Gustav Brecher

• Name — Gustav Brecher • Born — 5 February 1879 • Birthplace — Eichwald, Austria-Hungary • Died — 1940 5 • Place of death — Ostend, Belgium • Occupation — * Conductor • Composer • Music critic • Organization — * Hamburg State Opera • Leipzig Opera • Illustration — Brecher also conducted the world premiere of Ernst Krenek's opera

Brecher was born in Eichwald, Ore Mountains, then in Austria-Hungary. His Jewish family moved from Bohemia to Leipzig in 1889. Brecher was taught there by Salomon Jadassohn. Richard Strauss conducted his tone poem Rosmersholm in 1896. Brecher made his debut in 1897 at the Leipzig Opera. From 1901, he conducted at the Vienna Court Opera alongside Gustav Mahler. Between 1903 and 1911 he was Kapellmeister at the Hamburg State Opera, where he conducted the world premiere of Busoni's Die Brautwahl. After conducting at the Cologne Opera and Oper Frankfurt, Brecher was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) at the Leipzig Opera from 1924. He was particularly controversial there because of the premieres of Krenek's operas Jonny spielt auf and Leben des Orest, and Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny: Although the Jonny opera was a success, Brecher was dismissed after the Nazis seized power in the spring of 1933, based on the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. In the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, the musicologist Alfred Heuß wrote a malicious commentary on the occasion of the Rienzi performance during the Wagner Festival week on 12 February 1933: "Unsuspecting, Brecher handled his peculiarly small baton for the last time in a Wagner performance." His last appearance in Leipzig was probably Weill's Der Silbersee on 4 March 1933, when he left the podium during the performance because of constant roaring by the SA present, who were attacking his Jewish origins and objecting to the opera. The mayor of Leipzig, Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, granted him leave on 11 March 1933. His path into exile cannot be traced in detail. He conducted the radio orchestra in Leningrad in five concerts. There in 1934, Georges Sébastian wrote: Brecher lived in Berlin for a while, when Erich Ebermayer noted on 13 October 1935 in his diary: • Illustration — Stolperstein for Gustav Brecher in front of the Hamburgische Staatsoper Brecher moved to Prague, where he had to flee once more in 1938. He spent almost a year in Ostend, Belgium, from spring 1939 to May 1940, staying first the Hôtel Wellington and then at the Hôtel Littoral, both on the seafront. He was with his wife Gertrud Deutsch (daughter of Helene and Felix Deutsch), his mother-in-law, Elisabeth 'Lili' Kahn Deutsch and her housekeeper/maid, Hermine Voigtmann. The latter, who was not Jewish, left Ostend in August 1939 The fate of the Brecher family is not known but they disappeared without a trace around May 1940 when the Germans occupied Belgium. Their files in the National Archives of Belgium (Algemeen Rijksarchief) in Brussels retrospectively state they "left for England". It is not certain if they committed suicide or perished at sea. A Stolperstein in front of the Hamburg State Opera reminds of his fate.

Gustav Brecher worked in conducting, music composing, music critic, composed musical work and music composition. He worked at Leipzig.

Gustav Brecher is recorded as conductor, composer, musicologist, opera singer and general music director.