Emil Oberhoffer (10 August 186722 May 1933) was a German-born American conductor and minor composer. He founded the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (now known as the
Minnesota Orchestra), and was its conductor for the first 19 years of its existence.
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Biography
Emil Johann Oberhoffer was born near Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
on 10 August 1867,[reocities]
/ref> to a musical family, his father being a well known organist, composer and provincial conductor, and his mother and siblings also making their marks. He showed early promise on the organ and violin, and was sent for training with the 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 Liech ...
disciple Cyrill Kistler
Cyrill Kistler (12 May 1848 in Großaitingen, Swabia, Germany – 1 January 1907 in Bad Kissingen, Lower Franconia, Germany) was a German composer, music theoretician, Music educator and Music publisher.
Life
Born into a Swabian family of ...
, and later to Paris for intensive piano study with Isidor Philipp
Isidor Edmond Philipp (first name sometimes spelled Isidore) (2 September 1863 – 20 February 1958) was a French pianist, composer, and pedagogue of Jewish Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris.
Biography
Isidor Philipp ...
.[usgw archives]
/ref>
He emigrated to New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1885, became an American citizen in 1893, and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1897 as a teacher, lecturer, concert performer and conductor.[Lakewood Cemetery Tour]
/ref> He conducted the Apollo Club of Minneapolis, a notable choral society.[ He also organised the Schubert Choral Association and the Schubert Orchestra in St. Paul,][ and he was director of the Minneapolis Philharmonic Club, a choral group. He became frustrated at the quality of the scratch ensembles used for accompaniments for these groups, and this became the catalyst for the establishment a permanent orchestra in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra gave its first performance, under Oberhoffer's direction, on 5 November 1903.
He was also organist and director of music at the Church of the Redeemer, and he founded the chair of music at the ]University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
.[ He was personally very active and energetic, and instigated a practice of touring the orchestra widely, making it better known than most of its metropolis-bound counterparts.][ The orchestra made its Carnegie Hall debut in 1912. A large number of internationally famous soloists appeared with the orchestra during Oberhoffer's tenure.
Oberhoffer left Minneapolis in 1922 after increasing friction with the orchestra's management.][Electronic Library]
/ref> His place was taken by Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) 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 U ...
as guest conductor for 1922–23, then by Henri Verbrugghen
Henri Adrien Marie Verbrugghen (1 August 187312 November 1934) was a Belgian musician, who directed orchestras in England, Scotland, Australia and the United States.
Born in Brussels, Verbrugghen made his first appearance as a violinist when o ...
. His tenure of 19 years with the Minneapolis Symphony was not equalled until Stanisław Skrowaczewski
Stanislaw Pawel Stefan Jan Sebastian Skrowaczewski (; October 3, 1923 – February 21, 2017) was a Polish-American classical conductor and composer.
Biography
Skrowaczewski was born in Lwów, Second Polish Republic (now Lviv, Ukraine). His pa ...
(1960–79).
He moved to California, and became guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra.[ On 8 July 1926, he conducted the first performance by the LA Philharmonic of Maurice Ravel's '']Alborada del gracioso
''Alborada del gracioso'' ("The Jester's Aubade", or other translations: see below) is a short orchestral piece by Maurice Ravel first performed in 1919. It is an orchestrated version of one of the five movements of his piano suite ''Miroirs'' ...
''.
His compositions, now forgotten, include: ''Hora Novissima'' (a vocal scene about the last hours of a dying child at whose side his mother waits while a bell tolls), and ''Mélodie élégiaque'', dedicated to the French violinist Camilla Urso
Camilla Urso (13 June 1840Pierre 1900p. 862 Other sources give her year of birth as 1842. – 20 January 1902) was a French-born child prodigy violinist, who became an American musician, "recognized as one of the finest violinists of the latter h ...
.Minneapolis Journal, 8 November 1901
/ref>
Emil Oberhoffer died in San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
, California on 22 May 1933, aged 65.[ He is buried in the Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, where the Oberhoffer Obelisk stands in his memory.][
]
Legacy
The Emil J. Oberhoffer House overlooks Orchard Lake in Lakeville, Minnesota
Lakeville is an exurb of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, and the largest city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. It is approximately south of both downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul along Interstate Highway 35. Starting as a flouri ...
.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberhoffer, Emil
1867 births
1933 deaths
German classical organists
German classical pianists
German conductors (music)
German male conductors (music)
German emigrants to the United States
German male composers
German composers
American classical organists
American male organists
American classical pianists
Male classical pianists
American male pianists
American conductors (music)
American male conductors (music)
American male composers
American composers
People from Lakeville, Minnesota
Male classical organists