Score to Bartok's suite of Four Orchestral Pieces, op. 12, owned and used by the important Austrian conductor. 111 pp. Universal-Edition, No. 7270. Signed and dated 1946 by Karl Böhm on first free endpaper and with his annotations and notes in blue and red on almost every page of the score. Black alligator boards, slightly worn, black cloth spine with title in gilt. Gutter reinforced with archival tape. Overall very fine. 9.25 x 12 inches (23.5 x 30.7 cm).

The son of a lawyer, Karl Böhm studied law and earned a doctorate in this subject before entering the music conservatory in his home town of Graz, Austria. He later enrolled at the Vienna Conservatory, where he studied under Eusebius Mandyczewski, a friend of Johannes Brahms. He made his conducting debut in 1917, and subsequently held posts in Darmstadt, Hamburg, and Dresden. In 1938 Böhm took part in the Salzburg Festival for the first time, conducting Don Giovanni, and thereafter he became a permanent guest conductor. He secured a top post at the Vienna State Opera in 1943, eventually becoming music director. After he had completed a two-year post-war denazification ban, Böhm led Don Giovanni at La Scala, Milan (1948) and gave a guest performance in Paris with the Vienna State Opera company (1949). From 1950 to 1953 he directed the German season at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.