Anton Hartman

Anton Carlisle Hartman (1918–1982) was a South African conductor.

He was head of music and principal conductor at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and head of music at the University of the Witwatersrand.

He became a central figure in art music in South Africa during the mid 20th century.

Anton Hartman was the third of six children of a poor family, born at Geduld near Johannesburg in South Africa on 26 October 1918.

His father Stephanus Lionel Hartman, a champion marathon runner, was a mine worker, and his mother, Maria Barbara Van Amstel, née Van Ryneveld, a piano teacher.

She also played piano accompaniments to the silent movies in the 1920s.

Hartman first received piano lessons from his mother when he was about seven years old.

He made good progress and was soon playing solo piano works and Lieder accompaniments.

His elder sisters were also able singers.

The family was keen on their long playing records, the predecessors of CDs, listening again and again to a vast collection of music.

As a child and teenager Anton Hartman was a loyal member of the Voortrekkers movement which was to become a feature in Afrikaans cultural society.

He became a leader in his commando.

Their structured activities suited his personality type, one that was also moulded by financial hardship and a fervent will to advance in life.

This organisation still exists, focusing as it did on Christian ethics, self-realisation and community service.

The Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (FAK), translated Federation of Afrikaans cultural societies, was founded in 1929.

Hartman obtained the Performer's Licentiate in Piano of the University of South Africa (Unisa) and a BMus degree at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in 1939, Adolph Hallis being his teacher.

Aged 21, Hartman started his career at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in December 1939 and his first position was that of programme compiler of classical music for the Afrikaans service.

The SABC environment provided many opportunities to acquaint himself with its symphony orchestra: rehearsals, recordings and concerts, many of which were broadcast live and which were the order of the day.

Hartman began to realise that, most of all, he wanted to become a conductor.

In 1944 he married Josina Wilhelmina (Jossie) Boshoff, a singer whom he first met as a secretary at the SABC.

Hartman was awarded the Melanie Pollak Scholarship and Union Post Graduate Scholarship which enabled him to study abroad.

Hartman had already served on the dynamic music committee of the FAK since 1944.

While temporarily transferred to Cape Town in 1947 he took conducting lessons with Albert Coates, sharing these group lessons with Ernest Fleischman, Blanche Gerstman (composer) and Hannes Uys (the father of Tessa and Pieter Dirk Uys).

In 1948 he was appointed part-time conductor of the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra and the West Rand Municipal Orchestra of Krugersdorp, both of which were amateur orchestras.

Having obtained study leave from the SABC, he and Jossie left for Europe in 1949.

Vienna became a second home where his conducting teachers included Felix Prohaska (conductor of the Vienna State Opera) and Clemens Krauss for close on two years.

His other teachers were Felix Petyrek (composition), Renate Lang (piano) and Oskar Fitz (violin and viola).

Jossie's singing teacher was Maria Hittorf.

During the summer holidays of 1950 and 1951 Hartman attended the International Summer Academy courses at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with teacher Igor Markevitch, at which he excelled.

Upon his return to South Africa late in 1951 Hartman was appointed assistant conductor at the SABC, alongside Jeremy Schulman and Edgar Cree.

His first live broadcast with the SABC Orchestra was on 15 November 1951, Beethoven's Third Symphony (the Eroica) being presented as the main work on the programme.

Markevitch invited the South African to be his assistant at the courses of 1953 and 1955.

The latter event saw a very young Daniel Barenboim as one of Hartman's students.

In Salzburg he met Wolfgang Sawallisch who became a lifelong friend.

Austria was where his skills, know-how and tastes were refined.

He attended many rehearsals and performances conducted by the great names of the time.

Karl Böhm, Otto Klemperer, Erich Kleiber, Rafael Kubelik, Rudolf Moralt, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Knappertsbusch and Herbert von Karajan were on his list of admired maestri, whereas he found Leopold Stokowski's theatrical mannerisms outrageous.

Renowned visiting American pianist Andor Foldes performed with the SABC under his baton in 1953.

Hartman added his voice to the plea for a bigger symphony orchestra which could perform and broadcast a wider range of music.

This became a reality in 1954 when the orchestra amalgamated with the Johannesburg City Orchestra.