Franz Johannes Balthasar von Hößlin, also Hoesslin (31 December 1885 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

– 25 September 1946 near

Sète Sète (; , ), also historically spelled ''Cette'' (official until 1928) and ''Sette'', is a commune in the Hérault department, in the region of Occitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sétois'' (male) and ''Sétoises'' (fem ...

) was a German conductor. His second wife was the Jewish

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

(1889–1946). Hoesslin was one of foremost conductors of Wagner's music in the 1920s and 1930s, conducting at the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...

in 1927, 1928 and 1934, and – despite having been exiled – again in 1938, 1939 and 1940 after the personal intervention of

Winifred Wagner Winifred Marjorie Wagner (née Williams; 23 June 1897 – 5 March 1980) was the English-born wife of Siegfried Wagner, the son of Richard Wagner, and ran the Bayreuth Festival after her husband's death in 1930 until the end of World War II i ...

. The exile to Switzerland was occasioned after Hoesslin, then music director of the Breslau Opera, refused to conduct the playing of the Horst-Wessel song at a state ceremony. He and his wife were given 28 days to leave the city. Hoesslin responded by one final sold-out concert at which he pointedly conducted

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus number, Op. 125, is a choral symphony, the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many criti ...

concluding with Schiller's "

Ode to Joy "Ode to Joy" ( ) is an ode written in the summer of 1785 by the German poet, playwright, and historian Friedrich Schiller. It was published the following year in the Thalia (German magazine), German magazine ''Thalia''. In 1808, a slightly revi ...

". The Hoesslins went first to Florence, but when

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

's Italy also presented problems, then moved to Geneva where

Ernest Ansermet Ernest Alexandre Ansermet (; 11 November 1883 – 20 February 1969)"Ansermet, Ernest" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 435. was a Swiss conductor. Biography Anserme ...

had invited von Hoesslin to conduct the

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall. In addition to symphony concerts, the OSR performs as the opera orchestra in productions at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. History ...

. Hoesslin conducted three performances of Elektra by

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

at the

Odeon of Herodes Atticus The Odeon of Herodes Atticus (; also called Herodeion or Herodion; ) is a stone Roman theatre structure located on the southwest slope of the Acropolis of Athens, Greece. The building was completed in AD 161 and then renovated in 1950. Ancien ...

in Nazi-occupied Athens in late June and early July 1942. He also conducted two performances of the Ninth Symphony of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

during the same tour. On September 25, 1946, the Hoesslins were killed in an airplane accident while returning to Geneva from Barcelona. After missing the scheduled flight and being pressed to conduct a performance of ''

Così fan tutte (''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written ...

'' at the Geneva Opera, the couple chartered a small private plane. The plane crashed in the sea off

,"Franz Balthasar Johannes von Hößlin"
geneal.net killing all on board.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoesslin, Franz von 1885 births 1946 deaths German male conductors (music) 20th-century German conductors (music) 20th-century German male musicians Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1946 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in France