Jugend – an early opera by composer Ignatz Waghalter

Conductor and composer Ignatz Waghalter, born in 1881 in Warsaw, attended the master class in composition directed by Friedrich Gernsheim at the Prussian Academy of Arts around 1900. When he was working as a conductor at the newly opened Deutsche Oper Charlottenburg, he wrote the opera Jugend in 1917 using a libretto written by Hans Richard Weinhöppel loosely based on Max Halbe. Forced into exile in 1934, Waghalter died in New York in 1949.

Biography

born on 15 March 1881 in Warsaw – died on 7 April 1949 in New York

From 1898 in Berlin, around 1900 studied composition in the master class of Friedrich Gernsheim at the Prussian Academy of Arts, 1907-1911 répétiteur and conductor at the Komische Oper Berlin, 1911-1912 conductor at Stadttheater Essen, 1912-1923 conductor at the newly opened Deutsche Oper Berlin-Charlottenburg; from 1913 several tours of the United States; 1925 conductor of the New York State Symphony Orchestra; 1930 engagement at the Moscow Bolshoi Opera, 1931-1932 at the Riga National Opera; from 1934 in exile: Prague, Vienna, from 1938 United States; founded an orchestra for African-American musicians. Composed songs, chamber music, a violin concerto, operas and operettas, including the three main works Mandragola (1914), Jugend (1917) and Sataniel (1923).

Archive and collection

The approximately 2.5 running metres of archive and collection holdings contain handwritten and printed music scores, including the operas Mandragola and Jugend, the Suite for Orchestra, as well as contemporary reviews and some recordings of later performances.

History of the holdings

The holdings were donated to the Archives of the Akademie der Künste in 2013.