Fritz Busch

13 March 1890

born in Siegen

 

1906–1909

studies at the Cologne Conservatoire, conducting with Frith Steinbach, piano with Karl Boettcher and Lazzaro Uzielli, and theory and composition with Otto Klauwell

 

1909–1910

Conductor at the Deutsches Theater in Riga

 

1909–1912

Chief conductor of the Spa Orchestra in Bad Pyrmont, where he frequently meets Max Reger

 

1910–1910

Conductor at the Deutsches Theater in Riga

 

1910–1912

Musical director of the Gotha Musikverein

 

1911

Marriage with Grete Boettcher († 1966) in Mengeringhausen

 

1912–1918

Music Director of the City of Aachen

 

4 April 1914

Birth of the son Hans Peter Busch

 

1914–1918

volunteers at the beginning of the Great War, fights near Langemarck, receives the Iron Cross, falls severely ill and is transferred to Rudolstadt as instructor of recruits; he is frequently dispensed in order to conduct concerts in Aachen and elsewhere

 

10 June 1916

Birth of the daughter Margareta Busch, who in 1940 married the baritone Martial Singher

 

1918–1922

Court conductor, later General Music Director, of the Court, later State Orchestra of Württemberg in Stuttgart

 

6 October 1919

Birth of the daughter Gisela Busch

 

1922–1933

Saxonian General Music Director, Dresden

 

May 1933

goes to England, from where in June he emigrates to South America

 

28 May 1934

becomes founder Music Director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and opens the festival with Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro

 

1934–1940

conducts operatic and concert performances in Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Glyndebourne

 

June/July 1940

flight from the Nazis with wife and son from Stockholm to America via Moscow, Vladivostok and Japan

 

1941–1945

conducting activities in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima and New York

 

1945–1949

Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera New York, alongside concerts in Montevideo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Chicago and Buenos Aires

 

1950–1951

returns as Music Director to Glyndebourne

 

September/October 1950

guest appearences at the Vienna State Opera; Busch is scheduled to become the new General Music Director from 1951/2

 

February 1951

first post-war appearances in Germany in Cologne and Hamburg

 

August/September 1951

conducts opera performances at the Edinburgh Festival; last public appearance on 8 September conducting Don Giovanni

 

14 September 1951

dies in London

 

Adolf Busch

8 August 1891

born in Siegen

 

1901

first violin tuition

 

1902–1909

studies at the Cologne Conservatoire with Professor Willy Hess, Professor Bram Eldering and Professor Fritz Steinbach, financially supported by the Düsseldorf couple Schmitz-Scholl

 

1908

First encounter with Max Reger, for whom he privately performs the latter’s Violin Concerto from memory; Reger is delighted

 

seit 1909

activities as a soloist

 

ab 1912

leader of the Wiener Konzertvereins-Orchester and of the Wiener Konzertvereins-Quartett, renamed in 1919 Busch Quartet

 

1913

marries Frieda Grüters († 1946) in Bonn

 

21 June 1917

Birth of the daughter Irene († 1998), who is married from 1935 to Rudolf Serkin

 

1918–1922

Professor of Violin at the Berlin Conservatoire

 

from 1920

duo partner of Rudolf Serkin; 1926 official founding of the Busch/Serkin Trio

 

1927–1939

in Basle, acquires the Swiss Citizenship in 1935

 

1929–1930

Teacher of Yehudi Menuhin

 

April 1933

cancels all concert engagements in Germany in consequence of the beginning pogrom

 

1935

founds his own chamber orchestra

 

1938

Co-founder of the International Music Festival in Lucerne

 

1939

emigration to the US

 

1947

return to Europe

 

1947

marries Dr. Hedwig Vischer († 2006), a childhood friend of Irene Serkin

 

6. Dezember 1948

Birth of the son Nicholas Ragnar († 2005)

 

from 1949

returns to Germany as a performer

 

1950

Co-founder of the School of Music in Marlboro (Vermont)

 

