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The Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (german: Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main, italic=no, link=no, HfMDK) is a state
Hochschule ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...
for music, theatre and dance 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 ...
and is the only one of its kind in the Federal State of
Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
. It was founded in 1938. At present around 900 students are taught by about sixty-five professors and 320 other teaching staff. The study programs include performance in all instruments and voice, the teaching of music, composition, conducting and church music. There are also programs in musical theatre, drama and dance. The university offers doctoral studies in
musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...
and
music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...
.


History

Frankfurt had an institute for the teaching of music since 1878. 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 ...
flourished and had a worldwide reputation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through teachers like the pianist
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 ...
and composers
Joachim Raff Joseph Joachim Raff (27 May 182224 or 25 June 1882) was a German-Swiss composer, pedagogue and pianist. Biography Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitme ...
,
Bernhard Sekles Bernhard Sekles (20 March 1872 – 8 December 1934) was a German composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue. Life and career Bernhard Sekles was born in Frankfurt am Main, the son of Maximilian Seckeles and Anna (née Bischheim). The fami ...
and Engelbert Humperdinck, the Hoch Conservatory attracted students from around the world, including the composers
Hans Pfitzner Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera ''Palestrina'' (1917), loosely based on the life of the s ...
,
Edward MacDowell Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites ''Woodland Sketches'', ''Sea Pieces'' and ''Ne ...
,
Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...
,
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 ...
and
Ernst Toch Ernst Toch (; 7 December 1887 – 1 October 1964) was an Austrian composer of classical music and film scores. He sought throughout his life to introduce new approaches to music. Biography Toch was born in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, into the family ...
, and the conductors
Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (14 May 18856 July 1973) was a 20th-century conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the US, Hungary and finally Britain. His early career was in opera houses, but he was later better known as a concer ...
and
Hans Rosbaud Hans Rosbaud (22 July 1895 – 29 December 1962) was an Austrian conductor, particularly associated with the music of the twentieth century. Biography Rosbaud was born in Graz. As children, he and his brother Paul Rosbaud performed with their ...
. In April 1933, when the
National Socialists Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
came to power in Germany, the director Bernhard Sekles,
Mátyás Seiber Mátyás György Seiber (; 4 May 190524 September 1960) was a Hungarian-born British composer who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1935 onwards. His work linked many diverse musical influences, from the Hungarian tradition of Bartó ...
, head of the world's first jazz department, and twelve other members of the teaching staff who were Jewish or foreign, were removed from their positions. Later, the Hoch Conservatory was degraded to a Music School (''Musikschule des Dr Hoch's Konservatorium''). In 1938 the "Hochschule für Musik" was established. In 1940 its name was the "Staatliche Hochschule für Musik – Dr Hoch's Konservatorium", but in 1942 the subtitle "Dr Hoch's Konservatorium" was dropped, leaving the full name as "Staatliche Hochschule für Musik". In his testament
Joseph Hoch Joseph Paul Johannes Hoch (3 May 1815 – 19 September 1874) was a German lawyer and benefactor. He willed his fortune to the Hoch Conservatory Foundation, founded in 1878 in Frankfurt. It is, after Leipzig and Berlin, the seventh oldest music con ...
, benefactor of the conservatory, had stipulated that the name "Dr Hoch's Konservatorium" should never be changed. The ''Hochschule'' thus became a new and separate institution, distancing itself from the conservatory its history. In the closing stages of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, both institutions closed down. After the war both were reopened, and they now work together in a three-tier system of the Hochschule, the Hoch Conservatory and the Music School.
Helmut Walcha Arthur Emil Helmut Walcha (27 October 1907 – 11 August 1991) was a German organist, harpsichordist, music teacher and composer who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German baroque masters. Blind since his teenage years, he is known f ...
, who had taught the organ at the Hoch Conservatory from 1933 to 1938, initiated the reopening of the Hochschule in 1947. The first department to be reopened was that of church music, followed by the department of school music and, in 1949, the
seminar A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some parti ...
for the teaching of music. In the summer of 1950, the violinist
Walther Davisson Walther Davisson (15 December 1885 – 18 July 1973) was a German violinist and conductor. Background Davisson was born in Frankfurt am Main. He studied in Frankfurt at the Hoch Conservatory from 1900 to 1906 with Johann Naret-Koning and ...
, who had studied and taught at the Hoch Conservatory, became artistic director of both the Hochschule and the Hoch Conservatory. Under his directorship the Department of Performance was, step by step, restarted in instrumental and vocal training. During this post-war period, teaching was still taking place in private homes and in the partly renovated conservatory building – which was still in ruins. (It was unfortunately pulled down later.) Not until 1956 did the Hochschule have its own building: it was given the Radio-House of the
Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting, public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ...
, built in 1933. The development of the Hochschule continued through the 1950s and 60s: including the establishment of the opera school and opera-choir school (1954 and 1958), the drama school (1960) and the dance school (1961). In the 1960s the Studio for New Music and the Studio for Early Music were initiated. Later, departments of jazz and popular music were opened and in 1982 the department of musicology was established. From 1989 the Hochschule was given the right to offer graduate studies in the teaching of music and musicology. From 1990 until 1993 the Hochschule's new main building and library were built. The Historical Performance Practice and Contemporary Music Institutes were founded in 2005.Information about the history of the Hochschule since 1950 comes fro
the website
of the Hochschule.


