Ernst von Schuch

Who was Ernst von Schuch?

Ernst Edler von Schuch, born Ernst Gottfried Schuch was an Austrian conductor who became famous through his working collaborations with Richard Strauss at the Dresden Court Opera.

Schuch first studied law but then turned to music, trained at first by E. Stolz. He studied in Graz and later in Vienna, briefly with Felix Otto Dessoff, and started his conducting career in 1867 as Kapellmeister at Lobe's Theatre in Breslau while the Breslau Opera was out of action following a fire.

Coincidentally, a father and son with the same family name Schuch had built and run the first opera theatre in Breslau 120 years earlier:

There followed engagements in Würzburg, Graz and Basle, until he was employed in 1872 by Pollini's Italian Opera for Dresden. There in 1872 he became Music director at the Court Opera, from 1873 Royal Kapellmeister with Julius Rietz, later with Franz Wüllner. In 1878, he was appointed Royal Professor. In 1882 he undertook the direction of the Court Opera with the title of privy councillor, and in 1889 became its general music director. From 1882 onward, he lived in Niederlößnitz in the Weintraubenstraße. In 1898, he was ennobled by the Austrian emperor and in 1899 was appointed to the Saxon Confidential Privy Council. His period of influence is known as the Schuch era in operatic performing history.