Emil Oberhoffer
Encyclopedia
Emil Oberhoffer was a German-born American conductor and minor composer. He founded the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (now known as the Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...

), and was its conductor for the first 19 years of its existence.

Biography

Emil Johann Oberhoffer was born near Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

 on 10 August 1867, to a musical family, his father being a well known organist, composer and provincial conductor, and his mother and siblings also making their marks. He showed early promise on the organ and violin, and was sent for training with the Josef Rheinberger
Josef Rheinberger
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was a German organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein.-Short biography:...

 disciple Cyrill Kistler
Cyrill Kistler
Cyrill Kistler was a German composer, music theoretician, Music educator and Music publisher.-Life:...

, and later to Paris for intensive piano study with Isidor Philipp
Isidor Philipp
Isidor Philipp was a French pianist, composer, and distinguished pedagogue of Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris.-Biography:...

.

He emigrated to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1885, became an American citizen in 1893, and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

 in 1897 as a teacher, lecturer, concert performer and conductor. He conducted the Apollo Club of Minneapolis, a notable choral society. He also organised the Schubert Choral Association and the Schubert Orchestra in St. Paul, and he was Director of the Minneapolis Philharmonic Club, a choral group. He became frustrated at the quality of the scratch ensembles used for accompaniments for these groups, and this became the catalyst for the establishment a permanent orchestra in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra gave its first performance, under Oberhoffer's direction, on 5 November 1903.

He was also organist and director of music at the Church of the Redeemer and he founded the chair of music at the University of Minnesota. He was personally very active and energetic, and instigated a practice of touring the orchestra widely, making it better known than most of its metropolis-bound counterparts. The orchestra made its Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 debut in 1912. A large number of internationally famous soloists appeared with the orchestra during Oberhoffer's tenure.

Oberhoffer left Minneapolis in 1922 after increasing friction with the orchestra's management. His place was taken by Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...

 as guest conductor for 1922-23, then by Henri Verbrugghen
Henri Verbrugghen
Henri Verbrugghen was a Belgian musician, who directed orchestras in England, Scotland, Australia and the United States....

. His tenure of 19 years with the Minneapolis Symphony was not equalled until Stanisław Skrowaczewski (1960–79).

He moved to California, and became guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...

, San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...

, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the SLSO is the second-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States as it is preceded by the New York Philharmonic.-History:The St...

 and Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its main performance center is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood...

. On 8 July 1926, he conducted the first performance by the LA Philharmonic of Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...

's Alborada del gracioso
Miroirs
Miroirs, or "Reflections" is a suite for solo piano written by French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905. First performed by Ricardo Viñes in 1906, Miroirs contains five movements, each dedicated to a fellow member of the French impressionist group, Les...

.

His compositions, now forgotten, include: Hora Novissima (a vocal scene about the last hours of a dying child at whose side his mother waits while a bell tolls), and Mélodie élégiaque, dedicated to the French violinist Camilla Urso
Camilla Urso
Camilla Urso , was a French violinist.Born at Nantes, France, Urso was the daughter of an Italian flutist and a French singer . When she was six years old, despite general skepticism about her ability to master a “masculine” instrument, she began taking violin lessons...

.

Emil Oberhoffer died in San Diego on 22 May 1933, aged 65. He is buried in the Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, where the Oberhoffer Obelisk stands in his memory.
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