mars in volatile Cancer sextile Pluto and trine Saturn in obsessive Scorpio plus a Scorpio Moon – not exactly amiable and calm.
All of them have super-charged Mars in their charts, so prone to laying down the law with a hefty thump.
Barenboim who is negotiating a contract extension from 2022 looks very unsettled, jittered, jangled and aggravated in 2020 with tr Uranus square his Pluto and opposition his Mars, so beginning to understand perhaps that the old ways won’t wash anymore.
He doesn’t have to “get it”. Let’s just focus on the Music shall we???
The main difference between Barenboim and maestros of the past? Toscanini, Solti and especially von Karajan were active when classic music amounted to a third, or even half, of all music sales. And even when rock and pop music broke through, late 1960’s and early 1970’s, it was cooler for young people to buy actual classic music recordings than, let’s say, Sinatra or other easy listening entertainment. Baremboim was introduced to wider audiences as a pianist at that time. I think he actually made many of his recordings at Abbey Road Studios. He was marketed as a cool musician at that time.
In the 1980’s, we got “pop classic” with Pavarotti, and now, the whole market tends to be niche. People listening to “real” classic also tend to have an extensive musical training themselves. But really, top orchestras wouldn’t survive without very wealthy patrons and/or public funding, unlike in the mid-20th century.
I think some of Baremboim’s behavior might be due to not being able to adapt to these times. He had this flashy, almost rockstarry persona in the 1960’s. And he just does not get how that has changed, with all these Asian kids putting their videos to Youtube.