Gustav Hinrichs

[7] Among the light operas performed (in English) by the Melville company under Hinrich's direction during these years were those of Franz von Suppé, including Boccaccio and Fatinitza, which were sent by Suppé's librettist, Richard Genée, to his sister Ottilie Genée, who lived in San Francisco and who arranged for their translation and production.

[8] In October 1880, Hinrichs conducted the Grand Military Band at the Authors' Carnival given for the Associated Charities of San Francisco, an event attended by President Rutherford B. Hayes and General William Tecumseh Sherman, among others.

[11] In 1885, Hinrichs moved to New York to become assistant conductor of the short-lived American Opera Company under director Theodore Thomas.

[12] The company, funded by New York patron of the arts Jeannette Thurber, was created to expand appreciation of opera in America by performing German and Italian works in English translation and at affordable prices.

Although it was a critical success, financial difficulties led to a reorganization and change of name (to the National Opera Company) in 1886, and the experiment ended in lawsuits and recriminations the following year.

[26] In addition to his operas, Hinrichs composed many songs and choral pieces, as well as a number of instrumental and orchestral works.

Some of his compositions were published either Germany or the United States, and the manuscripts of many others are preserved in the Gustav Hinrichs collection of the Museum of Performance and Design in San Francisco.

[29] In the 1920s, Hinrichs wrote and arranged orchestral accompaniments for silent films produced by Universal Studios, including a score for the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney.

[36] Gustav's brothers, Julius and August Hinrichs, were a cellist and violinist respectively, and both lived and played in the San Francisco Bay Area.