Busch, Fritz

Busch, Fritz, eminent German conductor, brother of Adolf (Georg Wilhelm) and Hermann Busch; b. Siegen, Westphalia, March 13, 1890; d. London, Sept. 14, 1951. He studied at the Cologne Cons. with Steinbach, Boet-tcher, Uzielli, and Klauwell; was then conductor of the Deutsches Theater in Riga (1909–10); in 1912 he became music director of the city of Aachen, and then of the Stuttgart Opera in 1918. In 1922 he was named General-musikdirektor of the Dresden State Opera; during his tenure, he conducted many notable productions, including the premieres of Strauss’s Intermezzo and Die Aegyptische Helena . On Nov. 27, 1927, he made his U.S. debut as a guest conductor with the N.Y. Sym. Orch. In 1933 he was dismissed from his Dresden post by the Nazi government; leaving Germany, he made many appearances as a conductor with the Danish Radio Sym. Orch. and the Stockholm Phil.; from 1934 to 1939 he served as music director of the Glyndebourne Festivals; from 1940 to 1945 he was active mainly in South America. On Nov. 26, 1945, he made his first appearance with the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y., conducting Lohengrin; he continued on its roster until 1949. He was equally distinguished as an operatic and symphonic conductor, becoming particularly renowned for his performances of Mozart. He wrote an autobiography, Aus dem Leben eines Musikers (Zurich, 1949; Eng. tr., 1953, as Pages from a Musician’s Life) .