Adolf Heinrich Anton Magnus Neuendorff, also known as Adolph Neuendorff (June 13, 1843 Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 - December 4, 1897 New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

) was a German-American composer, violinist, pianist and conductor, stage director and theater manager.

Early years

Born in Germany

German Confederation

The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...

, Neuendorff emigrated with his father to New York in 1855. Here he studied music, violin lessons with G. Matzka and Joseph Weinlich, and lessons of piano, music theory and composition with Dr. Gustav Schilling. In 1859 he made his début as a concert pianist at Dodworth Hall. In 1861 went on a tour around Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, playing the violin.

Milwaukee

In 1864 he returned to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, now living in Milwaukee. Here he was conductor of the orchestra at the German Theatre and chorus-master of Carl Anschutz's German Opera Company. Later he succeeded Anschutz as conductor.

New York

In 1867 he became music-director of the New Stadt Theatre in New York. Here he conducted the American first performances of Wagner's

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

 Lohengrin, on April 3, 1871, and Die Walküre, on April 2, 1877. In 1872 he brought Theodor Wachtel to the United States, and, with Carl Rosa, gave a season of Italian opera at the Academy of music. In that year he also established the Germania Theatre in New York, of which he was manager for eleven years. During that time he was also organist of a church and conductor of a choral society. In 1875 he gave a season of German opera with Wachtel and Madame Pappenheim, conducted the Beethoven centennial concerts, and in 1876 he went to the first Wagner festival

Bayreuth Festival

The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...

 at Bayreuth as correspondent for the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung. In the 1878-79 season he conducted the New York Philharmonic Society in the absence of Theodore Thomas, who was away in Cincinnati. The first American performance of Brahms's

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

 2nd Symphony was given by the Philharmonic orchestra under Neuendorff's direction on October 3, 1878. On December 21, 1878, he conducted the same orchestra during the United States premiere of Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini, Fantasy after Dante. For the 1879-1880 season Thomas returned from Cincinnati to New York, and was elected conductor of the Philharmonic well ahead of Neuendorff and Leopold Damrosch

Leopold Damrosch

Leopold Damrosch was a German American orchestral conductor.- Biography :Damrosch was born in Posen , Kingdom of Prussia, and began his musical education at the age of nine, learning the violin against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to become a doctor...

. Neuendorff began to compose comic operas and operettas himself, most of which were written to librettos in German as well as in English. Besides, he translated German operas into English to be performed on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, for example Franz von Suppé

Franz von Suppé

Franz von Suppé or Francesco Suppé Demelli was an Austrian composer of light operas who was born in what is now Croatia during the time his father was working in this outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...

's Die Afrikareise.

Boston

Between 1884 and 1889 he lived in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 and on July 11, 1885, conducted the first "Promenade Concert" performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra

Boston Pops Orchestra

The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in playing light classical and popular music....

 at the Boston Music Hall

Boston Music Hall

The Boston Music Hall was a concert hall located on Winter Street in Boston, Massachusetts, with an additional entrance on Hamilton Place.One of oldest continuously operating theaters in the United States, it was built in 1852 and was the original home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The hall...

. The first program included a novelty number titled An Evening with Bilse

Benjamin Bilse

Benjamin Bilse was a German conductor and composer.Bilse was born in Liegnitz in the Prussian Silesia Province. He obtained a rich musical education, as at the Vienna Conservatory under violinist Joseph Böhm, and played in the orchestra of Johann Strauss I...

, which humorously tossed together scraps of Beethoven and Strauss, Wagner and Weber. Given that everything else on the program was European as well, the audience at the first "Promenade Concert" could not have imagined that it was launching a peculiarly American tradition.

Vienna

In 1889 he became the Director of soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 Emma Juch

Emma Juch

Emma Juch was a popular soprano opera singer of the 1880s and 1890s from Vienna, Austria. Her married name was Emma Antonia Joanna Juch Wellman. Her name was more properly Von Juch.-Austrian family:...

's Grand Opera Company. Two years later he moved to Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 with his wife, singer Georgina von Januschowsky. In 1895 he returned to New York and in 1897 he died.

Works

His compositions include two symphonies, operas, and numerous other instrumental and vocal works.

• The Rat-Charmer of Hamelin/Der Rattenfänger von Hameln
  The Pied Piper of Hamelin
  The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the subject of a legend concerning the departure or death of a great many children from the town of Hamelin , Lower Saxony, Germany, in the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in pied clothing, leading the children away from the town never...
  
  (opera, 1880)
• Don Quixote (opera, 1882)
• Prince Waldmeister (opera, 1887)
• The Minstrel (opera, 1892)

External links