Koemmenich, Louis

1866-

Composer and conductor of choral societies; was born in Elberfeld, Germany. When he was eight years old he began to study violin with Weisel, and later he studied piano and theory with Anton Krause at Barmen. From 1885 to 1887 he studied at Kullak's Academy in Berlin, where he had the benefit of instruction from Franz Kullak, W. Pfeiffer, A. Hollander and W. Tappert. In 1890 he came to New York and began teaching singing and piano. For eight years he conducted the Brooklyn Sangerbund, and since 1902 he has conducted the Philadelphia Junger Mannerchor, one of the leading German male choruses in America, which won the Emperor Prize at the National Sangerfest in Brooklyn in 1900 and in Baltimore in 1903. Besides his successful work in this line he has published a number of compositions; songs; a cantata, Der Schmied und das Grafenkind; a ballad, Der Zaubrische Spielmann; Morgenlied, for male chorus and orchestra.