Adolf Neuendorff

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Adolf Neuendorff

Adolf Heinrich Anton Magnus Neuendorff, also known as Adolph Neuendorff (June 13, 1843 Hamburg - December 4, 1897 New York City) was a German-American composer, violinist, pianist and conductor, stage director and theater manager.

1 Early years
2 Milwaukee
3 New York
4 Boston
5 Vienna
6 Works
7 References
8 Bibliography

[edit] Early years

Born in Germany, Neuendorff emigrated with his father to New York in 1855.^[1] Here he studied music, violin lessons with G. Matzka and Joseph Weinlich, and lessons of piano, music theory and composition with Dr. Gustav Schilling. In 1859 he made his début as a concert pianist at Dodworth Hall. In 1861 went on a tour around Brazil, playing the violin.

[edit] Milwaukee

In 1864 he returned to the United States, now living in Milwaukee. Here he was conductor of the orchestra at the German Theatre and chorus-master of Carl Anschutz's German Opera Company. Later he succeeded Anschutz as conductor.

[edit] New York

In 1867 he became music-director of the New Stadt Theatre in New York. Here he conducted the American first performances of Wagner's Lohengrin,^[1] on April 3, 1871, and Die Walküre, on April 2, 1877. In 1872 he brought Theodor Wachtel to this country, and, with Carl Rosa, gave a season of Italian opera at the Academy of music. In that 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 Madame 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, Fantasy after Dante. For the 1879-1880 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 himself, most of which were written to librettos in German as well as English. Besides he translated German operas into English, to be performed on Broadway, like Franz von Suppé's Die Afrikareise.

[edit] Boston

Between 1884 and 1889 he lived in Boston 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.

[edit] Vienna

In 1889 he became the Director of soprano Emma Juch's Grand Opera Company. Two years later he moved to Vienna with his wife, singer Georgina von Januschowsky. In 1895 he returned to New York and in 1897 he died.^[4]

[edit] Works

His compositions include two symphonies, operas, and numerous other instrumental and vocal works.

The Rat-Charmer of Hamelin/Der Rattenfänger von Hameln (opera, 1880)
Don Quixote (opera, 1882)
Prince Waldmeister (opera, 1887)
The Minstrel (opera, 1892)

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Adolph Neuendorff", Folio, Boston, MA: White, Smith & Perry, 1884-01-01, p. 12. OCLC 19691644. Retrieved on 2008-02-25.
^ Thomas (1905), p. 150
^ Thomas (1905), p. 154
^ Elson, Louis Charles; Arthur Elson (1915). The History of American Music, Revised ed., New York, London: Macmillan, p. 119. OCLC 2176748.