Weidlich, Fritz

Fritz Weidlich ( German: Fritz Weidlich ; July 17, 1898 , Vienna - August 16, 1952 , Innsbruck ) - Austrian conductor and pianist.

He studied in Vienna, from 1915-1919. served in the army. Demobilized, he returned to Vienna and initially played the violin in the orchestra. From 1922 he worked as a conductor in Lubeck , then from 1928 in Opava , in 1934-1935. choirmaster of the Vienna folk opera .

In 1935-1942 led the Innsbruck City Orchestra . He also conducted at the Innsbruck Opera, taught piano at the city conservatory, where Otmar Zuytner was among his students. In 1942-1943 the general director of the occupied Lemberg ( Lvov ) was personally introduced to the Lviv public by Hans Frank (who, however, was forced to be content with Weidlich instead of the desired Herbert Karayan ) ^[1] . Then in 1943-1945. headed the Pressburg Orchestra ( Bratislava ). With the end of World War II, he returned to Innsbruck and, thanks to the intercession of a younger colleague, conductor Hans Wolf , who served in the US Army, received permission from the American occupation administration to return to concert activity. He again headed the city orchestra and directed it until the end of his life. He restored the team after the wartime difficulties, performed with such soloists as Ernst von Donagni , Ricardo Odnopozov , Wolfgang Schneiderhan , Gaspar Cassado , Pierre Fournier , Ludwig Hölscher , Friedrich Wührer . As a pianist, he performed in concert all the sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert , works of Tyrolean composers.

He recorded with the Mozarteum Orchestra the hundredth symphony of Joseph Haydn and the Twentieth concert of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (soloist and conductor), left a number of other recordings.