Leopold de Maré

1. These positions have not been confirmed. The Concertgebouw music hall in Amsterdam opened on April 11, 1888. Prior to that there was a succession of orchestras dating back to 1864: the Park Orchestra (Parkorkest), the Palace Orchestra (Paleisorkest) , The Amsterdam Orchestral Society (Amsterdamse Orkestvereeniging), and the orchestras of Felix Meritis and Benjamin Bilse. The first performance in the new Concertgebouw featured a chorus, orchestra, and soloists assembled and conducted by Henri Viotta. It was a monster concert that included Einzug der Gäste from Tannhäuser, Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah, Suite in D by J.S. Bach, Der Herbst from Jahreszeitn by Haydn, and the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven. The first concert by the new resident Philharmonisch Orchestra followed the same year on November 4, 1888 in an interesting program that included the Symphony No. 3 (Irish) in F minor, op. 28 by Charles Villiers Stanford. The members of the orchestra were hand-selected by the director Willem Kes, who had previously led the Amsterdam Orchestral Society. It is certainly possible for Leopold de Maré to have been a member of any of these organizations in Amsterdam. He would not have stayed for long, however, if he were to move on to Berlin before coming to the United States in 1891.
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2. Frederick A. Schwab was co-manager with John Levine of Levine's Musical Bureau, New York, which recruited, contracted, and provided management for musicians. He had been recruiting musicians for Thomas for over a decade. Ten years earlier Schwab had been sent to Europe by Thomas for the purpose of engaging artists for his 1881 Musical Festival in New York. Now, in March 1891, just as Schwab was leaving on his latest mission, the National League of Musicians was holding a convention in Milwaukee. A major topic on the agenda was the recruiting of foreign musicians in general and Thomas' new Chicago Orchestra in particular. Following the Thomas' death in 1904 the Chicago Orchestra was renamed the Theodore Thomas Orchestra before taking its present name, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1913.
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3. Hermann Dutschke, Sr. was a member of horn of the New York Philharmonic from 1895 to 1913. He was born on July 17, 1855 in Obercunnersdorf, Saxony, Germany, and came to the United States on September 26, 1891. Prior to joining the Chicago Orchestra he had been a member of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester (1883-84), the Theater Orchestra of Basel (1885), the Concertgebouw Orchestra (1888-89), and the Bavarian State Hofkapelle, Munich (1889-91). In his first season with the Chicago Symphony he performed the Horn Concerto, op.11 by Richard Strauss on January 29-30, 1892 which Mr. de Maré also performed on March 20-21, 1908. Moving to the New York Philharmonic in 1895, Mr. Dutschke was principal horn until 1909, except for the 1902-03 season when he was replaced with Xaver Reiter by Walter Damrosch. In 1909 Gustav Mahler once again hired Reiter as solo horn; Mr. Dutschke continued in the section until 1913. In 1904 played the world premiere of Sinfonia Domestica with the composer, Richard Strauss conducting the Wetzler Symphony Orchestra in New York. Strauss wrote his first impression of Dutschke after a rehearsal: "The first hornist is Dutschke; good, but insecure at counting." Apparently Dutschke made his entrances correctly at the premiere, because Strauss' only comment referred to "the horns, who squeezed out their high A splendidly." Mr. Dutschke was also active as a chamber musician while in Chicago and in New York. Mr. Dutschke died September 7, 1918. His son, Hermann Dutschke, Jr. was also a horn player in the New York Philharmonic (1920-23) and in the New York theaters.
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4. Ernst Ketz (ca.1853 - ca.1901) had been a member of the Bilse'sche Kapelle formed by Benjamin Bilse in Berlin in 1867. In 1882 fifty-four of the members resigned from Bilse to form what soon became the Berlin Philharmonic. He was also a regular at the Bayreuth Festivals from 1886 to 1894. Mr. Ketz moved to Cologne to join the Gürzenich-Orchester where he performed the First Horn Concerto, op. 11 of Richard Strauss in 1891. In April 1893 he came to the U.S. as a member of the Garde du Corps Cavalry Band commanded by staff trumpeter Gustav Herold as one of two military bands representing Germany in the Columbian Exposition. Two years later he returned to the U.S. to take the position of principal horn in the Chicago Orchestra arriving with his wife, Else, in New York on October 4, 1895. During his year in Chicago, Mr, Ketz was called upon to perform with local chamber ensembles. Mrs Ketz, an accomplished alto who had sung at Bayreuth, also made several appearances. After only one season in Chicago he returned to the Gürzenich-Orchester in Cologne. By coming to Chicago he missed performing the world premiere of Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel on October 4, 1895 in Cologne, however he was the principal horn with Gürnzenich in the premiere of that composer's Don Quixote in 1898. Ferdinand Hummel dedicated his Nocturne for Violin, Cello, Horn, Harp and Organ to him. He was also the dedicatée of Cologne Conservatory colleague Ernst Heuser's (1863-1942) Andante appassionato für Waldhorn mit Begleitung des Pianoforte (1900).
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5. Leopold and Erna had been married in 1886. In February, 1900 his sister, Cornelia brought suit against Mr. Albert Fuchs for $15,000 alleging breach of promise to marry her. Later that year, she had a daughter out of wedlock whom she named Erna C. L. de Maré. According to family researchers the child was placed in an "institute", but in 1910 she was living with Leopold and his second wife, Else. She later went to live with Else's parents in Milwaukee and became a telephone operator for First Wisconsin Telephone Company.
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6. Else was born May 16, 1887 and was some twenty-five years younger than Leopold. The couple had three children, Leona Marie. (b. November 19, 1910) Thomas Frederick Ernst (b. February 13, 1911) and Theodore (b. November 25, 1918), as well as raising Leopold's niece, Erna C. L. de Maré (see note 5). Thomas F. de Maré died on April 22, 1917 in Milwaukee and was apparently had been living with his grandparents, Ernst and Eleanore Beyer, along with his cousin Erna. Else's father, Ernst W. Beyer, was a music teacher in Milwaukee, and cellist in the Milwaukee Trio which included J. Erich Schmaal, piano, and Hermann Zeitz, violin.
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