Eduard Stein

Stein was born in 1818, the son of the farmer Johann Traugott Stein, in Kleinschirma near Freiberg in Saxony. He attended the grammar school in Freiberg, where his musical inclination was also encouraged by August Ferdinand Anacker, the founder of the Singakademie and conductor of the Bergmusikchor, which had previously been discovered by the local pastor. He then began to study theology at the Leipzig University, but under the influence of Heinrich Marschner and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy he abandoned this in favour of musical training.

After dropping out of university and completing a musical education, Stein was music director of a travelling theatre company in Bautzen until 1845. He then went to Frankfurt (Oder) and first became director of the opera. Later he worked as the conductor of the symphony concerts, the Liedertafel and the Singakademie. In response to his application for the position of Fürstlicher Hofkapellmeister in Sondershausen, he was entrusted with this post in January 1853; he held it until his death on 16 March 1864 at the age of 45. During his time in Sondershausen he also taught, among others, the later Scottish conductor and composer Alexander Mackenzie.

In Altenburg, Stein met Eleonore Natalie Richter (b. 1818), the daughter of a Dresden dance teacher, who came from Annaberg. On 4 October 1842, they married in Bautzen. The marriage produced a son and a daughter, whose traces, however, disappear after Eduard's death.

• Illustration — The ancient Loh-Halle at Lohplatz in Sondershausen As a conductor, Stein succeeded in raising the Hofkapelle, which had been developed into a symphony orchestra by Gottfried Herrmann, to the qualitative level of important orchestras of musically influential German centres. Very early on, he introduced the so-called Zukunftsmusik (also called New German School) of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner, which was still very unusual at the time. In 1856, he tried to get the public in the mood for the innovations by advertising them in the Deutsch. An early performance of Lohengrin on 26 March 1858 gained from Laue an enthusiastic review that prompted Wagner to write to Stein on 3 May: To Stein's rejoinder, Wagner replied on 3 July: The programming and performance practice met with Franz Liszt's admiration and prompted him to come to Sondershausen three times to experience concerts under Stein. Even after Stein's death, further visits followed. With Liszt, the pianist, conductor and feared critic Hans von Bülow and the journalist and editor of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in Leipzig, Franz Brendel, also came to the residential city. With their praising reports, they made the town of Sondershausen and the orchestra widely known in the music world.