Ferdinand Manns

Ferdinand Manns (August 27 1844, in Witzenhausen – 26 July 1922, in Oldenburg) was a German composer and conductor as well as a court music director in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. Life Manns was the son of a Witzenhausen customs official and received piano lessons in his early youth and, after his family moved to Kassel, violin lessons when he was about ten. In addition, he trained in compositional techniques. From the age of 17 he was active as a violinist in several orchestras, with his most prominent being the Bremen Theater Orchestra starting in 1866. He composed numerous pieces of stage music for the . Furthermore, Manns wrote three symphonies in Bremen, of which the second symphony in A major was premiered in Oldenburg on April 22, 1887, under his direction. Manns became known in his own time through a wealth of other orchestral and chamber music works. In 1888, he was appointed as the concertmaster in the Oldenburg Court Orchestra. This gave him an important advantage when the director of the court orchestra, court conductor Albert Dietrich, retired for health reasons in 1891. Manns was able to prevail in the subsequent application process against strong competition, such