Otto Floersheim last (born in Aachen, 2 March 1853;
Career
He received his musical education under
Ferdinand Hiller in
Cologne, and emigrated to the United States in 1875. There he became an editor of the
Musical Courier in 1880. From 1894 to 1904, he was in charge of its
Berlin bureau.
James Huneker describes him as "fat, rather pompous, good-humoured and perspiring."
He is remembered for a damning review of an early performance of Richard Strauss's A Hero's Life: "... alleged symphony ... revolutionary in every sense of the word. The climax of everything that is ugly, cacophonous, blatant and erratic, the most perverse music I ever heard in all my life, is reached in the chapter 'The Hero's Battlefield.' The man who wrote this outrageously hideous noise, no longer deserving of the word music, is either a lunatic, or he is rapidly approaching idiocy." ( Musical Courier, April 19, 1899)
Works
His orchestral compositions include a "Prelude and Fugue," which was played in New York City under the direction of Theodore Thomas; "Alla Marcia," which was produced under Frank van der Stucken; a symphonic poem called
Consolation, which was performed by the principal musical societies in the United States; and a piano composition with orchestra and organ accompaniment entitled
Elevation, which was produced in
Brooklyn under the direction of
Anton Seidl. Another work for orchestra is
Scherzo.
Notes
- Attribution
