Herbert von Karajan (German pronunciation: [ˈhɛɐbɛɐt fɔn ˈkaʁaˌjan]; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 35 years. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, and he was a dominant figure in European classical music from the mid-1950s until his death. Part of the reason for this was the large number of recordings he made and their prominence during his lifetime. By one estimate he was the top-selling classical music recording artist of all time, having sold an estimated 200 million records.

e conducted and recorded prolifically, mainly with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. Although he conducted other orchestras (including the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan) the vast majority of his recordings were made with the Berlin and Vienna orchestras with which he was most associated. He also left a considerable legacy of recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra, his last performance being in 1960. Although he made recordings with several labels, notably EMI, it is Deutsche Grammophon with which he became most associated. He made 330 recordings with the label during his career.

During Karajan's lifetime, the public often associated him with the works of Beethoven. In 1950s, Karajan recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies for Angel. He repeated this feat in each of the following two decades, recording all nine Beethoven symphonies a second time in the 1960s and a third time in the 1970s (both for Deutsche Grammophon).

In his later years, Karajan suffered from heart and back problems, needing surgery on the latter. He increasingly came into conflict with his orchestra for an all-controlling dictatorial style of conducting that had vanished from use everywhere else. Karajan resigned as the Principal Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic on April 24, 1989. His last concert was Bruckner's 7th Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic. He died of a heart attack in his home in Anif on 16 July 1989 at the age of 81.