Paul Dessau
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About
Wrote operas, ballets, and symphonies, as well as propaganda music produced by the German Democratic Republic. He based his oratorio "Hagadah shel Pessach" on a libretto by Max Brod.
Before Fame
He majored in violin at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin, beginning in 1909. He was a répétiteur at Hamburg's City Theatre in 1912.
Trivia
He was vice president of the Deutsche Akademie der Künste from 1957 until 1962.
Family Life
His family was musical, with his grandfather serving as a cantor and his uncle working as a concertmaster at the Royal Opera House. His cousin was the well-known operetta composer Jean Gilbert. He married choreographer Ruth Berghaus in 1954.
Associated With
He served as Kapellmeister at Cologne's opera house under Otto Klemperer from 1919 until 1923.
