Franckenstein, Clemens Von
Franckenstein, Clemens Von
Franckenstein, Clemens von, German composer; b. Wiesentheid, July 14, 1875; d. Hechendorf, Aug. 19, 1942. He spent his youth in Vienna, then went to Munich, where he studied with Thuille. He later took courses with Knorr at the Hoch Cons, in Frankfurt am Main. He traveled with an opera company in the U.S. in 1901, then was a theater conductor in London (1902–07). From 1912 to 1918 and from 1924 to 1934 he was Intendant at the Munich Opera. He wrote several operas, the most successful of which was Des Kaisers Dichter (on the life of the Chinese poet Li-Tai Po), performed in Hamburg (Nov. 2, 1920). Other operas are Griselda (Troppau, 1898), Fortunatus (Budapest, 1909), and Rahab (Hamburg, March 25, 1911). He also wrote several orch. works.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire