Hans Lange (February 17, 1884 in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

– August 13, 1960 in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

) was a German-American

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

and

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

. He was a son of Paul Lange, who had been a lecturer for music at the

American College for Girls The American Robert College of Istanbul ( or ), often abbreviated as Robert or RC, is a highly selective, independent, co-educational, private high school in Turkey. The school is situated in a wooded campus on the European side of Istanbul in ...

and German High School Istanbul in the 1890s, and later was appointed the Sultan's director of music. Hans Lange himself was an alumnus of German High School Istanbul. Lange was educated in Prague and other European cities. After assignments in several German cities, one being in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

, he entered the United States in 1925 with a German orchestra to give concerts. The orchestra was dissolved during the tour, and Lange had to restart his career. Lange joined the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as a violinist in 1927, but began soon to conduct as well. He became assistant to

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

, and rehearsed almost all his performances. At that time, he also worked on his own as a conductor: besides numerous assignments as conductor of the New York Philharmonic in concerts at Carnegie Hall until 1936, he recorded a concert of Wagner excerpts with the famous soprano

Kirsten Flagstad Kirsten Malfrid Flagstad (12 July 1895 – 7 December 1962) was a Norwegian opera singer, who was the outstanding Wagnerian soprano of her era. Her triumphant debut in New York on 2 February 1935 is one of the legends of opera. Giulio Gatti-Casaz ...

for

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

. In 1936–1946 he worked as ''Associate Conductor'' of the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...

. As he had not taken up US citizenship during the war, his contract with CSO was not extended after 1946. On May 12, 1940, he recorded

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 ...

's Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor") with the CSO and the Polish American piano virtuoso Jozef Hofmann. The recording (35 minutes) has been published in CSO's own historic series and in Jozef Hofmann anthologies. In the same year Lange conducted the CSO during its legendary concert with U.S. piano legend

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer and actor. He was born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish Americans, Polish origin and enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, ...

at the

Pabst Theater The Pabst Theater is an indoor performance and concert venue and landmark of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Colloquially known as "the Pabst", the theater hosts about 100 events per year. Built in 1895, it is the fourth-oldest continuously ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. In 1946-1949 Lange worked in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

, with the local Friends of Music Orchestra (later

Toledo Symphony Orchestra The Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts was created in 2019 when the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the Toledo Ballet merged. Based in Toledo, Ohio, it operated with a $13.2 million budget in its fiscal year 2020 and maintains the two brand ...

). On April 13, 1947, he was invited again by his former boss Toscanini to New York to perform as guest conductor at the

NBC Symphony Orchestra The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, the parent corporation of the National Broadcasting Company especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC ...

. In 1950, Lange started to work with the Albuquerque Civic Symphony, less than two years after his predecessor Kurt Frederick had managed to bring the world premiere of Schoenberg's "

A Survivor from Warsaw ''A Survivor from Warsaw'', Op. 46, is a work for narrator, chorus and orchestra by the Los Angeles–based Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, written in tribute to Holocaust victims. The main narration is written in ''Sprechgesang'' style, betw ...

" to Albuquerque in November 1948. Lange transformed the ACS from an amateur ensemble into what is today known as

New Mexico Symphony Orchestra The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra (NMSO) was a symphony orchestra in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It operated from 1932 until 2011, when it declared bankruptcy. History The orchestra, originally called the Albuquerque Civic Symphony, was organized by ...

(NMSO) and one of the leading professional orchestras in the United States until it went bankrupt in 2011. he died on August 13 1960 in New Mexico. He was a National Patron of

Delta Omicron Delta Omicron () is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship. History Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity was founded on September 6, 1909 a ...

, an international professional music fraternity.Delta Omicron
During his tenure in Chicago, Lange was one of the teachers and mentors of composer Leon Stein.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lange, Hans 1884 births 1960 deaths German male musicians Deutsche Schule Istanbul alumni 20th-century male musicians German expatriates in the Ottoman Empire German emigrants to the United States American expatriates in the Ottoman Empire