Fritz Finke was a choral conductor, composer and arranger in the United States and Germany. Along with fellow composers

Joseph Pache Joseph Pache (1861–1926) was a composer, teacher, and director of the Baltimore Oratorio society from 1892 to 1924 when the society disbanded. Move to the United States and Professional Career Pache was a native of Germany and studied at the M ...

, Asger Hamerik, Richard Burmeister and

Otto Sutro Otto Sutro (1833 – January 19, 1896) was a German-born American organist, conductor, minor composer, publisher and music store owner, and a leading figure in the musical life of Baltimore, Maryland. Biography Sutro was born to a Jewish family i ...

, Finke was a leading figure in the musical culture of late-1800s

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. With Sutro, Finke created the Oratorio Society of Baltimore, for which he wrote arrangements and original works, with the group comprising several hundred singers under Finke's directorship: A brief Washington Post article from 1883 explains how the group's "fourth annual concert" took place that year "at the

Fifth Regiment armory The Fifth Regiment Armory is a historic National Guard armory located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is an imposing, fortress-type structure situated in midtown Baltimore. It consists of a full basement, a first floor containing a 200 fo ...

, when Haydn's 'Creation' was sung, the chorus numbering over 600 voices." According to an 1890 listing of notable American choral groups by Harper's Weekly, Finke was still considered active as the director of the group at that time.
''Harpers Weekly'', ''American Choral Societies and Conductors'', Retrieved Aug 16, 2015 By December 1892, Joseph Pache, Pache had moved to Baltimore, having been recruited to replace Finke after the composer returned to Germany.

References

German composers Musicians from Baltimore German conductors (music) German male conductors (music) 19th-century German musicians 19th-century American male musicians {{US-composer-stub