Manfred Gurlitt

Manfred Gurlitt (6 September 1890 – 29 April 1972) was a German opera composer and conductor. He studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck and conducting with Karl Muck. He spent most of his career in Japan. Life Manfred Ludwig Hugo Andreas Gurlitt was born in Berlin on 6 September 1890 to the art dealer Fritz Gurlitt (1854-1893) and Annarella Gurlitt (1856-1935). The Gurlitt family included many who distinguished themselves in the arts. Manfred was the cousin of musicologist Wilibald Gurlitt (1889-1963) and the great-nephew of the composer Cornelius Gurlitt. Another cousin was Hildebrand Gurlitt (1895–1956), an art dealer who was one of a very few authorized by the Nazis to deal in “degenerate art” and whose holdings of art works looted from Jews during the years of Nazi rule came to light in the 21st century. He studied composition for a time with Engelbert Humperdinck and music theory with Hans Hermann and Hugo Kaun. From 1908 to 1910, he was a coach at the Berlin Court Opera and in 1911 acted as musical assistant to Karl Muck at Bayreuth. In 1911-12, he was second conductor in Essen, then in Augsburg for two years. in 1914 he was given the post of first conductor at the Br