Leopold Damrosch

Leopold Damrosch (October 22, 1832 – February 15, 1885) was a German American orchestral conductor and composer.

Damrosch was born in Posen (Poznań), Kingdom of Prussia, the son of Heinrich Damrosch. His father was Jewish and his mother was Lutheran. Leopold Damrosch was baptized a Lutheran when marrying his wife, former opera singer Helene von Heimburg.

Damrosch began his musical education at the age of nine, learning the violin against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to become a doctor. Capitulating to the wishes of his parents he entered the University of Berlin and completed his PhD in medicine but during his spare time he studied violin under Ries, and thorough bass with Dehn and Bohmer. After he completed his degree Damrosch decided to dedicate his life and energy to music. He gained fame as a violinist and began to play to large audiences in many major German cities including Berlin and Hamburg. He went to Weimar, and was received by Franz Liszt, who appointed him solo-violinist in the Ducal orchestra.

It has been said mistakenly that Liszt dedicated his Symphonic poem № 2 (Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo) to Damrosch. However, Liszt did dedicate the similarly named Le Triomphe funèbre du Tasse, the third part of Trois odes funèbres, to Damrosch who conducted the first performance in New York on March 24, 1877.

Damrosch first appeared as a conductor during the season of 1859 where he conducted the Philharmonic concerts in Breslau. He continued to conduct the Philharmonic for three years due to the success of this season. In 1862 Damrosch founded a symphonic society in Breslau with an orchestra of eighty performers, modeled after the Gewandhaus concerts of Leipzig.

...
Wikipedia