Frederick Stock

Frederick Stock (born Friedrich August Stock; November 11, 1872 – October 20, 1942) was a German and American conductor and composer, most famous for his 37-year tenure as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Early life and education Born in Jülich, Rhine Province, Germany, Stock was given his early musical education by his army bandmaster father. At the age of 14, he was admitted to the Cologne Conservatory as a student of violin and composition, where he counted composer Engelbert Humperdinck as one of his teachers and conductor Willem Mengelberg among his classmates. After graduating from the conservatory in 1890, Stock joined the Municipal Orchestra of Cologne as a violinist.

Career In 1895, Stock met with Theodore Thomas, founder and first music director of the then fledgling Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who was to have a decisive impact on his future. Thomas, who was then visiting Germany in search of recruits for his new Chicago orchestra, auditioned Stock and hired him as a violist. Thomas soon realized, however, that his new violist was also a very talented conductor and, in 1899, Stock was promoted to assistant conductor.

After Thomas' death on January 4, 1905, Stock succeeded him as music director. That year, he wrote a symphonic poem Eines Menschenlebens Morgen, Mittag und Abend, dedicated to "Theodore Thomas and the Members of the Chicago Orchestra." The work was first performed on April 7 and 8, 1905.

The orchestra's board of trustees had first approached Hans Richter, Felix Weingartner and Felix Mottl to succeed Thomas. But the board's executive committee met on April 11, 1905, and resolved: "Frederick Stock unanimously elected Conductor. Trustees voted that the Orchestra should now be known as 'The Theodore Thomas Orchestra.'"

Works Several of Frederick Stock's compositions were performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during his tenure as conductor including:

Eines Menschenlebens Morgen, Mittag und Abend (1905) Symphonic Variations (1906) Improvisation (1907) Symphonic Waltz Op. 8 (1907) A Summer Evening, symphonic sketch (1908) Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1909) Festival March (1910) Festival March and Hymn to Liberty (1913) Life's Spring Tide, overture (1914) Festival Prologue (1915) Concerto for Violin in D minor (1916) Overture to a Romantic Comedy (1918) March and Hymn to Democracy (1919) Symphonic Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 7 (1915) Elegy (1923) Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in D minor (1929) A Musical Self-Portrait (1932) Festival Fanfare (1940)