18. November 1950

Birth of the son Thomas

 

18. Dezember 1951

last public appearance in Basle (Brahms’s Violin Concerto)

 

9. Juni 1952

dies in Guildford (Vermont) shortly after having completed a setting of Psalm 6 for chorus, orchestra and organ, Op. 70

 

Adolf Busch was a prolific composer, his œuvre comprising vocal, instrumental, organ and chamber music; only music for the stage is missing in his output

Willi Busch

23 April 1893

born in Siegen
bookseller’s apprentice at the P. J. Tonger bookshop in Cologne
attends the Actors’ School in Cologne

 

1912–1914

first engagement at the Deutsches Theater in Cologne

 

1914

engagement at the Deutsches Künstlertheater in Berlin

 

1914–1915

fights at the Eastern front during the Great War

 

1916–1917

is a member of the front theatre at the German Theatre in Brussels

 

1919–1947

Senior actor at the newly founded Bochum Municipal Theatre, where he performs all major classical and many contemporary roles; is hailed as an impressive character actor

 

31 June 1931

marries the actress Margarethe Thelemann († 1994) who ends her career after the marriage

 

24 March 1932

Birth of the son Frieder

 

1939–1942

Director of the Westphalian Actors’ School in Bochum

 

1945–1946

rebuilds the Theatre after the Second World War

 

1947–1951

Member of the ensemble of the Cologne Municipal Theatre

 

10 May 1951

dies in Cologne after having collapsed on stage during rehearsals

 

Elisabeth Busch

6 October 1894

born in Siegen
studies at the Arts and Crafts School in Düsseldorf
receives tuition as an actress at the “Deutsche Werkstätten” in Cologne
first engagement at a small theatre

 

1917

performs at the Deutsches Theater in Brussels together with her Brother Willi

 

1917

marries Bruno Senkpiel

 

1918

Birth of the daughter Gisa

 

1920

appears in a silent movie

 

1927

is divorced from her 1st husband

 

1931

2nd marriage to Heinrich Krampe

 

22 September 1965

dies in Düsseldorf

 

Hermann Busch

24 June 1897

born in Siegen

 

1906

first cello tuition from the father
studies at the Cologne Conservatoire with Professor Friedrich Grützmacher

 

from 1912

studies at the Vienna Musikakademie with Professor Paul Grümmer

 

during the Great War

as a soldier first member of a band in Goch at the Lower Rhine, then of the Brussels Symphony Orchestra
1919–1923
Solo cellist in Bochum and member of the Treichler Quartet

 

1922–1951

performing together with Adolf Busch and Rudolf Serkin; 1926 official founding of the Busch/Serkin Trio

 

1923–1927

Solo cellist of the Wiener Symphonie-Orchester (previously Konzertvereins-Orchester); until 1930 additionally extensive activity as a soloist, later increasingly performing together with his brothers Fritz and Adolf

 

18. Mai 1924

marries Lotte Ising († 2000)

 

1925

Birth of the daughter Trudy

 

1927–1933

Teacher at the newly-founded Folkwang School for Music, Dance and Recitation in Essen

 

1930–1933

Cellist in the Busch Quartet as successor to Paul Grümmer

 

April 1933

cancels all performances in Germany in consequence of the beginning pogrom and emigration to Basle

 

from 1935

Member of the Busch Chamber Players

 

1940

moves to the US

 

1950

Co-founder of the School of Music in Marlboro (Vermont)

 

1954–1965

Professor at the University of Miami (Florida)

 

3. Juni 1975

dies in Bryn Mawr (Pennsylvania)

 

Heinrich Busch

28 June 1900

born in Siegen
studies piano in Leipzig, music theory with Max Reger
studies piano with Max von Pauer in Stuttgart

 

1919

studies in Berlin

 

13. Februar 1929

dies in Duisburg after medical mistreatment

 

composer particularly of Lieder

Magdalene Busch

9 January 1904

born in Siegburg
trains as a ballet dancers

 

1922

commits suicide