MUSIC

Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan was under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department over allegations of involvement in Nazi persecution, but the case against him was dropped when he died last month, a government lawyer said Wednesday. Among the allegations were that Karajan might have worked for the Nazi security police and had a role in ridding German orchestras of Jews and other “non-Aryans.” The investigation was begun several months before Karajan died in Austria on July 16 at the age of 81. Karajan was a member of the Nazi Party. Violent demonstrations surrounded his first U.S. tour in 1954 with the Berlin Philharmonic, which he conducted for 34 years.