German composer and conductor.
Born in Posen on October 8, 1880, Clemens Carl Otto Schmalstich studied philosophy in Bonn for four semesters after attending the Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium in Posen at the request of his father who was against his son studying music. In 1900 he became a member of the Landsmannschaft Salia Bonn.[1] During his time in Berlin Schmalstich became a member of the Landsmannschaft Marchia Berlin (today: Landsmannschaft Marchia Berlin zu Osnabrück).
In 1902, the young student succeeded in getting into the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin. He "learned" piano there with Professor Ernst Rudorff, but two years later he moved as a composer's student to the master class of Engelbert Humperdinck (creator of the opera Hansel and Gretel, among others), who became his fatherly friend and arranged for him the position of conductor at the Neues Schauspielhaus in Berlin. Here he conducted Humperdinck's music to Shakespeare's "Tempest," among other works. Even then, Schmalstich won a whole series of academy prizes. His friend Leo Blech appointed him to the Royal Opera in Berlin in 1910, where Schmalstich served as Kapellmeister alongside Blech, Richard Strauss and Karl Muck until 1919.
