Mollenhauer was born in Erfurt, Prussia. He studied under Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst and Louis Spohr, and had become famous in Germany and at Saint Petersburg before he was twenty-five years old. To escape conscription, he went to England, where he met conductor Louis-Antoine Jullien, and accompanied him to New York City in 1853. He settled there and became a founder in America of the Conservatory method of teaching the violin. Mollenhauer's best-known compositions for the violin are his quartets. He also wrote the operas, The Corsican Bride (1861), Love among the Breakers (also known as Down among the Breakers; 1878),^[1]^[2]^[3] and The Masked Ball (also known as The Wager; 1879). He soloed with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for six years.^[4] He also created 2 pieces for violin with piano accompaniment, "The Boy Paganini" and "The Infant Paganini" both are still played worldwide.^[5] Among those he taught were African-American soloist and orchestra director, Walter F. Craig.^[6]

Biography

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References