Notable teachers and students

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Anton Biersack Anton Biersack (30 November 1907, Greding - 18 November 1982, Frankfurt am Main) was a German composer and music educator. After initial studied in music in Eichstätt, he studied music composition, conducting, piano, and organ at the Hochschule ...
*
Anne Bierwirth Anne Bierwirth is a German contralto, focused on concerts and recordings of sacred music, appearing internationally. Besides the standard repertoire such as Bach's ''Christmas Oratorio'', she has explored rarely performed Baroque music such as B ...
*
Ivan Božičević Ivan Božičević (born 27 May 1961 in Belgrade, Serbia) is a Croatian composer, pianist, organist and jazz musician. Biography Božičević was born in Belgrade. After initial piano studies, he joined the composition class of A. Obradović at ...
*
Elsa Cavelti Elsa Cavelti (4 May 1907 – 10 August 2001) was a Swiss operatic contralto and mezzo-soprano, temporarily also a dramatic soprano, who worked at German and Swiss opera houses and as an international guest. She was an academic voice teacher in Fran ...
*
Moritz Eggert Moritz Eggert (born 25 November 1965 in Heidelberg) is a German composer and pianist. Life Moritz Eggert began his studies in piano and composition in 1975 at Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt (with Wolfgang Wagenhaeuser and Claus Küh ...
*
Eugen Eckert Eugen Eckert (born 1954) is a German social worker, minister, singer-songwriter and academic teacher. He is known for his lyrics for new spiritual songs ( Neues Geistliches Lied), and his oratorios and musical plays. Career Born in Frankfurt am ...
*
Hedwig Fassbender Hedwig Fassbender (born 23 October 1954) is a German operatic mezzo-soprano and academic voice teacher. She has appeared in leading roles at major European opera houses, including some soprano roles such as Wagner's Isolde and Sieglinde. Care ...
*
Julia Fischer Julia Fischer (born 15 June 1983) is a German classical violinist and pianist.Beat Furrer Beat Furrer (born 6 December 1954) is a Swiss-born Austrian composer and conductor. He has served as professor of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz since 1991. He was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2018 ...
* Martin Gründler *
Raymund Havenith Raymund Havenith (17 July 1947 – 15 July 1993) was a German classical pianist. Life Raymund Havenith was born in Aachen into a family of musicians receiving his first lessons from his father Josef Havenith (1919–1978), a church musician an ...
*
Leonard Hokanson Leonard Hokanson (August 13, 1931 – March 21, 2003) was an American pianist who achieved prominence in Europe as a soloist and chamber musician. Early life and education Born in Vinalhaven, Maine, he attended Clark University in Worcester, Massa ...
*
Hartmut Höll Hartmut Höll (born November 24, 1952) is a German pianist and music professor.J. B. Steane, "Hartmut Höll", Grove Music Online Biography Höll was born in Heilbronn. He trained in Stuttgart, Milan and Munich, specializing in art song accompanim ...
*
Peter Iden Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...
*
Alois Ickstadt Alois Ickstadt (born 22 September 1930) is a German pianist, choral conductor, university professor and composer. He was professor at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt. He promoted choral singing from children's choir to adult groups for the state b ...
*
Richard Rudolf Klein Richard Rudolf Klein (21 May 1921 in Nußdorf/Pfalz – 17 December 2011) was a German composer, musician, and teacher. His compositional output is diverse, including nursery rhymes and music for children, choral music and hymns, incidental music, ...
*
Alois Kottmann Alois Kottmann (20 June 1929 – 4 December 2021) was a German violinist, music pedagogue, university professor and patron. He was based in Frankfurt, where he founded several ensembles, and taught at both the Hoch Conservatory and the Musikhoch ...
*
