Daffner, Hugo

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Daffner, Hugo

Daffner, Hugo , German composer and musicologist; b. Munich, June 2, 1882; d. in the concentration camp in Dachau, Oct. 9, 1936. He studied composition with Thuille and musicology with Sandberger and Kroyer at the Royal Academy in Munich (Ph.D., 1904, with the diss. Die Entwicklung des Klavierkonzerts bis Mozarts; publ. in Leipzig, 1908); subsequently took private lessons with Reger. He conducted opera in Munich from 1904 to 1906; was active as a music critic in Königsberg and Dresden; decided to study medicine, and obtained the degree of M.D. in 1920; in 1924 he went to live in Berlin as a practicing physician. He became a victim of the Nazi program of extermination of Jews. Among his works were the operas Macbeth, Truffaldino, and Der eingebildete, 2 syms., 2 string quartets, 2 piano trios, and 2 piano quintets.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire