Career Change and The Interwar Years
Georgescu's career as a cellist came to an end late in World War I. He was interned for a time in Berlin as an enemy alien; although the local artistic community quickly obtained his release, Georgescu was still obligated to contact the police twice daily. More seriously, as he traveled to an engagement in 1916, a railway carriage door was closed on his hand, causing a painful injury that ultimately precluded his further performance on the cello. As that chapter in his life closed, however, a new one opened; Richard Strauss and Arthur Nikisch both advised him to take up conducting, advice that he quickly followed after coaching with the latter. Not long after a private appearance as conductor at the home of Franz von Mendelssohn, Georgescu made his public debut in that capacity on February 15, 1918, leading the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony, Grieg's Piano Concerto, and Richard Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. There followed a year of performances with that ensemble, notable, inter alia, for including Claudio Arrau's Berlin debut.
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