Ernst Mehlich (February 9, 1888 - February 12, 1977) was a German-Brazilian orchestra conductor and composer. In Brazil he was known as Ernesto Mehlich. Mehlich was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In January 1927 he became Director of the Baden-Baden City Symphony Orchestra, first as Head of the City Musical Department, and from December on as General Music Director. In

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

he inaugurated the Deutsche Kammermusikfestival (German Chamber Music Festival) in July 1927, in which

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...

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, and

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

participated. Besides, the ''

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-Songspiel'', commissioned for the festival, premiered on July 17. The Kammermusikfestival was discontinued after the scandal caused by the premiere of Hindemith and

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's ''Lehrstück'' in 1929. In January 1930 he went on a tour through the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where he conducted performances of

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's ''

Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was compose ...

'' and ''Der fliegende Holländer'' at the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Metropolitan Opera House. In 1933 he was dismissed from his post by the new Nazi government because of his Jewish ancestry. He emigrated to Brazil where he became the first Musical Director of the São Paulo City Symphony Orchestra. On March 28, 1936, he conducted the inaugural concert. Later he conducted the Orchestra of the Professional Musicians' Union of São Paulo. Mehlich died in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, where there is a street named after him, rua Maestro Ernesto Mehlich.

Works

*''Canção da Palavra'' (for Soprano and Piano, lyrics by Francisco Carvalho) *op. 14: ''Magnificat''

References

History of the Baden-Baden Symphony Orchestra
*
Mehlich, Ernst
transcribed from ''Dicionário de Ruas'', at Casa Stefan Zweig 1888 births 1977 deaths German male conductors (music) German composers Brazilian conductors (music) Brazilian composers Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Brazil 20th-century German conductors (music) 20th-century German male musicians {{Brazil-composer-stub