Hermann Zilcher

Hermann Zilcher (born August 18, 1881 in Frankfurt am Main; † 1 January 1948 in Würzburg) was a German composer, pianist, conductor and music teacher. He was the father of actress Eva Zilcher (1920-1994) and the conductor Heinz Reinhart Zilcher (1906-1967).Zilcher received early piano lessons from his father, the composer and piano pedagogue Paul Zilcher (1855-1943), who was known as a composer of didactic piano and chamber music. The son studied from 1897 at the Dr. Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, piano with James Kwast, counterpoint and morphology with Iwan Knorr and composition with Bernhard Scholz. At graduation he was awarded the Mozart Prize. In Frankfurt. In 1901 he moved to Berlin, where he quickly established himself mainly as a pianist for singers and instrumentalists, with concert tours, which made him internationally known in the US and in Europe. In 1905 he returned to Frankfurt as a piano teacher at the Dr. Hoch Conservatory. In 1908 he was appointed by Felix Mottl as a piano professor and in 1916 as a composition professor at the Academy of Music in Munich. In Munich, he worked closely with the head of the Munich Kammerspiele, Otto Falckenberg (1873-1947), for whom he wrote incidental music. In 1920 he became director of the Bavarian State Conservatory in Würzburg, and founded in 1922, the Würzburg Mozart Festival, which soon became internationally famous. For these accomplishments Zilcher was appointed in 1924 Privy Councillor by the Bavarian government and the University of Würzburg awarded him an honorary doctorate.

In the late 1920s Hermann Zilcher founded the Würzburg Chamber Orchestra, which achieved nationwide renown. As a result, Zilcher became increasingly engaged as guest conductor of other orchestras, for example, he conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, at the invitation of Wilhelm Furtwängler. At this time Zilcher conducted works of Arnold Schönberg, Ernst Krenek and Paul Hindemith. In 1933 Hindemith joined in a concert in Würzburg under Zilcher conducting as a soloist of his Viola Concerto, Op. 36. [1] As the pianist of the Zilcher Trio (with violinist Adolf Schiering and cellist Ernst Chanbley) Zilcher performed works of Mendelssohn in 1932.

After the seizure of power by the National Socialists Zilcher became a member of the party, a fact for which he would later be criticized.

In 1941 his Violin Concerto, Op. 92. [11] was premiered in a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Wilhelm Furtwängler. Due to a long-standing dispute Zilcher was deprived of the management of the Mozart Festival and the directorship of the music school in 1943. [12] In the final phase of World War II Zilcher was approved to not serving on the front line, but was involved in the preparations for the Mozart Festival. [13]

Zilcher (after an anonymous complaint) was deposed as director of the Würzburg Conservatory due to his activities in the Nazi era. The US military administration [15] sentenced him to logging operations, where he injured his hands. Due to a medical certificate, he was exempted from this work. [16] Zilcher composed a fifth symphony in 1947. He had long suffered from a weak heart and died suddenly on 1 January 1948 at the age of 66 in Würzburg.

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