This encyclopaedia is the first major German-language reference work devoted entirely to orchestral and opera conductors. The volume opens with an introductory essay on the history, function and artistic role of the conductor before presenting an extensive alphabetical encyclopedia of approximately eight hundred conductors from Europe, the Americas and Asia. Each entry contains biographical information, career highlights, principal orchestras, opera houses, repertoire, artistic achievements and historical significance. Major figures such as Arturo Toscanini, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Bruno Walter, Georg Solti and Claudio Abbado receive detailed articles, while hundreds of additional conductors are documented through concise reference entries. Numerous black-and-white photographs accompany the text, and comprehensive indexes make the volume a practical reference work for the study of orchestral history, conducting traditions and twentieth-century musical life. (AI-generated content description)