Ignatz Waghalter

Ignatz Waghalter (15 March 1881 – 7 April 1949) was a Polish-German composer and conductor.

Waghalter was born into a poor but musically-accomplished Jewish family in Warsaw. His eldest brother, Henryk Waghalter (1869-1961), became a renowned cellist at the Warsaw Conservatory. Wladyslaw (1885-1940), the youngest Waghalter brother, became a noted violinist. Ignatz Waghalter made his way to Berlin at the age of 17 where he first studied with Philipp Scharwenka. Waghalter came to the attention of Joseph Joachim, the great violinist and close friend of Johannes Brahms. With the support of Joachim, Waghalter was admitted into the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, where he studied composition and conducting under the direction of Friedrich Gernsheim. Waghalter’s early chamber music revealed an intense melodic imagination that was to remain a distinctive characteristic of his compositional work. An early String Quartet in D Major, Opus 3, was highly praised by Joachim. Waghalter’s Sonata for Violin and Pianoforte in F Minor, Opus 5, received the prestigious Mendelssohn-Preis in 1902, when the composer was only 21.

In 1907 Waghalter secured a post as conductor at the Komische Oper in Berlin, assisting Arthur Nikisch, where his reputation grew rapidly. This was followed by a brief tenure at the Grillo-Theater, the Stadttheater in Essen (1911–12). Waghalter’s appointment as principal conductor at the new Deutsche Opernhaus in Berlin established his position as a major figure in German music. The house was inaugurated under Waghalter’s direction on 7 November 1912 with a performance of Fidelio. Waghalter championed the music of Giacomo Puccini, whose operas had previously failed to win public acceptance in Germany. The first performance of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West in Germany was conducted by Waghalter in March 1913 at the Deutsche Opernhaus. Its triumphant reception secured for Puccini's operas a permanent place in the repertoires of Germany's opera houses. Waghalter also conducted the German debut performances of Tosca and La Bohème, and also of Ralph Vaughan Williams' second symphony in 1923.

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