Herbert Graf (1903-1973) was an Austria-American opera producer. Born in Vienna in 1903, he was the son of Max Graf (1873-1958), the Austrian author, critic, musicologist and member of Freud's circle. It is now known that the young Herbert Graf was the 'Little Hans' discussed in Freud's 1909 study Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-year-old Boy.
In 1930, in Frankfurt, Herbert Graf directed the world premiere of Schönberg's Von heute auf morgen. In 1936, after holding operatic posts in Münster, Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland), Frankfurt and Salzburg, the 33-year-old Graf emigrated to the United States, where he became a successful and popular opera producer at New York's Metropolitan Opera (1936-1960, debuting with Samson et Dalila). Graf had a strong sense of tradition and encouraged young operatic talent. In the late 1950s he returned to Europe, where he produced opera at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, (1958-1959). After another year in New York, Graf settled in Switzerland,...
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