Fritz Cassirer
Encyclopedia
Friedrich 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.
Fritz Cassirer studied music with Hans Pfitzner
and Gustav Holländer, after which he was appointed to conducting posts in a succession of German opera houses: Lübeck
, Posen
, Saarbrücken
and Elberfeld
.
While Cassirer was in charge of the Elberfeld opera, his colleague Hans Haym
introduced him to the music of Frederick Delius
, which was little known in Germany and hardly known at all anywhere else. Cassirer, like Haym, became a strong advocate of Delius's music. He conducted the première of Delius's opera Koanga
at Elberfeld in 1904, helped Delius choose the Nietzsche
text for his secular choral work, A Mass of Life and organised the premiere of another Delius opera, A Village Romeo and Juliet
at the Berlin Komische Oper in 1907.
Cassirer was a member of the Komische Oper company that visited London in 1907, playing Offenbach
's The Tales of Hoffmann. While in London he conducted concerts, at one of which, with Thomas Beecham
's New Symphony Orchestra, he presented Delius's Appalachia. Beecham, who had hitherto known nothing of Delius's music, expressed his "wonderment" and was from then on a lifelong devotee of the composer's works. Beecham praised Cassirer for having "naturally good if slightly fastidious taste".
After turning down an offer to appear at the Manhattan Opera House, New York, Cassirer retired to Munich, and devoted himself to philosophical and literary studies. He died in Berlin at the age of 55.
in Berlin, and Max Reinhardt
's business manager.
Dispecker was married twice more, secondly to the biomedical scientist Otto Neubauer.
Cassirer's father Julius had six brothers and two sisters, and among Fritz's other cousins were Paul Cassirer
, who with Fritz's brother Bruno Cassirer
promoted the work of the Berlin Secession
and the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists in their Berlin gallery; the philosopher Ernst Cassirer
; the industrialist and art collector Hugo Cassirer, whose son Reinhold married the novelist Nadine Gordimer
; and the neurologist Richard Cassirer
.
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
, and conducted the premiere of Delius's first opera.
Biography
Cassirer was born in Breslau. His father, Julius Cassirer, was one of nine children; Julius was distantly related to his wife, Julcher (Julie) neé Cassirer, through a common great-grandfather.Fritz Cassirer studied music with Hans Pfitzner
Hans Pfitzner
Hans Erich Pfitzner was a German composer and self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina, loosely based on the life of the great sixteenth-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.-Biography:Pfitzner was born in Moscow, Russia, where his...
and Gustav Holländer, after which he was appointed to conducting posts in a succession of German opera houses: Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
, Posen
Posen
Posen may refer to:Places in Europe:* Poznań, Poland * Grand Duchy of Posen, autonomous province of Prussia, 1815–1848* Province of Posen, Prussian province, 1848–1918...
, Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
and Elberfeld
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 document of 1161...
.
While Cassirer was in charge of the Elberfeld opera, his colleague Hans Haym
Hans Haym
Hans Haym was a German conductor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As musical director in the town of Elberfeld he championed the works of the then unknown English composer Frederick Delius before that composer's works were heard in his native country.-Biography:Haym was born...
introduced him to the music of Frederick Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
, which was little known in Germany and hardly known at all anywhere else. Cassirer, like Haym, became a strong advocate of Delius's music. He conducted the première of Delius's opera Koanga
Koanga
Koanga is an opera with music by Frederick Delius, his third opera, written between 1896 and 1897, and a libretto by Charles F. Keary, inspired partly by The Grandissimes of George Washington Cable. Inspiration also came from Delius' own experiences as a young man when his family sent him to work...
at Elberfeld in 1904, helped Delius choose the Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
text for his secular choral work, A Mass of Life and organised the premiere of another Delius opera, A Village Romeo and Juliet
A Village Romeo and Juliet
A Village Romeo and Juliet is an opera by Frederick Delius, the fourth of his six operas. The composer himself, with his wife Jelka, wrote the English-language libretto based on the short story Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe by the Swiss author Gottfried Keller. The first performance was at the...
at the Berlin Komische Oper in 1907.
Cassirer was a member of the Komische Oper company that visited London in 1907, playing Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's The Tales of Hoffmann. While in London he conducted concerts, at one of which, with Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
's New Symphony Orchestra, he presented Delius's Appalachia. Beecham, who had hitherto known nothing of Delius's music, expressed his "wonderment" and was from then on a lifelong devotee of the composer's works. Beecham praised Cassirer for having "naturally good if slightly fastidious taste".
After turning down an offer to appear at the Manhattan Opera House, New York, Cassirer retired to Munich, and devoted himself to philosophical and literary studies. He died in Berlin at the age of 55.
Family life
Fritz Cassirer was married to Lilly Dispecker. They had one daughter, Eva Charlotte Cassirer, who married her father's cousin, Friedrich Wilhelm Cassirer (also known as Fritz); he was for a time managing director of the Deutsches TheaterDeutsches Theater
The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known German theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street , the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade...
in Berlin, and Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...
's business manager.
Dispecker was married twice more, secondly to the biomedical scientist Otto Neubauer.
Cassirer's father Julius had six brothers and two sisters, and among Fritz's other cousins were Paul Cassirer
Paul Cassirer
Paul Cassirer was a German art dealer and editor who played a significant role in the promotion of the work of artists of the Berlin Secession and of French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, in particular that of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne.- Starting out :Paul Cassirer started out as...
, who with Fritz's brother Bruno Cassirer
Bruno Cassirer
Bruno Cassirer was a publisher and gallery owner in Berlin who had a considerable influence on the cultural life of the city.He was born on 12 December 1872, the second child of Jewish parents, Julius and Julcher Cassirer. Julius was a partner, with two of Bruno's cousins, in a cable factory...
promoted the work of the Berlin Secession
Berlin Secession
The Berlin Secession was an art association founded by Berlin artists in 1898 as an alternative to the conservative state-run Association of Berlin Artists. That year the official salon jury rejected a landscape by Walter Leistikow, who was a key figure amongst a group of young artists interested...
and the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists in their Berlin gallery; the philosopher Ernst Cassirer
Ernst Cassirer
Ernst Cassirer was a German philosopher. He was one of the major figures in the development of philosophical idealism in the first half of the 20th century...
; the industrialist and art collector Hugo Cassirer, whose son Reinhold married the novelist Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
; and the neurologist Richard Cassirer
Richard Cassirer
Richard Cassirer was a German neurologist who was born in Breslau. After receiving his medical doctorate in 1891 he became assistant at the psychiatric clinic in Breslau under Karl Wernicke . In 1893 he went to Vienna and continued his studies under Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Heinrich Obersteiner...
.