 To honour him, the city of Stuttgart has named a pedestrian bridge, that connects the Upper part (where the Staatstheater is located) and the Central part of the "Schlossgarten" (castle) park, after him (Ferdinand-Leitner-Steg).He is famous as a conductor of opera, his favourite composers being Wagner, Richard Strauss, Mozart, and twentieth-century composers Carl Orff and Karl Amadeus Hartmann.He succeeded Erich Kleiber in 1956 as conductor for the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.