Background
Rosenstock, Joseph was born on January 27, 1895 in Cracow, Poland. Came to the United States, 1946. Naturalized, 1949. Son of Bernard and Sabine (Gelberger) Rosenstock.
Rosenstock, Joseph was born on January 27, 1895 in Cracow, Poland. Came to the United States, 1946. Naturalized, 1949. Son of Bernard and Sabine (Gelberger) Rosenstock.
Student, Academy of Music, Vienna, 1912-1919; student, University Vienna, 1913-1920.
Early years
He worked at the State Opera in Wiesbaden before being brought into the Metropolitan Opera in New York to replace Artur Bodanzky in 1928. However, he received such poor critical reviews that he himself resigned after only six performances and Bodanzky was brought back. Jüdischer Kulturbund, 1933-1936
Returning to Germany, he worked in Mannheim and, from 1933–1936, as conductor of the Berlin Jüdischer Kulturbund, notably conducting the (all-Jewish) German premiere of Verdi"s Nabucco on 4 April 1935.
Tokyo, 1936-1946
Rosenstock left Berlin in 1936 and moved to Japan to conduct the Japan Symphony Orchestra (which had been founded in 1926 and became the Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai Symphony Orchestra in 1951).
New York, 1948-1969
In 1948 Rosenstock returned to New York to work as a conductor with the New York City Opera (NYCO), debuting with Le nozze di Figaro. In 1951 he notably conducted the world premieres of David Tamkin"s The Dybbuk.
In January 1952 Rosenstock succeeded Laszlo Halász as General Director of the NYCO. He served in that post for four seasons, during which time he continued in Halász"s steps of scheduling innovative programs with unusual repertoire mixed in with standard works. He notably staged the world premiere of Aaron Copland"s The Tender Land, the New York premiere of William Walton"s Troilus and Cressida, and the United States premieres of Gottfried von Einem"s The Trial and Béla Bartók"s Bluebeard"s Castle.
Rosenstock was also the first NYCO director to include musical theatre in the company"s repertoire with a 1954 production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II"s Show Boat.
This decision was ridiculed by the Press but Rosenstock felt justified as the production played to a packed house. Meanwhile, the company"s production of Donizetti"s opera Don Pasquale that season only sold 35 percent of the house seats. During those eight years he conducted 248 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, including a number of Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast performances.
Rosenstock returned to the Met on 31 January 1961 to conduct Tristan und Isolde and became a regular member of the Met conducting staff until his last performance conducting Die Meistersinger on 13 February 1969.
Married Marilou Harrington, 1958.