Wilhelm Furtwängler was born on January 25, 1886 in what is now the Schöneberg district of Berlin. He received his first private lessons in composition and piano at the age of 13. His father, Adolf Furtwängler, was Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Munich at the time.

At the age of twenty, he received his first engagements as a second repetiteur in Berlin. After various stops along the way, he became opera director in Mannheim in 1915 and from 1920, as successor to Richard Strauss, conducted the concerts of the Berlin State Opera. After a year in Vienna, Dr. Furtwängler finally became chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1922. In 1931, he was entrusted with the musical direction of the Bayreuth Wagner Festival.

During the National Socialist era, he was misused by propaganda because of his international reputation as a cultural figurehead. After the end of the Second World War, Dr. Furtwängler was initially banned from conducting by the Americans as a fellow traveler; it was only the intercession of emigrated artists such as Paul Hindemith and Yehudi Menuhin that led to his acquittal in 1947. The ban was lifted and on May 25, 1947, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performed under his direction for the first time. In June 1949, he and his musicians delighted audiences with works by Brahms and Beethoven, among others, at the Wiesbaden Theater.

At a reception given by Lord Mayor Redlhammer after the concert on 10 June, Dr. Furtwängler signed the city's Golden Book. In 1952, he was finally appointed chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for life. Dr. Wilhelm Furtwängler died on November 30, 1954 in Ebersteinburg near Baden-Baden.