Adolf Heinrich Anton Magnus Neuendorff (June 13, 1843 − December 4, 1897), also known as Adolph Neuendorff, was a German-American composer, violinist, pianist and conductor, stage director, and theater manager.
Born in Hamburg, Germany, Neuendorff emigrated with his father to New York City in 1855. [1] In New York, he studied music, violin lessons with G. Matzka and Joseph Weinlich, and had lessons of piano, music theory and composition with Gustav Schilling. In 1859, he made his debut as a concert pianist at Dodworth Hall. In 1861, went on a tour around Brazil, playing the violin.
In 1864, he returned to the United States, now living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here he was conductor of the orchestra at the German Theatre and chorus-master of Karl Anschütz's German Opera Company. Later he succeeded Anschütz as conductor.
In 1867, he became music-director of the Stadt Theater in New York. It was here where he conducted the American first performances of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin , [1] on April 3, 1871, and Die Walküre , on April 2, 1877. In 1872, he brought Theodor Wachtel to the United States, and, with Carl Rosa, gave a season of Italian opera at the Academy of Music. In that same year, he also established the Germania Theatre in New York, of which he was manager for eleven years. During that time he was also organist of a church and conductor of a choral society. In 1875, he gave a season of German opera with Wachtel and Eugenie Pappenheim, conducted the Beethoven centennial concerts, and in 1876 he went to the first Wagner festival at Bayreuth as correspondent for the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung . [1] In the 1878–79 season he conducted the New York Philharmonic Society in the absence of Theodore Thomas, who was away in Cincinnati. [2] The first American performance of Brahms's 2nd Symphony was given by the Philharmonic Orchestra under Neuendorff's direction on October 3, 1878. On December 21, 1878, he conducted the same orchestra during the United States premiere of Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini, Symphonic Fantasy after Dante . For the 1879/80 season, Thomas returned from Cincinnati to New York, and was elected conductor of the Philharmonic well ahead of Neuendorff and Leopold Damrosch. [3] Neuendorff began to compose comic operas and operettas, most of which were written to librettos in German as well as in English. Besides, he translated German operas into English to be performed on Broadway, for example Franz von Suppé's Die Afrikareise .
Between 1884 and 1889, he lived in Boston, Massachusetts, and on July 11, 1885, conducted the first promenade concert performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra at the Boston Music Hall. The first program included a novelty number titled An Evening with Bilse , which humorously tossed together scraps of Beethoven and Strauss, Wagner and Weber. Given that everything else on the program was European as well, the audience at the first promenade concert could not have imagined that it was launching a peculiarly American tradition.[ citation needed ]
In 1889, he became the director of soprano Emma Juch's Grand Opera Company. Two years later, he moved to Vienna, Austria, with his wife, singer Georgine von Januschofsky, before returning to New York City where he died on December 4, 1897, aged 54. [4]
His compositions include two symphonies, operas, and numerous other instrumental and vocal works.
The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., and globally known as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, it is one of the leading American orchestras popularly called the "Big Five". The Philharmonic's home is David Geffen Hall, at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor, pianist, and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the United States in 1939. He worked closely with Gustav Mahler, whose music he helped to establish in the repertory, held major positions with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Deutsche Oper Berlin, among others, made recordings of historical and artistic significance, and is widely considered to be one of the great conductors of the 20th century.
Sir Henry Joseph Wood was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundreds of new works to British audiences. After his death, the concerts were officially renamed in his honour as the "Henry Wood Promenade Concerts", although they continued to be generally referred to as "the Proms".
Bernard Johan Herman Haitink was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to London, as principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1967 to 1979, music director at Glyndebourne Opera from 1978 to 1988 and of the Royal Opera House from 1987 to 2002, when he became principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden. Finally, he was principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2010. The focus of his prolific recording was classical symphonies and orchestral works, but he also conducted operas. He conducted 90 concerts at The Proms in London, the last on 3 September 2019 with the Vienna Philharmonic. His awards include Grammy Awards and the 2015 Gramophone Award for his lifetime achievements.
Eugen Jochum was a German conductor, best known for his interpretations of the music of Anton Bruckner, Carl Orff, and Johannes Brahms, among others.
Erich Leinsdorf was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality. He also published books and essays on musical matters.
Seiji Ozawa was a Japanese conductor known internationally for his work as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), where he served from 1973 for 29 years. After conducting the Vienna New Year's Concert in 2002, he was director of the Vienna State Opera until 2010. In Japan, he founded the Saito Kinen Orchestra in 1984, their festival in 1992, and the Tokyo Opera Nomori in 2005.
Karl Muck was a Hessian-born conductor of classical music. He based his activities principally in Europe and mostly in opera. His American career comprised two stints at the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). Muck endured a trial by media in 1917, after Providence Journal editor John R. Rathom falsely accused him of knowingly refusing a request to have the BSO play the Star Spangled Banner following American entry into World War I. Although Muck was a citizen of neutral Switzerland, he was arrested based on Rathom's accusation and incarcerated as an enemy alien at Fort Oglethorpe, a German-American internment camp in Georgia from March 1918 until August 1919. Karl Muck and his wife were then deported from the United States. His later career included notable engagements in Hamburg and at the Bayreuth Festival.
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William Steinberg was a German-American conductor.
Josef Alois Krips was an Austrian conductor and violinist.
Christian Thielemann is a German conductor. He is currently Generalmusikdirektor of the Berlin State Opera and chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Berlin.
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Carl Bergmann was a German-American cellist and conductor.
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