The Schmidt brothers from San Francisco
The father was Louis Schmidt of San Francisco, who founded the San Francisco Institute of Music with Oscar Weil in 1868. He had three sons.
The oldest was Louis Jr; Ernst was a cellist, Clifford the youngest. In 1869 the entire family moved from California to Leipzig. From here Louis and Clifford went to Paris, where they studied the violin under Massart for a year and then returned to Leipzig, where all of the brothers entered the conservatory in 1874. They returned to California about 1879. The three brothers came east in 1883, under contract to play with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The two oldest brothers did, but Clifford continued on to Berlin, where he studied with Joachim for two years. In 1885 all three played with Thomas for a year.
Louis Schmidt, Junior
- Studied with Massart in Paris and at the Leipzig Conservatory.
- Violinist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra 1883, T. Thomas Orchestra 1885.
- New York Philharmonic from ca. 1891-1915.
- Concertmaster of Theodore Thomas Orchestra 1895
- On the faculty of the Metropolitan College of Music of the University of the State of New York School of Applied Music; M.E. Palmer, Proprietor.1
Clifford Alfred Schmidt
- b. San Francisco 11.10.1862, d. Brooklyn 5.1896.
- studied with Massart in Paris, at the Leipzig Conservatory, and with Joachim from 1883-85.
- Concert Master of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, 1989-90
- Blackballed from the NY Philharmonic in 1891 reportedly because he was not a “gentleman.”
- “Mr. Schmidt played at different times with Damrosch, Thomas and Seidl, and was concert master with the latter for nearly eight years.”((The Brooklyn Daily Eagle 19 May 1896 p. 1))
- died in a freak accident at age 34
- MA 1 no 10 (10 Dec 1898): 2. [↩]
