What is Wilhelm Furtwängler?
[[Image:Wilhelm Furtwängler by Emil Orlik.jpeg|210px|thumb|Portrait of Wilhelm Furtwängler by Emil Orlik]] '''Wilhelm Furtwängler''' (born [[Berlin]], 25 January 1886; died [[Baden-Baden]], 30 November 1954) was a [[Germans|German]] [[Conductor (music)|conductor]]. He is thought of as one of the greatest conductors in history. Many people say that he is the best ever. The famous [[Italians|Italian]] conductor [[Arturo Toscanini]] said he was the world's best conductor other than himself. Furtwängler was especially famous for conducting the music of famous German [[composer]]s. His performances of [[Beethoven]], [[Brahms]], [[Bruckner]], and [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] are very well known and loved by many people. ==Early life == Furtwängler was born on January, 25, 1886 in [[Berlin]], Germany. He grew up in [[Munich]], where his father was an [[archaeologist]] and [[professor]]. He started learning about music when he was very young. He learned to play the [[piano]] and was very talented. He also began writing music. He wrote several pieces before he was 20 years old. He kept writing music for the rest of his life, but his pieces never became very famous. ==Conducting career== Furtwängler first started conducting as a young man. He wanted to conduct in order to perform his own music. However, he quickly became famous for conducting the music of others. The very first piece he conducted in public was the 9th Symphony of Bruckner. He conducted many [[orchestra]]s before he finally became the leader of the world-famous [[Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra]] in 1922. Later, he also had many other important conducting jobs. The most important was the director of the [[Bayreuth Festival]], a very famous German music festival. ==The Nazis and World War II== When the [[Nazis]] took over Germany in the 1930s, Furtwängler was in an awkward position. He wanted to conduct some kinds of music that the Nazis did not like. He left some of his conducting jobs in protest when they did not let him perform. In 1936 he almost left Ger