Austrian Conductor

Margarete Dessoff, sometimes mistakenly spelled “Margarethe,” was born in Vienna and moved to Frankfurt am Main at the age of six when her father, Felix Otto Dessoff, became the conductor of the Frankfurt Opera House. She studied voice with Gustav Gunz and Marie Schröder-Hanfstängl (1892–97) at Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium in Frankfurt and began directing the women’s choir there in 1912.

Dessoff’s vocal career was interrupted when a renowned opera singer (likely Hanfstängl) who taught at Dr. Hoch’s affected her voice. Although she regained it through private lessons with Jenny Hahn, a student of Julius Stockhausen, her vocal setback ultimately led her to a career as a choral director, a role she came to be widely recognized and adored for.

In addition to founding the Dessoff’scher Frauenchor (which gave its first concert in 1907 at Dr. Hoch’s), quickly becoming renowned across Germany, Dessoff also led the Frankfurter Bachgemeinde for several years. In 1918, she founded one of Germany’s earliest madrigal ensembles.

The Institute of Musical Art (later the Juilliard School of Music) in New York City, founded in 1905, had been modeled after European conservatories, drawing many young musicians who felt the need to study in Europe. Some, like Edward MacDowell and Percy Grainger, had studied at the Konservatorium in Frankfurt, which was internationally renowned, especially with Clara Schumann on the faculty. In the 1920s, at the height of inflation, Dessoff accepted an invitation to become the chorus director at Juilliard, where she also established the Madrigal Chorus.

In the 1920s, Dessoff founded several other choirs. In 1924, she formed the Adesdi Chorus of Women’s Voices with Angela Diller, combining parts of their names to create the group’s title. In 1929, she founded the New York A Cappella Singers, a mixed-voice choir. By 1930, both choirs merged to become “The Dessoff Choirs,” with each group performing separately with music for women’s voices (Adesdi) and mixed voices (New York A Cappella Singers). Additionally, she founded the Vecchi Singers, who performed the first American presentation of Orazio Vecchi’s L’Amfiparnaso in 1933.

Margarete Dessoff was passionate about performing seldom-heard early music as well as works by emerging composers. She carefully curated programs that inspired contemporary composers such as Hans Gál, Erwin Lendvai, Hugo Herrmann, Marion Bauer, and Lazare Saminsky to create new choral pieces.

Her choirs in New York thrived until 1936 when an accident led to her early retirement. Unable to return to Nazi Germany, she settled in Locarno, Switzerland, where she passed away in 1944.

The Dessoff Choirs she founded still continue to thrive in New York, keeping her legacy alive.