Benjamin Bilse

Benjamin Bilse
Born	August 17, 1816 Liegnitz, Prussian Silesia Province
Died	July 13, 1902(1902-07-13) (aged 85) Liegnitz, Prussian Silesia Province
Nationality	German
Education	Vienna Conservatory
Occupation(s)	Conductor, Composer

Benjamin Bilse (17 August 1816 – 13 July 1902) was a German conductor, composer, and violinist.

Biography

Bilse was born in Liegnitz (present-day Legnica) in the Prussian Silesia Province. As a teenager, he had an apprenticeship with Scholz alongside 11 other boys. Later on, he obtained a rich musical education at the Vienna Conservatory under violinist Joseph Böhm, and played in the orchestra of Johann Strauss I. He returned to Liegnitz and became municipal Kapellmeister in 1842.

Adolph Menzel: Bilsekonzert, 1871

From 1867 he regularly performed with the "Bilse's Band" (Bilse'sche Kapelle) at the Concerthaus on Leipziger Straße in Berlin. The orchestra became increasingly popular by targeting the middle class as its audience through offering food and drink during concerts. This concept spread across the Atlantic where it inspired Promenade Concerts in Boston, Massachusetts.

Bilse toured Europe and gave guest concerts in Saint Petersburg, Riga, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Vienna, as well as at the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris, where his band performed The Blue Danube together with Johann Strauss II. In 1873 Richard Wagner conducted the orchestra in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm I.

After a fierce quarrel with Bilse about another fourth-class concert trip to Warsaw, around 50 musicians in 1882 split to form the "Former Bilse's Band" under conductor Ludwig von Brenner. Shortly afterwards, it was renamed to Berlin Philharmonic, which is now one of the world's leading orchestras. Bilse retired a few years later and returned to Liegnitz where he also died.

See also

• Joachim Andersen
• Eugène Ysaÿe

External links

• Free scores by Benjamin Bilse at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)