 adolf georg wilhelm busch (8 august 1891 &ndash; 9 june 1952) was a german-born violinist and composer. ==life and career== busch was born in siegen in westphalia. he studied at the cologne conservatory with willy hess and bram eldering. his composition teacher was fritz steinbach but he also learned much from his future father-in-law hugo grÃ¼ters in bonn. in 1912, busch founded the vienna konzertverein quartet, consisting of the principals from the konzertverein orchestra, which made its debut at the 1913 salzburg festival. after world war i, he founded the busch quartet, which from the 1920â21 season included gÃ¶sta andreasson, violin, karl doktor, viola, and paul grÃ¼mmer, cello. the quartet was in existence with varying personnel until 1951. the additional member of the circle was rudolf serkin, who became busch's duo partner at 18 and eventually married busch's daughter, irene. the busch quartet and serkin became the nucleus of the busch chamber players, a forerunner of modern chamber orchestras. in 1927, with the rise of adolf hitler, busch decided he could not in good conscience stay in germany, so he emigrated to basel, switzerland. busch was not jewish and was popular in germany, but firmly opposed nazism from the beginning. on 1 april 1933 he repudiated germany altogether and in 1938 he boycotted italy. as the nazis tried to convince him to return to germany, he declared that he would "return with joy on the day that hitler, goebbels und gÃ¶ring are publicly hanged."article kein falscher ton (no wrong note) in the siegener zeitung newspaper 24. dezember 2011, p. 20. the original quote in german is: "mit freuden an dem tag zurÃ¼ckkehrenâ werde, da "hitler, goebbels und gÃ¶ring Ã¶ffentlich gehÃ¤ngtâ wÃ¼rden. on the outbreak of world war ii, busch emigrated from basel to the united states, where he eventually settled in vermont. there, he was one of the founders with rudolf serkin of the marlboro music school and festival. the busch quartet was particularly admired for its interpretations of brahms, schubert, and above all beethoven. it made a series of recordings in the 1930s that included many of these composers' works for string quartet. in 1941, it set down three beethoven quartets that it had not previously recorded, including opus 130. the busch quartet never recorded the grosse fuge, opus 133; an arrangement was recorded by the busch chamber players, with busch leading from the first violin desk. busch was a great soloist, as well as a chamber musician, and live recordings exist of him playing the b
1891_births 1952_deaths Concertmasters German_classical_violinists German_composers German_emigrants_to_the_United_States People_from_Siegen People_from_the_Province_of_Westphalia People_who_emigrated_to_escape_Nazism