Franz von Hoesslin
Franz Johannes Balthasar von Hößlin, also von Hoesslin (Munich, 31 December 1885 - Sète, 25 September 1946) was a German conductor. His wife, Mrs. Von Hoesslin, was the Jewish contralto Erna Liebenthal (c. 1900-1946).
Von Hoesslin was one of foremost conductors of Wagner’s music in the 1920s and 1930s, conducting at the Bayreuth Festival in 1927, 1928 and 1934, and - despite having been exiled - again in 1938, 1939 and 1940 after the personal intervention of Winifred Wagner.[1][2][3] The exile to Switzerland was occasioned after Hoesslin, then Music Director of the Breslau Opera, refused to conduct the playing of the Horst-Wessel song at a state ceremony. He and his wife were given 28 days to leave the city. Hoesslin responded by one final sold-out concert at which he pointedly conducted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony concluding with Schiller's Ode to Freedom.
The von Hoesslins went first to Florence, but when Benito Mussolini's Italy also presented problems, then moved to Geneva where Ernest Ansermet had invited von Hoesslin to conduct the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.[4]
On September 25, 1946 the Von Hoesslins were killed in an airplane accident while returning to Geneva from Barcelona. The couple having missed the scheduled flight, and being pressed to conduct a performance of Cosi Fan Tutte at the Geneva Opera von Hoesslin chartered a small private plane. The plane crashed in the sea off Perpignan, killing all on board.
References
- ↑ The Amazing Law of Influence - Page 197 King Duncan "In 1935, German conductor Franz von Hoesslin was almost exiled from Germany for marrying a Jewish woman.10 At his last concert, he directed Schiller's "Ode ...
- ↑ Lauritz Melchior: The Golden Years of Bayreuth - Page 130 Ib Melchior, Lauritz Melchior - 2003 177: Paul Cornelius, Oskar Ralf (Siegmund), Nanny Larsen-Todsen, Franz Egenieff, Franz von Hoesslin, Lauritz Melchior, Hilde Sinnek, Mrs. Von Hoesslin. Siegfried BAYREUTH FESTIVAL, 1927 CONDUCTOR FRANZ VON HOESSLIN ...
- ↑ Michael Berenbaum, Abraham J. Peck - The Holocaust and history: the known, the unknown, the disputed ... - Page 322 2002 "... decision had permitted one of his favorite conductors, Franz von Hoesslin, musical director of the Wagner Festival at Bayreuth, to continue conducting in Germany without hindrance though his wife had been classified a Jew, when Hoesslin, who also conducted Wagner abroad, requested that the obligatory "J" should not be entered on his wife's passport, this was refused."
- ↑ Klaus Goebel Über allem die Partei: Schule, Kunst, Musik in Wuppertal 1933-1945 1987 Page 89 -"Zu nächtlicher Stunde flog er, der Pilot aus Leidenschaft, mit seiner Frau ins Exil nach Florenz. Als Gastdirigent wußte sich Hoesslin in Europa zu behaupten und komponierte gelegentlich. Daß er für seine Frau eine große moralische Stütze war, bezeugt ein Brief an die Witwe des Barmer Komponisten Hubert Pfeiffer vom Jahre 1946. Dieser Brief, im Besitz von Klaus Goebel, ist wohl das letzte Dokument Hoesslins; kurz danach stürzte er mit seiner Frau über der Biskaya ab."