14 Facts About George Henschel

Sir Isidor George Henschel was a German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor, composer and academic teacher.

George Henschel was the first conductor of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

George Henschel taught at the Institute of Musical Art in New York City.

Georg Isidor Henschel was born at Breslau, and educated as a pianist, making his first public appearance in Berlin in 1862.

George Henschel subsequently took up singing, initially and briefly as a basso profundo but developing a fine baritone voice.

George Henschel was a close friend of Johannes Brahms, whom he met in May 1874 at the Lower Rhenish Music Festival in Cologne, where George Henschel sang the role of Harapha in Handel's oratorio Samson.

In 1877, George Henschel began a successful career in England, singing at the principal concerts.

George Henschel became the first conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1881, using the name Georg Henschel.

George Henschel's compositions include instrumental works, a Stabat Mater, an opera, Nubia, and a Requiem.

George Henschel was knighted in 1914 and at a farewell concert that year, was presented with a lute engraved with "A token of gratitude for forty years' song".

George Henschel taught at the Institute of Musical Art in New York, where he met his second wife, Amy Louis, one of his students.

George Henschel's daughter, Georgina "Georgie" George Henschel, was a noted breeder of Highland ponies and Norwegian Fjord ponies, and author of several equestrian books.

George Henschel died in Aviemore, Scotland, where he maintained his holiday-home Alltnacriche with his wife.

George Henschel is buried in the churchyard overlooking Loch Alvie, nearby.