Biographical History

Hugo Walter Voigtlander (1859-1933) was a prominent violinist/violist from Germany who performed around the world as a member of various professional orchestras. He became interested in the viola d'amore following his emigration to the United States in 1885.

Hugo Walter Voigtlander, commonly known as Walter Voigtlander, was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1859. He studied violin with A. Raab, the concert master of the symphony there. In 1879 he attended the Leipzig Conservatory of Music where he studied with Henry Schradieck and Friedrich Hermann until 1882. Voigtlander later performed with the Gewandhaus and Theater orchestra under Reinecke, Nikisch, Seidl, Von Bulow, and Rubinstein. Afterwards he joined the Hamburg Concert Orchestra and then the Richard Wagner Theater Orchestra with which he traveled all over Europe.

Voigtlander then returned to Leipzig and studied viola with Hermann. He would go on to play viola in the City Orchestra of Dusseldorf and perform in the "Niederrheinisch Music Festival" under Johannes Brahms and Julius Tausch. In 1885 he immigrated to the United States and lived in Detroit where he became interested in the viola d'amore. He later settled in New York City where he performed on the viola d'amore in Carnegie Hall and other places. He was the violist in the Listemann Quartet and played in the New York Philharmonic Metropolitan under Toscanini until 1914. Voigtlander lived in the Bronx until he died in 1933.

Citation:

UPB files, July 17, 2014 (born in Leipzig, Germany in 1859; who he studied with; where he studied; orchestras he performed with; orchestras he played in; immigrated to the U.S. in 1885; where he performed; lived in the Bronx until he died in 1933)

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