Richard Stöhr

Richard Franz Stöhr (11 June 1874 – 11 December 1967) was an Austrian composer, music author, and teacher.

After working there as a répétiteur and choral instructor from 1900, he taught music (theory of harmony, counterpoint, and form) from 1903 to 1938, and became a professor in 1915.

Stöhr had one sibling, a sister named Hedwig (birth date unknown) who would later perish in Modliborzyce in the custody of the Nazis on January 2, 1942.

degree (1898) but immediately entered the Vienna Academy of Music as a composition student of Robert Fuchs.

[2] After completing his studies with Fuchs and earning a PhD in music (1903), he worked at the Academy as a rehearsal pianist and choir director.

He served in a hospital in the suburbs of Vienna and was able to live at home and continue teaching at the Academy.

As he was unable to obtain a divorce from his first wife, Richard and Marie lived together from 1909 to 1923, when they were finally able to marry.

Around 1930, Austria's dismal economy and growing antisemitism prompted Stöhr to begin learning English.

On the walls, there were photos of composers and famous people he knew in various countries, as well as snapshots of students and friends.

Over the next few days, the interim director suspended eleven teachers who, under the Nuremberg Race Laws, did not have the "right" to swear allegiance to Hitler due to their Jewish extraction.

He quickly found another position at Saint Michael's College, then in Winooski Park, and later in Colchester, Vermont.

Stoehr continued to compose prolifically during his years in the US in all major classical genres except opera.

Richard Stöhr died in December 1967 in Montpelier, Vermont, and is buried in Merrill Cemetery in Colchester.

Richard Stoehr's diary spanning more than six decades is stored in the Austrian National Library along with his published compositions.

In 2010, ORF (Austrian National Radio) released a Richard Stöhr compact disc recording (CD 3093) of his String Quartet in D minor, Opus 22 from 1903 amongst other pieces.

Opus numbers 71 and above were assigned by Stoehr himself and represent completed but unpublished works composed in the United States after 1938.