Edgar Krapp Edgar Krapp (born June 3, 1947 in Bamberg) is a German organist and music professor. Krapp is a member of the Board of the Neue Bachgesellschaft (New Bach Society) in Leipzig and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. Biography Krapp's first organ le ...
* Claus Kühnl *
Martin Lücker Martin Lücker (born 11 October 1953) is a Germans, German classical organist, and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main. Career Born in Preußisch Oldendorf, Lücker studied organ in Hannover and in Vi ...
*
Katharina Magiera Katharina Magiera is a German operatic contralto. A member of the Oper Frankfurt, she has appeared in major European opera houses. She is active also as a lieder singer and has recorded. Career Magiera first studied piano and voice to be a mus ...
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Dirk Mommertz Dirk Mommertz (born 12 August 1974) is a German pianist and chamber musician. Life Education Born in Mainz, Mommertz, grew up in Michelstadt, where he began his musical education on the violin. He was a young student at the Akademie für Tonku ...
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Alma Moodie Alma Mary Templeton Moodie (12 September 18987 March 1943) was an Australian violinist who established an excellent reputation in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. She was regarded as the foremost female violinist during the inter-war years, and s ...
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Isabel Mundry Isabel Mundry (born 20 April 1963) is a German composer. Life and work Isabel Mundry was born in Schlüchtern (Germany) in 1963 and studied composition at the Hochschule der Künste and electronic music, musicology and history at the Berlin Tech ...
* Branka Musulin *
Lev Natochenny Lev Natochenny (Russian: Лев Наточенный) (born January 26, 1950) is a Russian-American classical pianist and professor of piano. Born in Moscow, Natochenny graduated from the Moscow "Tchaikovsky" Conservatoire, where he was taught by ...
*
Ralf Otto Ralf Otto (born 1956) is a German conductor, especially known as a choral conductor and academic teacher. He founded the Vokalensemble Frankfurt, focused on contemporary music and winning competitions including Let the Peoples Sing. Since 1986, h ...
* Edith Peinemann *
Katia Plaschka Katia Plaschka is a German coloratura soprano who performs in opera, especially contemporary opera, and concert performances of oratorios. Career Katia Plaschka studied voice at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt until 2002 with Gunnel Ta ...
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Michael Ponti Michael Ponti (29 October 1937 – 17 October 2022) was a German-American classical pianist. He was the first to record the complete piano works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. He made more than 80 recordings, around 50 of rarely play ...
* Christoph Prégardien * Corinna von Rad *
Helmuth Rilling Helmuth Rilling (born 29 May 1933) is a German choral conductor and an academic teacher. He is the founder of the Gächinger Kantorei (1954), the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (1965), the Oregon Bach Festival (1970), the Internationale Bachakademie S ...
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Peter Reulein Peter Reulein (born 1966) is a German composer, organ improviser, academic teacher and church musician, from 2000 at the church Liebfrauen in Frankfurt am Main. In 2016 he composed for the Catholic Diocese of Limburg the Franciscan oratorio ''La ...
* Daniel Roth *
Wolfgang Rübsam Wolfgang Friedrich Rübsam (born October 16, 1946, in Gießen) is a German-American organist, pianist, composer and pedagogue. Biography After his musical training with Erich Ackermann in Fulda, Germany, Rübsam studied at the Musikhochschule ...
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Udo Samel Udo Samel (born 25 June 1953) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than 80 films and television shows since 1977. He starred in the 1994 film ''Back to Square One'', which was entered into the 44th Berlin International Film Festival. Sele ...
