Bohnke, Emil

COMPOSER, CONDUCTOR (GERMANY)
BORN 11 Oct 1888, Zdunska Wola (near Lodz) - DIED 11 May 1928, Pasewalk (near)
CAUSE OF DEATH car crash
GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Landeseigener Friedhof Dahlem, Königin-Luise-Straße 57 (Feld 1 (Ehrengrab))

Emil Bohnke was the son of a merchant. He studied violin and composition under Hans Sitt (1850-1922) and Stephan Krehl (1864-1924) at the Conservatory in Leipzig. In 1901 he continued his studies in Berlin. In 1908 he became a member of the Busch-Quartett, led by Adolf Busch (1891-1952).

In 1919 he married violinist Lilli von Mendelssohn, a daughter of Franz von Mendelsson, the president of the German Congress of Trade and Industry.

He was well known as a violinist as well as a conductor. In 1926 he became the conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Bohnke and his wife died in a car crash near Pasewalk in 1928 when they were looking for a holiday location for their children. Their son Robert Alexander was only one year old at the time. He was brought up by his maternal grand/parents and became a successful composer himself.

In the 1930s the nazis banned his compositions because his wife had been Jewish and his friend Hein Tiessen was a socialist. In later years Robert Alexander played his father's "The Piano Concerto".

Family
• Wife: Bohnke-Von Mendelssohn, Lilli (1919-1928)

Images

The grave of Emil Bohnke and Lilli Bohnke-Von Mendelssohn at the Landeseigener Friedhof Dahlem, Berlin.
Picture by androom (24 Aug 2006)

 

Sources
• Mende, Hans-Jürgen, Lexicon Berliner Grabstätten, Haude & Spener, 2006
Emil Bohnke – Wikipedia


Bohnke-Von Mendelssohn, Lilli

Published: 06 Jan 2007
Last update: 16 Jul 2023