Max Maretzek
Maximilian Maretzek ( Maximilian Mareczek , born June 28, 1821 in Brno , † May 14, 1897 in New York City ) was an American opera director, conductor and composer of Czech origin.
Maretzek was born in Brno , then in Moravia . He studied at the University of Vienna, where he was a student of Ignaz von Seyfried . He began his musical career as a violinist and composer. At the age of eighteen he composed his first opera Hamlet . From 1842 he appeared as a conductor in Paris, from 1844 in London. In 1848 Edward P. Fry , the manager of the Astor Place House Opera Company , invited him to New York.
After a disastrous season for Fry, the latter resigned and Maretzek became manager of Astor Place Opera. He led the house to new success and toured the USA with his ensemble. In 1850 he also took over the management of an opera company from Havana.
Later he directed next to the Astor Place Opera , d. a. the Grand Opera and, since 1854, the Academy of Music . His career, characterized by violent ups and downs, was always the focus of interest in the New York press, which dubbed him “the indefatigable Max” and “the Napoleon of Opera”. Competing companies such as that of the impresario Max Strakosch in the 1850s ("the war of the Maxes") and music stars who came with their own companies such as Jenny Lind , Henriette Sontag and Marietta Alboni kept him in trouble.
In 1875 Maretzek withdrew from the opera business. He worked as a singing teacher and started composing again. The result was his second opera Sleepy Hollow , which premiered in 1879. In 1889, he celebrated his 50th anniversary as an opera conductor with a concert at the Metropolitan Opera , in which conductors such as Theodore Thomas , Anton Seidl , Frank van der Stucken , Adolf Neuendorff and Walter Damrosch took part.
In 1855 he published his memoirs as the opera director Crotches and Quavers , which he continued in 1890 with the volume Sharps and Flats .
Works
- Crotchets and quavers: or, Revelations of an opera manager in America. S. French, New York 1855 ( digitized in the Google book search).
- Sharps and Flats. A sequel to "Crotchets and Quavers". American musician pub. Co., New York 1890.
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Maretzek, Max . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 16th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1867, p. 439 ( digitized version ).
- H. Knoepfmacher: Maretzek, Max. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 6, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-7001-0128-7 , p. 82 f. (Direct links on p. 82 , p. 83 ).
- Katherine K. Preston: Opera on the Road: Traveling Opera Troupes in the United States, 1825-60. New edition. University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago 2000, ISBN 0-252-07002-X , pp. 149 ff. ( Limited preview in Google book search).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Maretzek, Max |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Maretzek, Maximilian (full name); Mareczek, Maximilian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American opera director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 28, 1821 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brno |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 14, 1897 |
| Place of death | New York City |