Felix Otto Dessoff

Felix Otto Dessoff (14 January 1835 – 28 October 1892) was a German conductor and composer.

Dessoff was born to a Jewish family in Leipzig; his father was a cloth merchant. His musical talent was recognized by Franz Liszt, who then advised his family on his musical training. As a student at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1851–54, Dessoff studied composition, piano and conducting with some of the foremost teachers of the day, including Ignaz Moscheles for piano and Moritz Hauptmann and Julius Rietz for composition. On November 16, 1853, a symphony of his was performed by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; the following day he met Johannes Brahms, with whom he formed a lasting friendship and artistic relationship.

It was as a conductor that he primarily established his reputation. His first conducting post was at Actien Theater in Chemnitz. After that, he was successively director of music in Altenburg, Düsseldorf, Kassel, Aachen and Magdeburg. In 1860 he was offered a position with the Vienna Court Opera.

In 1860, the Vienna Philharmonic elected Otto Dessoff to be its subscription conductor, a position he held until 1875. The Vienna-based music critic, newspaper editor, and biographer Max Kalbeck wrote in 1908 that the fame and excellence of the Vienna Philharmonic resulted from Dessoff's "energy and sense of purpose." Dr. Clemens Hellsberg, the president of the Vienna Philharmonic, specifies that during Dessoff's tenure with that orchestra its "repertoire was consistently enlarged, important organizational principles (music archives, rules of procedure) were introduced and the orchestra moved to its third new home [in which it still performs]. At the beginning of the 1870/71 season it began playing in the newly built Goldener Saal in the Musikverein building in Vienna, which has proved to be the ideal venue, with its acoustical characteristics influencing the orchestra's style and sound."

...
Wikipedia