Emil Bohnke

Emil Bohnke (11 October 1888 – 11 May 1928) was a German violist, composer and conductor active in Berlin. Life Born in Zduńska Wola near Łódź, Poland, Emil Bohnke was the son of textile manufacturer Ferdinand Bohnke. From 1901 to 1908, he studied violin with Hans Sitt and composition with Stephan Krehl at the Leipzig Conservatory, continuing his studies in Berlin at the Prussian Academy of Arts from 1908 with Friedrich Gernsheim. Bohnke taught for two years at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. In 1919, he married violinist Lilli von Mendelssohn (born 1897) of the Mendelssohn family and fathered three children, the youngest of which was pianist Robert-Alexander Bohnke (1927–2004). He was the violist of the Bandler Quartet and the Busch Quartet (1919–1921) led by Adolf Busch. Bohnke played a 1699 viola by luthier Giovanni Grancino given to him by his father-in-law. As conductor, he headed the Leipzig Symphony Orchestra (1923–1926) and succeeded Oscar Fried as principal conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in 1926. Bohnke and his wife are buried at Friedhof Dahlem in Berlin. Music Bohnke composed a body of sixteen opuses, comprising mainly chamber music and piano pieces, but al