Nef, Albert

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Nef, Albert

Nef, Albert, Swiss conductor and composer, brother of Karl Nef; b. St. Gallen, Oct. 30, 1882; d. Bern, Dec. 6, 1966. He studied at the Leipzig Cons, and with Kretzschmar at the Univ. of Berlin (Ph.D., 1906). From 1907 he was an opera conductor in Lübeck, Neustrelitz, and Rostock; from 1912, was in Bern, and was conductor of the Orch. Society there from 1922; from 1920, was president of the Swiss Stage Artists’ Alliance. He was the author of Das Lied in der deutschen Schweiz Ende des 18. und am Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts (1909); also of 50 Jahre Berner Theater (Bern, 1956). He composed a Singspiel, Graf Strapinski (Bern, 1928), Appenzeller Tänze for Orch. (1926), Wanderschaft, song cycle for Tenor, Chorus, and Orch. (Bern, 1924), choruses, piano pieces, and songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire