Lothar Kempter (5 February 1844 – 14 July 1918) was a German-Swiss composer and conductor.

Biography

Kempter was born in 1844 in

Lauingen Lauingen ( Swabian: ''Lauinga'') is a town in the district of Dillingen in Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the left bank of the Danube, 5 km west of Dillingen, and 37 km northeast of Ulm. In June 1800, the armies of the French Fir ...

. His father was music teacher Friedrich Kempter. Following his father's wishes he started studying

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

at the University of Munich. In 1868, after his father had died, he changed to studying music. At the Royal Music Academy in Munich he studied

Musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

with Hans von Bülow, composition with Josef Rheinberger, choir singing with Franz Wüllner, and piano with

Carl Baermann Carl Baermann (24 October 1810 – 23 May 1885) was a clarinetist and composer from Munich, Germany. Life and career He was the son of noted clarinet virtuoso Heinrich Baermann and Helene Harlas. As a child he was taught the clarinet and the basse ...

. In 1871, he moved to Magdeburg, where he became second

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

of the orchestra of the

Stadttheater Magdeburg Stadttheater Magdeburg was the municipal theatre of Magdeburg, Germany. It was opened in 1878, was at times of national importance for operas, and was destroyed during World War II. History Building Between 1873 and 1876, a new municipal ...

. The same year he married singer Caroline Leonoff. He then conducted for three years the orchestra at the

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

theatre. In 1875, he became Kapellmeister at the Aktientheather in Zürich, a position which he held until 1915. In 1879, he became director of the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich. In 1886, he began teaching

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

and composition at the Zurich Conservatory (merged in 1999 into the School of Music, Drama, and Dance (HMT), itself merged in 2007 into the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK)). In 1892, he became a citizen of Zürich. In 1911, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich. In 1899, eleven years after his first wife Caroline had died, he married Hedwig Ratzinger, who died in 1908. In 1910, he married Philomena Jakob (alias Philo Jarno). Both were singers at the Stadttheater Zurich. He died in Vitznau at the age of 74.

References

External links

Biography
(in German) 1844 births 1918 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century German musicians 19th-century German male musicians German classical composers German conductors (music) German emigrants to Switzerland German male conductors (music) Male conductors (music) People from Lauingen Swiss classical composers Swiss conductors (music) Swiss male classical composers Zurich University of the Arts faculty {{Switzerland-composer-stub