Ochs, Wilhelm

Choral conductor

born: 08.06.1917 in Wiesbaden

died: 15.11.2004 in Wiesbaden

While still at school, Ochs received private music lessons from Carl Schuricht, among others, and began studying music in Mainz and Saarbrücken in 1936. He completed his military service as a member of staff at the Gautheater Westmark and after the war became musical director of the "Wiesbadener Gastspielbühne für Spieloper und Operette".

From 1951, Ochs led the "Orchester Wiesbadener Berufsmusiker", which later became the "Wiesbadener Konzertorchester". With this orchestra, he accompanied conferences and congresses in the Kurhaus and the Rhein-Main-Hallen, took over the duties of the spa orchestra and provided the musical accompaniment to ice revues and circus guest performances. As president of the Hessian music associations, he was responsible for bringing together over 600 instrumental groups with around 32,000 members. In the Hessischer Heimatbund e.V., he was committed to the promotion and cultivation of dialect and customs. He was also in charge of major cultural events organized by the Hessian state government. As the folklore advisor to the Hessian Minister President, he organized the "Hessentage" for many years.

Ochs made a significant contribution to the reconstruction of the local choral scene after 1945. He was the conductor of the "Union Männerclub" singing group. In addition, Ochs took over the direction of the "Schubert-Quartett 1924 Ingelheim e.V." in 1948, a position he held until 1978. As a long-time district choir master and member of the Federal Music Committee of the Hessian Singers' Association, he founded the Wiesbaden Folk Music Days and was awarded numerous honors for this commitment, such as the Spohr Plaque in 1978, the Hessian Order of Merit in 1994 and the Goethe Plaque in 1997.