Schillings, Max von

COMPOSER, CONDUCTOR, THEATRE MANAGER (GERMANY)
BORN 19 Apr 1868, Düren, Nordrhein-Westfalen - DIED 24 Jul 1933, Berlin
BIRTH NAME Schillings, Max Emil Julius von
CAUSE OF DEATH lung embolism
GRAVE LOCATION Frankfurt am Main, Hessen: Hauptfriedhof (Gewann C, Gruft 48 (ashes))

Max von Schillings was a pupil of Caspar Joseph Brambach and Otto von Königslöw in Bonn. In Munich he studied law and philosophy from 1889 to 1890, but he concentrated on music. In 1892 he went to Bayreuth to work as a repetitor. In the same year he married his cousin Caroline Josefa Peill. He worked as a conductor and a as music teacher in Munich and in 1903 he obtained a professorship. One of his students was Wilhelm Furtwängler.

From 1908 to 1918 he was General Musical Director at the Königlichen Hoftheater Stuttgart. In 1910 he made headlines when he wanted to commit his mother-in-law Wilhelmine Peill-Schillings to a mental hospital after she appointed a new asset manager. From 1919 to 1925 he was the Genral Director of the Prussian State Opera in Berlin. After that he toured in Europe and the USA as a conductor. In 1923 he divorced Caroline and in the same year he married Barbara Kemp. In 1932 he was elected president of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin and in 1933 he joined the NSDAP after the nazis had come to power. He forced Arnold Schönberg out of his contract for life and Franz Schreker into retirement. He died in 1933 in Berlin after colon cancer surgery.

Related persons
• was pupil of Brambach, Caspard Joseph
• cooperated with Dovsky, Beatrice
• was teacher of Furtwängler, Wilhelm
• has a connection with Schönberg, Arnold
• was a friend of Strauss, Richard
• was influenced by Wagner, Richard

Images

The grave of Max von Schillings at the arcades of the Hauptfriedhof in Frankfurt am Main.
Picture by Androom (30 Jul 2022)

 

Sources
• Moos, Günter, Wegweiser durch den Frankfurter Hauptfriedhof, 1994
Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909
Max von Schillings - Wikipedia (DE)


Schindler, Emil Jakob

Published: 26 Mar 2023
Last update: 26 Mar 2023