Max Bendix

Max Bendix (March 28, 1866 – December 6, 1945) was an American concert violinist, conductor, and teacher.

[2][5] He was the son of German-born Jewish parents, Bertha (née Tobias) and William Bendix, a composer.

[7] He became the concertmaster, soloist, and assistant conductor of the Theodore Thomas Orchestra in New York and Chicago from 1886 to 1896, taking some time off to travel and study.

[8][9] On October 30, 1891, he was the soloist for the United States premiere of Dvořák's Violin Concerto in a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with Theodore Thomas conducting.

[6] Bendix was the musical director for several Broadway shows, including The Spring Maid (1910), Miss Princess (1912), Her Little Highness (1913), The Amber Empress (1916), Pom-Pom (1916), and Castles in the Air (1926).

[12][13] He was also the conductor for the Broadway shows Girofle-Girofla (1926) and Sari (1930) and wrote incidental music for Experience (1914).

[12][13] He wrote several works for orchestra, including "Thirty-six Songs", "The Sisters", "Tema con Variazioni" and a violin concerto in E minor.

[5] From 1914 to 1915, he was the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Chicago that served as the house band for Midway Gardens, newly designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

[14] At Midway, he developed a schedule that included opera on Mondays, popular music on Tuesdays, symphony on Wednesdays, request of Thursdays, and Wagner on Fridays.

[3] He was a conductor of an orchestra of eighty musicians at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 and the director of music for the Chicago World's Fair of 1933.

[3] Bendix died of a stroke while at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago on December 6, 1945, at the age of eighty years.