Felix Otto Dessoff
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Felix Otto Dessoff (January 14, 1835–October 28, 1892) was a German conductor and composer.
Dessoff was born in Leipzig and entered the conservatory there where he studied composition, piano and conducting with some of the foremost teachers of the day, including Ignaz Moscheles for piano and Moritz Hauptmann and Julius Rietz for composition. It was as a conductor that he primarily established his reputation. By 19, he was theater director in Dusseldorf and a mere 5 years later was offered a guest position with, perhaps the premiere theater, the Vienna Court Opera House. In Vienna, he became friends with Johannes Brahms and later was to premiere several of that composer’s orchestral works. Although he had composed some works during the 1850’s and early 60’, he gave up composing when his career as a conductor blossomed. He later made a name for himself as the director of the Frankfurt Opera.
His close friendship with Brahms can be seen in an exchange of letters between the two in 1878 when Dessoff wished to dedicate what is probably his best known work, his String Quartet Op.7 in F. Though it met with success in its premiere, Dessoff was still not sure it was worth publishing and sent the score to Brahms asking for his candid opinion and offering to dedicate to him. Brahms wrote back praising the work and said, “...you would do me a great honor by writing my name over the quartet title—if need be then, we’ll take the blows together should the public find it not to their liking.” Much gratified, Dessoff wrote back in a free and bantering way of the sort Brahms himself often penned, “...you will be relieved to see your name on the title page of the quartet preserved for posterity. When people have forgotten your German Requiem, people will then say, ‘Brahms’? Oh yes, he’s the one to whom Dessoff’s Op.7 is dedicated!”
Dessoff also composed a string quintet for 2 violins, viola and 2 cellos, Op.10, several Lieder (songs) and a choral book. As a conductor he premiered Brahms' first symphony in 1876.
His daughter, Margarete Dessoff, founded the Dessoff Choirs when she stayed on in New York City during a family visit there.
[edit] References
- Some of the information in this article appears on the website of Edition Silvertrust but permission to use this text under the GNU Free Documentation License has been given, and this documentation provided to Wikipedia.
- Sound-bites from String Quartet & Short Biography
- History of the Dessoff Choirs
