15 Facts About Emil Oberhoffer

Emil Oberhoffer was a German-born American conductor and minor composer.

Emil Oberhoffer founded the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and was its conductor for the first 19 years of its existence.

Emil Johann Oberhoffer was born near Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria on 10 August 1867 to a musical family, his father being a well known organist, composer and provincial conductor, and his mother and siblings making their marks.

Emil Oberhoffer showed early promise on the organ and violin, and was sent for training with the Josef Rheinberger disciple Cyrill Kistler, and later to Paris for intensive piano study with Isidor Philipp.

Emil Oberhoffer emigrated to New York City in 1885, became an American citizen in 1893, and moved to St Paul, Minnesota in 1897 as a teacher, lecturer, concert performer and conductor.

Emil Oberhoffer conducted the Apollo Club of Minneapolis, a notable choral society.

Emil Oberhoffer organised the Schubert Choral Association and the Schubert Orchestra in St Paul, and he was director of the Minneapolis Philharmonic Club, a choral group.

Emil Oberhoffer became frustrated at the quality of the scratch ensembles used for accompaniments for these groups, and this became the catalyst for the establishment a permanent orchestra in Minneapolis.

Emil Oberhoffer was organist and director of music at the Church of the Redeemer, and he founded the chair of music at the University of Minnesota.

Emil Oberhoffer was personally very active and energetic, and instigated a practice of touring the orchestra widely, making it better known than most of its metropolis-bound counterparts.

Emil Oberhoffer left Minneapolis in 1922 after increasing friction with the orchestra's management.

Emil Oberhoffer moved to California, and became guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, St Louis Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Emil Oberhoffer's compositions include: Hora Novissima, and Melodie elegiaque, dedicated to the French violinist Camilla Urso.

Emil Oberhoffer died in San Diego, California on 22 May 1933, aged 65.

Emil Oberhoffer is buried in the Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, where the Oberhoffer Obelisk stands in his memory.