Mannes, David
Mannes, David
Mannes, David, American pedagogue, violinist, and conductor, father of Leopold Damrosch Mannes; b. N.Y., Feb. 16, 1866; d. there, April 25, 1959. He was a student in violin of August Zeiss and C.R. Nicolai in N.Y, of Heinrich de Ahna and Carl Halir in Berlin, and of Ysaÿe in Brussels. Returning to N.Y, he played in various theater orchs. In 1894 he organized the Music School Settlement. In 1895 he became a violinist in the N.Y. Sym. Soc, which he served as concertmaster from 1903 to 1912. In 1898 he married Clara Mannes (née Damrosch), with whom he subsequently made duo concert tours of the U.S. In 1912 he founded the Music School Settlement for Colored Children in Harlem. With his wife, he organized the David Mannes Music School in 1916, where he remained active for many years. In 1953 it became the Mannes Coll. of Music. He also was founder-conductor of a series of free sym. concerts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1918–47). His career is the subject of his memoir, publ. as Music Is My Faith (N.Y, 1938).
Bibliography
M. Mannes, Out of My Time (Garden City, N.Y, 1971).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire