Hans Haym (29 November 1860 – 15 February 1921) was a German conductor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As musical director in the town of

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 doc ...

he championed the works of the then unknown English composer

Frederick Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

before that composer's works were heard in his native country.

Biography

Haym was born in Halle. He was educated at the universities of

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

and

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

, where he studied philosophy and classical philology. After graduating, he studied music in Munich, including classes in composition, the piano, organ and singing.Carley, Lionel
"Hans Haym: Delius's Prophet and Pioneer"
''Music & Letters'', Vol. 54, No. 1 (January 1973), pp. 1–24, accessed 6 November 2010 Haym succeeded

Julius Buths Julius Buths (7 May 185112 March 1920) was a German pianist, conductor and minor composer. He was particularly notable in his early championing of the works of Edward Elgar in Germany. He conducted the continental European premieres of both the ...

as conductor of the Concert Society, or Elberfelder Concertgesellchaft, in 1890. On 17 December 1892 he programmed works of Beethoven, the ''Kantate auf den Tod Kaiser Josephs II'' (cantata in memory of

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...

), his Piano Concerto No. 5 and his '' Ninth Symphony'', with soloists Julia Uzielli, Jenny Hahn, Franz Naval and Anton Sistermans. Despite the conservative tastes of his audiences he programmed new music when he could, including early performances of Richard Strauss's ''

Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks ''Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks'' (german: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, ), Op. 28, is a tone poem written in 1894–95 by Richard Strauss. It chronicles the misadventures and pranks of the German peasant folk hero Till Eulenspiegel, w ...

'' in 1895 and Delius's ''Over the hills and far away'' (under its German title ''Über die Berge in die Ferne'') in 1897 and his '' Paris: The Song of a Great City'' in 1899. He introduced Delius's music to Buths, who had gone from Elberfeld to the more important musical directorship of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

. Buths, who was later an early exponent of

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

's music, also became an admirer of Delius's work. Haym also introduced Delius's music to

Fritz Cassirer Friedrich (Fritz) Leopold Cassirer, (29 March 1871 – 26 November 1926) was a German conductor. He was one of the early proponents of the music of Frederick Delius, and conducted the premiere of Delius's first opera. Biography Cassirer was born ...

, musical director of the Stadttheater, Elberfeld, where Delius's opera '' Koanga'' was premiered in 1904. At about this time, Haym fell ill and was obliged to convalesce in the

Tirol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. Haym hoped to be appointed to the more prestigious musical directorship of Strasbourg, but was unsuccessful. At Elberfeld, Haym and his orchestra attracted leading musicians to appear with them, including Raoul Pugno,

Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Legend of the Ysaÿe violin Eugène Ysa� ...

, Pablo Casals, Ferruccio Busoni and

Artur Schnabel Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-American classical pianist, composer and pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th centur ...

. He retired from the musical directorship in 1920 and died in Elberfeld at the age of 60 on 15 February 1921.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haym, Hans 1860 births 1921 deaths German conductors (music) German male conductors (music) People from Halle (Saale) 19th-century German musicians 19th-century German male musicians