Moritz Henle

Who was Moritz Henle?

Moritz Henle was a prominent German composer of liturgical music and cantor of the Jewish reform movement.

Henle was born in the Upper Swabian town of Laupheim at a time when Laupheim had the largest Jewish community in the Kingdom of Württemberg. He was the seventh of eleven children. The family of his mother Klara Adler had been residents of Laupheim since the 18th century. In 1847 she married Elkan Henle, who had come to Laupheim from Ichenhausen. Elkan Henle was a highly respected master glazier who designed and executed the new Protestant prayer room at Großlaupheim Castle in 1847. Remaining evidence of Elkan Henle's artistic interest is the portal of the Jewish cemetery in Laupheim, which was designed by him.

From an early age, Henle showed a talent for music. He was a member of the boys choir at the synagogue in Laupheim. He was interested in learning to play the violin and the piano and was encouraged by his parents in these efforts. Due to initial financial help from Simon Heinrich Steiner, one of the co-founders of Hopsteiner, Moritz Henle was able to join the conservatoire at Stuttgart, where he attended lessons in piano, violin and singing. However, after two years Henle had to leave the conservatoire because his parents could no longer afford its tuition. Henle then took up teaching as a more secure career. In 1864 Henle attended teacher college in Esslingen, where he was trained to teach secular and religious education. The supreme Jewish authorities of Württemberg required Jewish teachers to train as cantors to supplement their income, as they were permitted to teach onlyl Jewish children.