Hermann Hans Wetzler
Hermann Hans Wetzler (born September 8, 1870 in Frankfurt am Main , † May 29, 1943 in New York ) was a German - American composer .
Life
Wetzler's father came from Bohemia , his mother was German. He grew up in a wealthy family in Chicago and first studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory , and from 1885 at the Hochschen Conservatory in Frankfurt piano and violin with Clara Schumann , Hugo Heermann , Bernhard Scholz , Iwan Knorr and Engelbert Humperdinck . In 1892 he returned to the USA and worked in New York as violist, choir director, piano teacher and organist at Trinity Church . In 1903 he founded the Wetzler Symphony Concerts with donations , at which Richard Strauss made his US debut as a conductor in 1904 and premiered his Sinfonia domestica . In 1905 Wetzler returned to Germany to work as Kapellmeister in Hamburg , Elberfeld , Riga , Halle , Lübeck and Cologne .
After the latter contract was no longer renewed in 1923, he lived as a freelance composer and conductor in Cologne. From 1917 he wrote larger works for orchestra and finally the opera Die Basque Venus based on a text book by his wife Lini Wetzler, née. Dienstbach (1876–1933).
In 1929 he moved to Brissago , in 1932 to Basel , where he gave lectures in 1933, and then to Ascona . In Germany he was banned from performing in 1935 because of his Jewish origins. After the outbreak of war he left Switzerland and settled in New York in 1940, where he died on May 29, 1943.
His estate has been in the Zurich Central Library since 2006 and, in addition to music autographs and writings, contains around 10,000 letters, 6,000 reviews and photographs.
Works
- Theater music for Shakespeare's As You Like It (1917), op.7
- Weissenrode , Symphonic Fantasy for Orchestra (1922), op.10
- Visions for Orchestra (1923), op.12
- Assisi , Legend for Orchestra (1924), op.13
- The Basque Venus , opera based on Prosper Mérimée (1928), op.14
- Symphonie concertante for violin and orchestra (1932), op.15
literature
- Heinrich Aerni: Between the USA and the German Empire. Hermann Hans Wetzler (1870–1943), conductor and composer . Bärenreiter-Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-7618-2358-3 . Dissertation.
Web links
- Hermann Hans Wetzler's estate directory (1870–1943) (PDF file; 636 kB)
- Short biography with picture
- Performance material on zinfonia.com
- Paths to Music, Max Niehans Verlag Zurich 1938 ( digitized version )
- The Basque Venus, text book, Max Brockhaus Leipzig 1928 ( digitized version )
- The Basque Venus, piano reduction by Otto Singer, Max Brockhaus Leipzig 1928 ( digitized version )
- Sheet music and audio files by Hermann Hans Wetzler in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c biography on ZB Collections
- ^ Curriculum vitae in the list of bequests, Zurich 2007, p. 5
- ↑ Karl Geiringer, Michael Meckna: Wetzler, Hermann (Hans). In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wetzler, Hermann Hans |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 8, 1870 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Frankfurt am Main |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 29, 1943 |
| Place of death | New York City |