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Wolfgang Schäfer Wolfgang Schäfer (born 7 April 1945) is a German choral conductor and academic. He founded the Freiburger Vokalensemble, the BosArt Trio, and the Frankfurter Kammerchor. Career Born in Staufen im Breisgau, Schäfer studied music education, vo ...
*
Burkard Schliessmann Burkard Schliessmann is a German classical pianist and concert artist with an active international career. He attended the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and graduated with a Master's degree. He studied under several internationa ...
* Michael Schneider *
Michael Schopper Michael Schopper (born 28 May 1942) is a German bass-baritone in opera and concert, and an academic teacher. Michael Schopper was educated with the Regensburger Domspatzen and studied on a scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volke ...
*
Ernst Gerold Schramm Ernst Gerold Schramm (8 July 1938 – 8 June 2004) was a German baritone in opera and concert, and an academic voice teacher. He was a member of the Staatstheater Hannover and Oper Frankfurt ensembles and performed internationally. He taught at ...
* Gisela Sott *
Martin Stadtfeld Martin Stadtfeld (born 19 November 1980 in Gackenbach) is a German pianist. Stadtfeld gave his first concert at age 9, and at age 14 enrolled at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt under the tutelage of Russian-Am ...
*
Ernst Stötzner Ernst Stötzner (born 1952) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than sixty films since 1983. Selected filmography References External links * 1952 births Living people German male film actors {{Germany-actor-stub ...
*
Winfried Toll Winfried Toll (born 1955) is a German conductor, singer, composer and academic teacher. Career Born in Dorsten, Toll first studied theologie and philosophy at University of Münster and the University of Freiburg. He then studied composition, ...
* Catherine Vickers * Franz Vorraber *
Helmut Walcha Arthur Emil Helmut Walcha (27 October 1907 – 11 August 1991) was a German organist, harpsichordist, music teacher and composer who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German baroque masters. Blind since his teenage years, he is known f ...
*
Hans Zender Johannes Wolfgang Zender (22 November 1936 – 22 October 2019) was a German conductor and composer. He was the chief conductor of several opera houses, and his compositions, many of them vocal music, have been performed at international festival ...
*
Ruth Ziesak Ruth Ziesak (born 9 February 1963) is a German soprano in opera and concert. Career Ruth Ziesak studied voice at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts with Elsa Cavelti and Christoph Prégardien. She has been a member of the M ...
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Heinz Werner Zimmermann Heinz Werner Zimmermann (11 August 1930 – 25 January 2022) was a German composer, focused on contemporary sacred music. He was professor of composition at the Spandauer Kirchenmusikschule and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing A ...
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Tabea Zimmermann Tabea Zimmermann (born 8 October 1966) is a German violist. Born in Lahr, she began learning to play the viola at the age of three, and commenced piano studies at age five. At the age of 13, she studied viola with Ulrich Koch at the Conservator ...
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Karl Maria Zwißler Karl Maria Zwißler (12 August 1900 – 15 September 1984) was a German conductor, and academic. He was for decades the Generalmusikdirektor and Intendant of the Staatstheater Mainz. He taught conducting at the music universities of Stuttgart an ...


References

Sources *


External links

* {{Authority control Music schools in Germany Universities and colleges in Frankfurt Music in Frankfurt Public universities 1938 establishments in Germany