Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium – Musikakademie is a music academy and art school located in Frankfurt, Germany. It was founded on 22 September 1878 by the donation of Joseph Hoch, who gave the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament. 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 the 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.
Contents
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).
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)
2022–2025: Fabian Rieser, Caroline Prassel, Karin Franke-André (directorate)
since 2025: Fabian Rieser, Caroline Prassel (directorate)
Teachers and students
Notable 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
Notable 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
1896–1898: Hermann Noetzel
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
1906–1908: Hans Bund
1908–1910: Richard Tauber
1909–1917: Paul Hindemith
1909–1913: Ernst Toch
1913–1916 and 1918–1920: Ottmar Gerster
Teachers
Alma Moodie
since 2005: Barbara Zechmeister
Students
Vladimír Ambros
Frederic Austin
Erich Bender
Carlo Bohländer
Franz Magnus Böhme
Leonard Borwick
Hans Bund
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
Christof Lauer
Tiana Lemnitz
Uli Lenz
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.