Hermann Hans Wetzler (8 September 1870 – 29 May 1943) was a German-American composer.

Life

Wetzler was born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Germany. His father was from

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

, his mother was German. He grew up in Chicago in affluent circumstances and studied first at the University of Cincinnati - College-Conservatory of Music, from 1885 at the

Hoch Conservatory Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium – Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for ...

in Frankfurt piano and violin with

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a ...

Hugo Heermann Hugo Heermann (3 March 1844, in Heilbronn – 6 November 1935, in Meran, Italy) was a German violinist. He studied the violin with Lambert Joseph Meerts at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels, and later with Joseph Joachim. From 1864 he ...

Bernhard Scholz Bernhard E. Scholz, (30 March 1835 – 26 December 1916) was a German conductor, composer and teacher of music. Life Bernhard Scholz was born in Mainz in 1835. He was intended by his father to take over his father's business (Lithographis ...

Iwan Knorr Iwan Otto Armand Knorr (3 January 1853 – 22 January 1916) was a German composer and music teacher. Life A native of Gniew, he attended the Leipzig Conservatory where he studied with Ignaz Moscheles, Ernst Friedrich Richter and Carl Reinecke. I ...

and Engelbert Humperdinck.Biography
on ''ZB Collections'' In 1903, he founded the

Wetzler Symphony Orchestra The Wetzler Symphony Orchestra was founded in New York City by the Frankfurt born conductor and composer Hermann Hans Wetzler (8 September, 1870 – 29 May, 1943). Wetzler, who studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, settled in New York Cit ...

with donations, at which

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

made his US conducting debut in 1904 and premiered his ''

Sinfonia Domestica ''Symphonia Domestica'', Op. 53, is a tone poem for large orchestra by Richard Strauss. The work is a musical reflection of the secure domestic life so valued by the composer himself and, as such, harmoniously conveys daily events and family li ...

''.curriculum vitae
in Nachlassverzeichnis, Zurich 2007, ] In 1905 Wetzler returned to Germany to work as a Kapellmeister in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was in a docu ...

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, Halle,

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. After the latter contract was not renewed in 1923, he lived in Cologne as a freelance composer and conductor. He wrote major works for orchestra from 1917 and finally also the opera ''The Basque Venus'' based on a libretto by his wife Lini Wetzler ''née'' Dienstbach (1876–1933).Wetzler, Hermann Hans
on Treccani (in Italian) In 1929, he moved to

Brissago Brissago () is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Brissago lies on the western shore of Lake Maggiore and includes the Brissago Islands. History An ax and ceramic pieces from the Neolithic era as w ...

, in 1932 to

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, where he lectured in 1933, and then to

Ascona 300px, Ascona Ascona ( lmo, label= Ticinese, Scona ) is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It is located on the shore of Lake Maggiore. The town is a popular tourist destination and holds the yea ...

. In Germany, he was banned from performing in 1935 because of his Jewish origins. After the outbreak of war, he left Switzerland and settled in New York in 1940, where he died on 29 May 1943 at the age of 72. His estate has been in the

Zentralbibliothek Zürich ''Zentralbibliothek Zürich'' (Zurich Central Library) is the main library of both the city and the University of Zurich, housed in the ''Predigerkloster'', the former Black Friars' abbey, in the old town's Rathaus quarter. It was founded in ...

since 2006 and contains, in addition to music autographs and writings, around 10,000 letters, 6000 reviews and photographs.

Work

* Theatermusik zu Shakespeares ''Wie es euch gefällt'' (1917), op. 7 * ''Weissenrode'', Symphonische Phantasie für Orchester (1922), op. 10 * ''Visionen'' for Orchester (1923), op. 12 * ''Assisi'', Legende für Orchester (1924), op. 13 * ''Die baskische Venus'', Opera after

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...

(1928), op. 14 * ''Symphonie concertante'' for violin and orchestra (1932), op. 15

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wetzler, Hermann Hans 20th-century German composers German Classical-period composers Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States American classical composers 1870 births 1943 deaths Musicians from Frankfurt

Life

Work

Further reading

References

External links