Kretschmer, Edmund

KRETSCHMER, Edmund, organist and dramatic composer, born Aug. 31, 1830, at Ostritz in Saxony, where his father the Rector of the school, gave him his early musical education; studied composition under Julius Otto, and the organ under Johann Schneider at Dresden, where he became organist of the Catholic church in 1854 and to the court in 63. He founded several ‘Gesangvereine,’ and in 65 his composition, ‘Die Geisterschlacht,’ gained the prize at the first German ‘Sängerfest’ in Dresden...