This past fall, the Philadelphia Orchestra selected the German conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch as its new Music Director, succeed ing the Italian Riccardo Muti. In so doing, Philadelphia was following in the footsteps of the New York Philharmonic, who last spring chose the German conductor Kurt Masur as its new leader, succeeding the In dian Zubin Mehta. There are indeed signi ficant artistic and career differences between Sawallisch and Masur: perhaps the most im portant difference between them is Sawal-lisch’s identification with the opera house, whereas Masur’s image is that of a performer of orchestral music.

But there is one similarity among these two men that bears repeating, and should provide us with much food for thought about the future of American musical life. Both conductors, whether in the orchestral or in the operatic literature, are authentic and unabashed representatives of the German musical tradition, a tradition which of course very much includes Austria. In an important sense, this linkage of German conductors with German music is as it should be. Sawal lisch (b. 1923) and Masur (b. 1927) were each trained in Germany and have lived their professional lives in Germany. Sawallisch’s most consequential tenure has been as General Music Director of the Bavarian Staatsoper in Munich since 1971; Masur’s most lengthy appointment has been as con ductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra since 1970.

Their repertory, too, is authentically and unabashedly German; Sawallisch has made his greatest mark in the operas of Richard Strauss; Masur’s achievement