Dessoff Margarethe

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Dessoff Margarethe

Dessoff Margarethe Austrian choral conductor;b. Vienna, June 11, 1874; d. Locarno, Switzerland, Nov. 19, 1944. She was trained at the Frankfurt am Main Cons. After championing the cause of early vocal music in Europe, she went to N.Y. and in 1924 founded the Adesdi Chorus, a women’s chorus, and in 1928 a mixed chorus; they were amalgamated under her direction in 1930 as the Dessoff Choirs. In 1936 she settled in Switzerland.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire