Fritz Volbach

Fritz Volbach (17 December 1861 – 30 November 1940) was a German conductor, composer and musicologist.

Volbach was born in 1861 in Wipperfürth. After he was briefly a pupil of the Rheinische Musikschule [de] with Ferdinand Hiller, he resumed his school education in Bruchsal, where he also passed his Abitur. He studied philosophy at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. In 1886 he became a pupil of the Royal Institute for Church Music, before continuing his studies with Eduard Grell at the Academy of Arts, Berlin in the composition department; he was probably his last pupil. During his studies in 1885 he became a member of the Akademischer Gesangverein [de] Berlin in the Sondershäuser Verband [de] as well as the AMV Makaria Bonn [de].

After his studies he worked as a teacher at the Institute for Church Music in 1887; he also conducted the Academic Liedertafel and a choir. In 1891 he became music director in Mainz. In 1899 he received his doctorate from the University of Bonn. In 1907 he became music director in Tübingen and was appointed professor. During the First World War he founded a German symphony orchestra in occupied Belgium with Fritz Brandt [de] under the occupiers in Brussels. From 1918 he taught at the University of Münster and was also music director and director of the music association of Münster until 1925. In 1929 he became Emeritus.

Volbach's compositions include an opera, a symphony and three symphonic poems. His compositions show him to be a conservative late romantic. Some parts of his estate are kept in the Universitätsarchiv der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster [de].

Volbach died in Wiesbaden at age 80.