Karl Wilhelm (conductor)

He is best known as the composer of the music of the song “Die Wacht am Rhein.” Wilhelm was born in Schmalkalden.

He studied at Cassel under Louis Spohr, and then in Frankfurt am Main with Aloys Schmitt and A. André.

In Krefeld in 1854 he set to words “Die Wacht am Rhein,” the poem Max Schneckenburger wrote in 1840.

On 24 June 1871, he received a personal acknowledgement from Chancellor of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck.

In the same year, he received an annual gift from the government of 3,000 marks, which was then more than four times a typical salary.