Gustav Bumcke

Gustav Bumcke (18 July 1876 – 4 July 1963) was a German composer and founder of the first German saxophone orchestra. Biography Born on 18 July 1876, in Berlin, after attending the Oberrealschule and subsequent years as a commercial apprentice, Bumcke took lessons in composition with Gustav Kulenkampff (1848–1921), Max Bruch and Engelbert Humperdinck, piano with Hugo Rüdel and Otto Neitzel, and trumpet with Julius Koslek (1835–1905). From 1900 to 1902, he was a theatre director in Constance, Heilbronn and Bayreuth. In 1902, on a trip to Paris, he met the son of Adolphe Sax. Bumcke brought eight saxophones (instruments with the “beautiful, noble sound” ) of all sizes with him to Berlin and since then devoted all his creative energy to the classical saxophone in Germany. From 1903 to 1936, he taught music theory, harmony and composition at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. For lack of good saxophonists, Bumcke played many of his compositions himself and in 1927 founded his own saxophone class at Stern’s Conservatory, then later at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory, from which especially Bumcke’s daughter Hilde became famous as a German saxophonist under her stage name Ingrid Lar