Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium – Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for music and the arts was established for all age groups. Instrumental to the foundation, prosperity and success of the conservatory was its director Joachim Raff who did most of the work including setting the entire curriculum and hiring all its faculty.[1] It has played an important role in the history of music in Frankfurt. Clara Schumann taught piano, as one of distinguished teachers in the late 19th century, gaining international renown for the conservatory. In the 1890s, about 25% of the students came from other countries: 46 were from England and 23 from the United States.
In the 1920s, under director Bernhard Sekles, the conservatory was far ahead of its time: Sekles initiated the world's first Jazz Studies (directed by Mátyás Seiber)[2] and in 1931 the Elementary Music Department.
Dr. Hoch's conservatory offers instruction in the Music Education for Youth and Adults (ANE) program, the Elementary Music Department (Basisabteilung), and the Pre-College-Frankfurt (PCF) program, which provides preparation for future studies at a Hochschule or conservatory. There are also Ballet, Early Music and New Music departments. The following qualifications are available: Bachelor of Music in Performance and Pedagogy in all instruments, voice, music theory, composition, performance and Elementary Music Pedagogy.
Chronology
Clara Schumann, in 1878, taught at the conservatory 1878–1892Saalhof ca. 1900: Home of the conservatory 1878–88 Eschenheimer Landstr. 4. Hoch Conservatory, c. 1900. Home of the conservatory 1888–1943 Eschenheimer Landstr. 4. Volksbildungsheim. Home of the conservatory 1951–1988Philanthropin Frankfurt: Home of the conservatory 1986–2004
1857: 14 July: Dr. Joseph Hoch (1815–74) makes the conservatory foundation the main heir of his fortune.
1874: Dr. Hoch dies on 19 September.
1876: The foundation is officially recognized (16 March).
1877: 16 February: Recognition of the foundation's governing body by the Frankfurt Magistrate, Chairman Dr. Heinrich Mumm von Schwarzenstein (until 1890).
June: Joachim Raff elected first director.
1878: 22 September: Opening ceremony in the Frankfurt Saalhof.
20 October: Clara Schumann's 50th anniversary as a performer.
1879: 10 February: first internal student concert.
1880: Differences between Raff and Julius Stockhausen, who resigns on 1 September.
1882: Joachim Raff dies on 24 June. His successor, Bernhard Scholz, appointed on 11. November.
1883: 21. January: Secession of the followers of Raff, which leads in April to the opening of the Raff-Konservatorium.
21. March: Bernhard Scholz takes over as director.
1884: Julius Stockhausen resigns for a second time (1 April).
September: Opening of the Seminar (Director: Iwan Knorr).
1886: September: Opening of the pre-school: Hans Pfitzner studies (with scholarship) until 1890.
1888: 29. April: Inauguration of the new conservatory building.
1890: Dr. Theodor Mettenheimer takes over the chairmanship of the governors. State subvention for 2 scholarships. Engelbert Humperdincks begins teaching (1890–97).
1892: Clara Schumann retires. The conservatory takes over the training for the scholarships of the Mozart-Foundation.
1896: Clara Schumann dies on 20 May.
1901: Heinrich Hanau becomes chairman of the governors (until 1904).
1904: Emil Sulzbach called to be chairman (until 1923).
1908: Bernhard Scholz resigns. Iwan Knorr becomes director. Opening of the Orchestra School.
1909: Paul Hindemith receives a scholarship and is accepted as a student of Rebner.
1916: Iwan Knorr dies 22 January. In September Waldemar von Baußnern takes over as director.
1918: Opening of the Singing School Seminar.
1921: Tension between the governors and director. Inflation forces the foundation to ask for subventions from the city and the state of Hesse. Plans for a "Hochschule" for Frankfurt (Leo Kestenberg).
1923: 27 April Waldemar von Bausznern retires. Hermann Scherchen applies for the job of director. Resignation of Emil Sulzbach.
1924: Bernhard Sekles appointed director. Opening of the Opera School. Dr. Oswald Feis becomes chairman of the foundation.
1926: Seminar for private music teachers and »Conservatory for listeners of Music« opened.
1928: Opening of the first academic Jazz classes anywhere under the direction of Mátyás Seiber. Concerts held in the "Volksbildungsheim" (Hermann von Schmeidel).
1931: Courses in Children's Musical Pedagogy.
