Fritz Volbach (* December 17, 1861 in Wipperfürth; † November 30, 1940 in Wiesbaden) was a German conductor, composer and musicologist.
He was born in Wipperfürth in 1861. After he had been a student of Ferdinand Hiller at the Cologne Conservatory for a short time, he resumed his schooling in Bruchsal also earning his Abitur. He studied philosophy at the universities of Heidelberg and Bonn. In 1886 he became a pupil of the Royal Institute of Church Music, then continued his studies with Eduard Grell at the Academy in the composition department. He was probably his last pupil. During his studies he became a member of the ''Akademische Liedertafel Berlin'' in 1885 in the ''Sondershausen Association'' [1] and of the ''AMV Makaria Bonn'' [2].
After his studies he worked as a teacher at the Institute of Church Music in 1887; he also conducted the Akademische Liedertafel and a choir. In 1891 he became music director in Mainz. In 1899 he received his doctorate at the University of Bonn. In 1907 he became music director in Tübingen and was appointed professor. During the First World War he founded a German symphony orchestra in occupied Belgium with Fritz Brandt under the occupying forces in Brussels. From 1918 he taught at the University of Münster and was also music director and head of the city's music association until 1925. In 1929 he retired.
Volbach's compositional works includes an opera, a symphony and three symphonic poems. His compositions identify him as a conservative late romantic. Some parts of his papers are kept in the University Archive of the Westphalian Wilhelm University of Münster.
His son was the art historian Wolfgang Fritz Volbach.
Source: Wikipedia
Note: Translated from the German version of Wikipedia into English.
