Melchior Ernst Sachs

Johann Melchior Ernst Sachs (28 February 1843 – 18 May 1917) was a German romantic composer, who also held teaching and performing posts. He studied first at Altdorf Seminary; taught in elementary schools from 1861 to 1863, and later entered the Munich College of Music and remained there from 1863 to 1865, before becoming a pupil there under Joseph Rheinberger, from 1867 to 1869, when it re-opened as the Royal Bavarian Music School, under the overall direction of Hans von Bülow. Sachs conducted the Liederkranz Society from 1868 to 1872, and in 1871 was appointed a teacher of harmony at the Royal Music School. From 1869 until 1873 he conducted a male choral society at Munich, and he was the founder and conductor of the Tonkunstlerverein. As a music theorist he held original opinions on many points. Most of his numerous compositions remain unpublished, but his work includes symphonies; symphonic poems; an opera, Palestrina, which was performed at Ratisbon in 1886; a ballad, Das Thal des Espingo, for chorus and orchestra; a “Pater Noster”; and one work of gigantic dimensions, Kains Schuld und ihre Sühne (Cain, His Sin and Atonement). This production was intended to fill seven evenings