1933: Dismissal of the director Bernhard Sekles and all Jewish and foreign teachers (10 April).
Dr. Hans Rumpf becomes chairman of the foundation and Bertil Wetzelsberger director.
17 October: Opening of the »Hochschule für Musik und Theater der Stadt Frankfurt am Main« without permission of the Ministry of Culture. Growing influence of Artistic Director Hans Meißner.
1936: Hermann Reutter becomes director.
1937: 19 October: Contract between the City of Frankfurt and the foundation Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium concerning the establishing of a state "Hochschule" for Music.
1938: 1 April: Opening of the state "Hochschule". The conservatory degraded to a pre-school.
1943: 4 October: the Conservatory building is hit by aircraft bombing. Move to the Passavant-Gontard'sche Palais.
1944: February: Passavant-Gontard'sche Palais also destroyed.
1947: Reopening of the Department of Church Music in April and the Department of School Music in the autumn.
1950: Walther Davisson becomes Artistic Director of the "Hochschule".
1951: Recommencing of teaching in a building constructed on the ruins at Eschenheimer Landstr. 4 (Volksbildungsheim [de]). Chairman of the foundation also functions as city councillor.
1954: A board of directors installed for the Musikhochschule and the Conservatory.
1958: Philipp Mohler becomes director of the unified "Hochschule" and Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium.
1967: The Frankfurt Magistrate nullifies the 1937 contract.
1971: Plans for joining the conservatory with the Musikhochschule cause resistance. The conservatory becomes a stepping stone between a music school and the Musikhochschule.
1973: Philipp Mohler resigns as director of the conservatory. Klaus Volk becomes director of the unified Conservatory and Musikhochschule.
1977: Klaus Volk resigns. Prof. Hans Dieter Resch, rector of the "Musikhochschule", becomes provisional director, and in 1978 Alois Kottmann.
1979: Frank Stähle becomes director. Under his direction the conservatory is restructured and again becomes an institute for training professional musicians.
1986: Alterations begin at the Philanthropin, a former Jewish school in Frankfurt's North End. Move to the Philanthropin takes place in stages: 1986–1989.
1989: Move to Philanthropin completed. Opening ceremonies on 9 February. Stadträtin Jutta Ebeling replaces Bernhard Mihm as chairperson of the foundation.
2002: Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium is given the status of Music Academy.
2005: Move to the newly built Education Center Ostend (BZO).
2007: Frank Stähle retires and Werner Wilde becomes provisional director for one year.
Hans Pfitzner studied composition and piano at the conservatoryPaul Hindemith aged 28 (1923). Hindemith studied violin and composition at the Conservatory
The German Federal Bank honored the conservatory on the reverse side of the former 100 DM bill with a picture of the original conservatory building, unfortunately bombed in World War II. Clara Schumann, the first piano teacher, is pictured on the front side of the bill.
References
^"Raff's Role in Dr. Hoch's Conservatory". Archived from the original on 28 July 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
^"This was actually the first academic program for the study of jazz anywhere in the world." Kathryn Smith Bowers, "East Meets West. Contributions of Mátyás Seiber to Jazz in Germany." Jazz and the Germans, (Ed. Michael J. Budds), Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2002, ISBN 978-1576470725, S. 122.
^"albert mangelsdorff". albert mangelsdorff (in German). Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
Further reading
Stiftung Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium Joseph Hoch zum 100. Todestag, Frankfurt am Main: Kramer, 1974.
Peter Cahn, Das Hoch'sche Konservatorium in Frankfurt am Main (1878–1978), Frankfurt am Main: Kramer, 1979. Chronology until 1978 used with kind permission of Dr. Peter Cahn, Frankfurt (translation by Edmund Brownless).
Festschrift 125 Jahre Stiftung Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main, 2003.
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, (Nicolas Slonimsky, Hrsg.) New York: G. Schirmer, 1958
External links
Official website
The early reception of Jazz in Germany: Mátyás Seiber and the Jazz Orchester of the Hoch Conservatory in a radio recording from 1931
The first jazz theory class, ever, wasn't offered in the United States—it was at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, Germany
Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium seit Januar Musikakademie / Bericht vom Festakt zur Verleihung des Status einer Akademie (in German) Online Musik Magazin, 6 February 2002
Sonja Stöhr: Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium / Dr. Hoch's Talentschmiede Frankfurter Rundschau 12. April 2016
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