Spangenberg, Heinrich

Conductor, Composer

born: 24.05.1861 in Darmstadt

died: 27.09.1925 in Darmstadt

Spangenberg studied with the pianist, conductor, music teacher and composer Nikolai Rubinstein (1835-1881) in Moscow and with the pianist Theodor Leschetizky (1830-1915) in Vienna. He was a composition student of Joachim Raff at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main. He worked for several years as an opera conductor at the Mainz Stadttheater.

In 1888, he moved to the other side of the Rhine and founded a music school in Wiesbaden, which he ran from 1891 as the "Spangenberg Conservatory" (later the Wiesbaden Conservatory). In the first 25 years, a total of 2,400 students were educated at the institute. In 1914, Prof. Willy Fahr took over as director of the conservatory.

Spangenberg, who had already been awarded the title of Royal Director of Music in 1906, henceforth worked exclusively as a composer. His opera "Corsican Wedding" was performed at the Wiesbaden Court Theater in 1904. His musical comedies included "Sah ein Knab ein Röslein stehn", "Zu Bacharach am Rhein" and "Der Mazurka-Oberst". He took great care to cultivate the folk song, which was particularly evident in his conducting activities. He was the conductor of the Wiesbaden Teachers' Choral Society for 25 years.