New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-02-16

last nyeninCs concert the house would DC tenueIeu
eyen,ng It is hoped by that time that arrange
ments can be made tor grand requiem periorni'
ance in honor of the dead director.
A TALK WITH DIR. ROSENBERG.
Dr Rosenberg who attended DR.. Damrosch IN MS
last illness said to TRIBUNE reporter last n>ght'
81 had known DR.. Damrosch ever since no was "
vounu man. HIS disposition was most amiao'e
The disease which carried him of so suddenly was
noarmonia He was taken i'll on Tuesday while
conductlng a rehearsal of the Oratorio Society III
Twepty-third-st. The rehearsal was stoppeu anu
he was placed IN a carriage and taken nome a' oi',
The next day he sent for me. he was hot s0i' o.
Mt first and # was thought that he would recover
fror, the attack The next day the opera Of Tam
hansen, was to be given and he thought OF notnine
else Int that he must lead the orchestra on Una.
occasion and IT was with the greatest diihcuiy thao
his family and could induce him TO stay hohe'
lie said What's the use; shall nave 10 20 On Ta
Thursday On that day DIE " aikuio Nv was JoSenb
Schnetter and together attended nm To inc ast
We consulted together, but up TO last hlght VIZ
could not tell whether or not II "oua NC Dotce aa'
attack This morning, however. we ho. "t a
marked change and we knew that ne couIu ny ia
over night. saw his life was ebong las. anu tU n
his family that they might expect his aeath at any
,noment He passed away very quietly at 2:l5
%. m, without having suffered much for an no ,,
before hs death he was in comatose state a.n
While in this condition occasionally muttered to
himself something about music. He was unc3 ,
scious when he died. The last WORDS .ha' ra in
before sinking into a comato>e state were IL. IN
conversation with members OF his 1amiiy aoouo VIC ~.
opera They had to quiet him and ask nm nOo 10
sieak abont it as 1t thought that ne shouiu
not worry about it. All the members of his family
except his son Frank who is IN Denver were present
near at hand at the time 81 h,s to. HIS
wife his son Walter and his three daughters Wtrg
there he eldest daughter was to have oeeh iai'iou
In few weeks"
SKETCH OF THE DIRECTORS CAREER.
A LIFE FULL OF WORK FOR THE ADVANCEMENT o'
MUSIC.
DR. Leopold Damrosch was in his hfty-thlrd year,
having been born on October 22. 1882. Ills ha'iVe
town was Posen Prussia, and there, while lad, he
began the study of music. His patents had
chosen the profession of medicine for HIM and
he acou,esced in the choice, matrlculating at the
medical department of the University at Berlin as
soon as he had completed the usual
eymnasial studies. He had not abandoned
his love for music although he devoted
himself so assiduousv to medicine that
III due course he was graduated with high honors'
and received his medical degree. incidentally ne
continued 10 study music, Hubert Rles being his
teacher on the violin, and the venerable professor
Dehn in composition and counter-pomt. A1'er
graduation ne returned to Posen to practise nedl-
cine and remained there till 1854
In 1855 the physicians earlier and stronger
love for music achieved the mastery over
his adopted profession, and no started out
as a concert violinist. He played at Magdeburg'
and in 1856 at Berlin, where his talents
were so much admired that on the recommendation
Of musical friends at the Russian capital he went
TO Weimar where he won the friendship Oh LsZt
and Joined the body of enthusiastic young mu-
sieians who rallied around that great musician
xvara fighting the battles OF the new
German school. His musical creed was here formed.
rs he himself confirmed In series OF articles WIFI
ten for the Neue-Zeitschrif fir Musk. HIS
first official appointment was as director
of the music at the Stradttheatre IN
Posen In 1866 he was called to NIL
the same post at Breslau. There he renamed as
ondnctor of the Orchesterverein, after he had re-
,;cned the theatrical position, until 1871 when the
Arion Society of this city induced him TO come to
tins CITY as its musical director With all his other
md more exactng DATES, he filled THIS position
until little more than year ago. when ne re-
signed. In 1853 lie married Helene Won Helmourg,
a talented singer, with whom he lived happily
and had five children, all OF whom sur
Vive him The eldest SOD, Frank Damrosch, is
snuerintendent of music in the public schools OF
De,ver and director of the local choral society of
that c,tv Walter is known in this city as his
assistant IN the OratOro Society ana at the
METROPOLITAN Opera House and as director OF the
Harmonic Society of Newark. Until yesterday
fora wear or two, he also director of music In
Plymouth Church. Brooklyn. The other three
children are daughters, the youngest being thirteen
years old.
DR. pAMRosCH's AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENTS.
Though Dr. Danrosch enjoyed an Euro
pean reputation when he came to TINS
country his best and most enduring
work was that which he accomplished here. The
Oratorio and Symphony societies. and the season
ofGerrnan opera so rudey interrupted after an I'M
exampled success are the monuments which attest
this fact. For years before his musical activity
beran here the city had practically been without
q firmly established and worthy choral organlza-
ton. except the Liederkranz and Arion which are
German institutions. The large choir which
existed when be came were torn by internal dis
sessions and were accomplishing little else than to
perpetuate the Chrismastlde performances of " The
Messiah DIR. Damrosch had naturally
n longing to stand at the head of a
capable choral society. but he knew tie difficulties
I'm the way of establishing one, and for two years
confined his efforts to the narrow and unsat-
isfactory field afforded him by the Aron,
a society of men SINGERS. In the spring Of
1873 Mrs Morris Reno and other friends called
upon him and urged HIM to organize mixed choir.
He consented to take the direction OF one,
aud two weeks afterward the first meet
tosio Society was held in Dr.. Damrosch's
house which then was IN Thirty -hfth-st. There
we're twelve or fifteen men and women present, all
OF whom pledged themselves to do missionary work
fer the enterprise and bring additional voices
to the next meeting Trinity Chapel was secured
for a study-roOm and the Work was begun
with zeal equally distributed between the director
On Dsosmbsr g. 1873 the first concert of the
warsrooms which had succeeded Trinity Chapel az
the place of weekly meeting Tho choir by thu