Bruno Oscar Klein (6 June 1858 — 22 June 1911) was an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

origin. He wrote a number of works for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

, some

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

church music Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music The onl ...

, and a large number of

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

Life and career

Born in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

, Klein began his musical training in piano and composition with his father who made a living as an organist. He then studied at the Munich Conservatory (MC) from 1875-1878 where he was a pupil of Carl Baermann,

Josef Rheinberger Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (17 March 1839 – 25 November 1901) was a Liechtensteiner organist and composer, residing in Bavaria for most of his life. Life Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, whose father was the treasurer for Aloys II, Prince of Liecht ...

, and

Franz Wüllner Franz Wüllner (28 January 1832 – 7 September 1902) was a German composer and conductor. He led the premieres of Wagner's ''Das Rheingold'' and ''Die Walküre'', but was much criticized by Wagner himself, who greatly preferred the more celebrate ...

. After graduating from the MC, Klein came to the United States in 1878 at the age of 20, He settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where he became involved with managing the German Theatre on Madison Ave during the early 1880s. He served as the head of the piano department at the Convent of the Sacred Heart from 1884 until his death 27 years later. In 1894-1895 he returned to Germany to perform as a concert soloist. His opera ''Kenilworth'' premiered in Hamburg in 1895. He was also the organist at the Church of Saint Francis Xavier for ten years and taught on the faculty at the

National Conservatory of Music of America The National Conservatory of Music of America was an institution for higher education in music founded in 1885 in New York City by Jeannette Meyers Thurber. The conservatory was officially declared defunct by the state of New York in 1952, altho ...

. He also taught music out of a private studio. Among his pupils was composer and organist Paul Ambrose. Klein died in 1911 at his home on Madison Ave in Manhattan. He was 53 years old. His son, also Bruno Oscar Klein, was a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist by profession.

References

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External links

* 1858 births 1911 deaths American male classical composers American classical composers American male organists German emigrants to the United States University of Music and Performing Arts Munich alumni American opera composers Male opera composers Pupils of Josef Rheinberger Musicians from Osnabrück Musicians from New York City Classical musicians from New York (state) American organists {{US-composer-19thC-stub