Hoch Conservatory

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. 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) 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

 * 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.
 * 9 June: Frankfurt visit by Franz Liszt.
 * 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 Frankfurt am Main). 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.
 * 2008: Mario Liepe is appointed director.

Directors

 * 1878–1882: Joseph Joachim Raff
 * 1883–1908: Bernhard Scholz
 * 1908–1916: Iwan Knorr
 * 1916–1923: Waldemar von Baußnern (also: von Bausznern)
 * 1924–1933: Bernhard Sekles
 * 1933–1936: Bertil Wetzelsberger
 * 1936–1944: Hermann Reutter
 * 1950–1954: Walther Davisson
 * 1954–1958: Helmut Walcha, Erich Flinsch, Gustav Lenzewski
 * 1958–1973: Philipp Mohler
 * 1973–1977: Klaus Volk
 * 1977–1979: Hans Dieter Resch, Alois Kottmann
 * 1979–2007: Frank Stähle
 * 2007–2008: Werner Wilde (Provisional director)
 * 2008–2018: Mario Liepe
 * 2018–2022: Christian Heynisch, Caroline Prassel, Karin Franke-André (directorate)
 * since 2022: Fabian Rieser, Caroline Prassel, Karin Franke-André (directorate)

Distinguished teachers

 * 1878–1910: Bernhard Cossmann
 * 1878–1904: Hugo Heermann
 * 1878–1880: Carl Heymann
 * 1878–1882: Joachim Raff
 * 1878–1892: Clara Schumann
 * 1878–1880 and 1883–84: Julius Stockhausen
 * 1878–1883: Anton Urspruch
 * 1882–1907: Lazzaro Uzielli
 * 1883–1908: Iwan Knorr
 * 1883–1902: James Kwast
 * 1884–1923: Ernst Engesser
 * 1890–1897: Engelbert Humperdinck
 * 1893–1904: Carl Friedberg (also: Karl)
 * 1894–1906: Hugo Becker
 * 1895–1897: Marie Hanfstängl
 * 1896–1933: Bernhard Sekles
 * 1899–1912: Johannes Hegar
 * 1904–1908: Hermann Zilcher
 * 1904–1907 and 1908–1933: Adolf Rebner
 * 1905–1906: Johannes Messchaert (also: Johan)
 * 1906–1933: Alfred Auerbach
 * 1908–1916 and 1929–1942: Alfred Hoehn
 * 1912–1917: Margarete Dessoff
 * 1926–1928: Hermine Bosetti
 * 1926–1932: Ludwig Rottenberg
 * 1928–1933: Mátyás Seiber (Director of the first academic Jazz department)
 * 1930–1933: Herbert Graf (Opera School)
 * 1933–1938: Helmut Walcha
 * 1933–1942: Kurt Hessenberg
 * 1933–1945: Gerhard Frommel
 * 1936–1940: Anton Biersack
 * 1954–1974: Peter Cahn
 * 1958–19??: Alois Kottmann
 * 1976–1982: Albert Mangelsdorff
 * 1985–1996: Richard Rudolf Klein
 * 1981–2000: Gerhard Schedl

Distinguished students

 * 1879–1882: Edward MacDowell
 * 1886–1890: Hans Pfitzner
 * 1891–1893 and 1896–1899: Cyril Scott (Frankfurt Group)
 * 1893–1895: Margarete Dessoff
 * 1893–1897: Norman O'Neill (Frankfurt Group)
 * 1894–1896: Henry Balfour Gardiner (Frankfurt Group)
 * 1894–1901: Walter Braunfels
 * 1895–1900: Percy Grainger (Frankfurt Group)
 * 1895–1903: Johanna Senfter
 * 1895–1898: Hans Jelmoli
 * 1897–1901: Roger Quilter (Frankfurt Group)
 * 1898–1903: Boris Hambourg
 * 1900–1901: Ernest Bloch
 * 1901–1902: Otto Klemperer
 * 1903–1909: Reinhard Oppel
 * 1904–1907: Hans Gebhard-Elsaß
 * 1904–1908: Frederick Septimus Kelly
 * 1908–1910: Richard Tauber
 * 1909–1917: Paul Hindemith
 * 1909–1913: Ernst Toch
 * 1913–1916 and 1918–1920: Ottmar Gerster
 * ca. 1915 : Hans Rosbaud
 * 1917–1931: Kurt Hessenberg
 * 1924–1927: Alexander Schneider

Teachers

 * Alma Moodie
 * since 2005: Barbara Zechmeister

Students



 * Vladimír Ambros
 * Frederic Austin
 * Erich Bender
 * Carlo Bohländer
 * Franz Magnus Böhme
 * Leonard Borwick
 * Catherine Carswell
 * Torsten de Winkel
 * Moritz Eggert
 * Agnes Fink
 * Ernst Fischer
 * Clemens von und zu Franckenstein
 * Oskar Fried
 * Else Gentner-Fischer
 * Frank Gerhardt
 * Konrad Georg
 * Heinz Gietz
 * Ria Ginster
 * Eugen Henkel
 * Daniel Hensel
 * Herbie Hess
 * Robin Hoffmann
 * Alfred Hollins
 * Erich Itor Kahn
 * Alice Kaluza
 * Hans Klotz (musician)
 * Christof Lauer
 * Tiana Lemnitz
 * Uli Lenz
 * Emil Mangelsdorff
 * Annette Marquard
 * Heinz Moog
 * Sibylle Nicolai
 * Walter Rehberg
 * Max Rudolf
 * Fritzi Scheff
 * Erich Schmid
 * Dietrich Schulz-Köhn
 * Johanna Senfter
 * Hermine Spies
 * Rudi Stephan
 * Stefan Thomas
 * Richard Trunk
 * Hans-Jürgen von Bose
 * Hermann Hans Wetzler
 * Heike Matthiesen

Legacy


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.