The revered conductor was one of the world’s most respected authorities on authentic period performance.

Austrian conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, one of the world’s most revered exponents of authentic period performance, has died aged 86. His health had been in decline for some time, and he announced his retirement from the concert platform in December last year, citing ill health.

A statement issued by his wife Alice, published last night on the conductor’s website, read, “Nikolaus Harnoncourt is peacefully asleep. Our grief and gratitude are great; it was a wonderful collaboration.”

Harnoncourt’s retirement came as a surprise to many of his devoted followers, when he announced it in late 2015. A frank and touching open letter, inserted into the programme for a performance by his revered early music ensemble, Concentus Musicus Wien, at which he had been due to conduct, said, “My bodily strength requires me to cancel my future plans.” It continued, “An unbelievably deep relationship has developed between us on the stage and you in the hall – we have become a happy community of pioneers.”

Born in Berlin in 1929, Harnoncourt was distantly related to European Royalty on his mother’s side,...