Paul Breisach
born Vienna, June 3, 1896; died New York, Dec 26, 1952
Documents associated with this person:
Austrian conductor, pupil of Schenker's, also of Bruno Walter and Franz Schreker.
Career Summary
Numerous recordings of Breisach's conducting exist, including opera arias with Melchior in 1924 and 1925; in the early 1930s he was a conductor at the Städtische Oper in Berlin: a recording exists of his conducting Hans Gál's ballet Scaramouche there in 1931, and he conducted the first performance of Schreker's Der Schmied von Gent (disrupted by anti-Semitic riots) in 1932.
He emigrated to the USA in 1939. His debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York was of Aida in 1941 and his last performance there of Die Walküre in 1946; recordings exist of him conducting The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni at the Met in 1943 (GHCD 2203/4/5; GHCD 2236/37), and also works by Debussy, Duparc and others.
Breisach and Schenker
Having been introduced to Schenker by Ludwig Karpath in April 1913 (OJ 12/9, [6]), he was a pupil of Schenker’s from October of that year through December 1918, and his lessons are recorded in Schenker's Lessonbooks (OC 3)--it is noticeable that Schenker devoted time in lessons with him to the orchestral repertory.
Correspondence with Schenker
One postcard from Breisach to Schenker survives (OC 44/14), and one letter to Jonas (OJ 36/99).
Sources:
- NGDM2
- Oster Collection Finding List
- Oswald Jonas Memorial Collection Checklist
- various websites
- Eybl, Martin & Fink-Mennel, Evelyn, Schenker Traditionen (Vienna: Bohlau, 2006), pp. 239/40