Irmer, Hermann

Violinist, Conductor

born: 30.08.1886 in Roßlau (today Dessau-Roßlau)

died: 01.08.1953 in Wiesbaden

Irmer was a pupil of the Russian violinist and music teacher Adolph Brodsky (1851-1929) at the Leipzig Conservatory, where he taught from 1883-91. After working as a conductor in Gothenburg and Stockholm, the twenty-year-old came to St. Petersburg as concertmaster in 1888, where he worked for the Imperial Russian Musical Society until 1891. From 1891-93 he was concertmaster of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (Finland), which at the time was an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire. In 1895 his path led him via Bad Ems and Hamburg to Wiesbaden. Here he became the first concertmaster of the symphony and spa orchestra and in July 1905 was entrusted with the direction of the daily spa concerts. In February 1912, he was appointed 2nd conductor. When General Music Director Carl Schuricht took over the major concerts in this city in the same year, he was able to put together a demanding program with works by Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Svendsen, Grieg, Sibelius and Richard Strauss.

His other achievements include the Wiesbaden premiere of Dvořák's symphony "From the New World". The city thanked him in 1923 by appointing him Municipal Music Director, a post he held until 1932 before retiring. Famous soloists such as the violinist Joseph Joachim played under his direction. His audiences included the King of Sweden, Christian IX of Denmark and the Duke of Anhalt, who awarded him the Order of Arts and Sciences. Kaiser Wilhelm II requested Handel's Largo from the opera "Xerxes" from him at the inauguration of the new Kurhaus.