Siegfried Ochs (19 April 1858 – 6 February 1929) was a German choral conductor and composer.

Life

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 it ...

, Ochs first studied medicine and chemistry at the Polytechnikum Darmstadt (today the

Technische Universität Darmstadt The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmstadt ...

) and at the

Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

. He later devoted himself entirely to music, studying at the

Königliche Hochschule für Musik The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...

, Berlin, under Schultze and

Ernst Rudorff Ernst Friedrich Karl Rudorff (January 18, 1840 – December 31, 1916) was a German composer and music teacher, also a founder of nature protection movement. Biography Born in Berlin, Rudorff studied piano under Woldemar Bargiel from 1852 to 1857 ...

, and later privately under

Friedrich Kiel Friedrich Kiel (8 October 182113 September 1885) was a German composer and music teacher. Writing of the chamber music of Friedrich Kiel, the scholar and critic Wilhelm Altmann notes that it was Kiel’s extreme modesty which kept him and his ex ...

and Heinrich Urban. In 1882 Ochs founded the Philharmonic Choral Society of Berlin, which he would lead until 1920. At first an obscure organization, it became prominent through numerous performances given by

Hans von Bülow Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for es ...

, an intimate friend of Ochs. It arguably became the greatest choral society in Berlin and was distinguished for its helpful patronage of young musicians, whose compositions were performed for the first time. Ochs died in Berlin.

Works

Ochs was noted for humorous or parodic compositions. He wrote both the libretto and music of the three-act comic opera ''Im Namen des Gesetzes'' (Hamburg, 1888), two operettas, duets for soprano and alto, male choruses, vocal canons, and several books of songs. Many musicologists also maintain that Ochs was both composer and lyricist of the aria ''Dank sei Dir, Herr,'' still widely believed to be by Handel.. The title translates as ''"Thanks Be to Thee" - On the explanation of a Handel fake in the early twentieth century.''

References

;Attribution *

External links

* *
Guide to the Siegfried Ochs Collection
at the

Leo Baeck Institute, New York The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...

. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ochs, Siegfried 1858 births 1929 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century conductors (music) 20th-century classical composers 20th-century German conductors (music) 20th-century German male musicians Bach conductors German choral conductors German male classical composers German male conductors (music) German Romantic composers