Karl Eduard Goepfart (* March 8, 1859 in Mönchenholzhausen near Erfurt; † January 30, 1942 in Weimar) was a German musician, composer and conductor.
Goepfart was the oldest son of the teacher and cantor Christian Heinrich Goepfart. In his childhood, like his brothers Otto (organist and city cantor in Weimar) and Franz (painter and director of the ''State Drawing School'' in Weimar), he received an excellent education from his father who came from a family of musicians. In 1873 he became a student at the ''Grand Ducal Orchestra and Music School'' in Weimar. At his father's invitation he travelled to the United States of America in 1873 where he gave piano concerts and became Kapellmeister in Baltimore. In 1876 he continued his studies in Weimar and became a member of the ''Thursday Round'' with Franz Liszt. In 1877 he entered military service and was a regimental musician until 1880. During this time he mainly created re-instrumentations of works by Liszt and others as well as smaller works (marches, songs, chamber music). From 1880 Karl Goepfart began his years of travel as a choral conductor (Ulm, Mannheim, Magdeburg, Baden-Baden, Remscheid) but always returned to Weimar. In 1885 he created the fairy tale opera ''Beerenlieschen''. At the premiere in the same year at the Weimar court theatre, Karl Goepfart took over the musical direction. This was followed by the opera ''Quintin Messis - the Blacksmith of Antwerp'' which was premiered at the Weimar Court Theatre in 1887. From 1909 to 1927 Goepfart lived and worked in Potsdam.
He also worked as a violin maker[1] Goepfart died in Weimar and was buried next to his wife in the ''Bornstedt Cemetery'' in Potsdam.
Source: Wikipedia
Not: Translated from the German version of Wikipedia into English.
