Spicker, Max

1858-

German composer, conductor and teacher. Was born at Konigsberg, Prussia, and studied piano there with Louis Kohler and Robert Schwalm for five years, then from 1877 to 1879 was a pupil of Reinecke, Wenzel, Richter, Jadassohn and other teachers at the Leipsic Conservatory. Leaving Leipsic in 1879, Spicker made a concert tour through Germany and Russia as pianist with Miska Hauser, the famous violinist. He then was appointed conductor of the Opera successively at Cologne, Heidelberg, Ghent, Aix - la - Chapelle, Kiel and Potsdam. He received a call to come to New York in 1883, to conduct the Beethoven Mannerchor, and held this post until 1889, when he resigned to conduct, in connection with the late Anton Seidl, the orchestral and symphony concerts at Brighton Beach, New York, from 1889 until 1890. From 1888 to 1895 Spicker was director of the Brooklyn Conservatory, and was head of the department of theory at the National Conservatory of Music, New York, from 1895 to 1907. In 1898 he was appointed musical director of Temple Emanu, New York, a position he still holds. He has composed a suite for orchestra; incidental music to Schiller's drama, Demetrius; a cantata for male chorus and orchestra, The Pilot; choral works and many songs. He is beside the author of The Masterpieces of Vocalization in twenty-three volumes; Anthology of Opera in five volumes; Anthology of Oratorio in four volumes; and other works.