Alfred Schulz-Curtius

Alfred Schulz-Curtius (c. 1853 – 4 March 1918), also known as Alfred Curtis, was a German-British classical music impresario who was active primarily in continental Europe and the United Kingdom from the 1870s until the 1910s.

Schulz-Curtius was born in Kleinwolmsdorf near Radeberg and Dresden to Johann Heinrich Curtius and Agnes Schulz Curtius.[1] In 1876,[2][3] he founded the eponymous Alfred Schulz-Curtius music and artists management agency in the West End of London at 44 Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus. He is most well known for his popularization of the music of Richard Wagner.[2][4][5][6] In 1882, he arranged the first British staging of the epic Ring Cycle, conducted by Anton Seidl and directed by Angelo Neumann.[7] He became a British citizen in 1896.[1]

During his four or more decades of professional activity, Schulz-Curtius organized dozens of concerts at concert and recital venues such as St James's Hall,[7] Queen's Hall,[8][9][10] the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden,[11] Wigmore Hall,[12] which was then known as Bechstein Hall,[13] and collaborated with other impresarios as well such as Robert Newman, founder of The Proms.

Alfred Schulz-Curtius had great enthusiasm for the string instruments designed by Dr. Alfred Stelzner[12] and went to great lengths to encourage their use by soloists, ensembles and orchestras.

The conductors with whom Schulz-Curtius worked include Hermann Levi,[7][9] Felix Mottl,[7][8] Percy Pitt,[10] Hans Richter,[7][14][15] and Henry Joseph Wood.[8][9][10] Others among the many artists whom he represented include pianist Ferruccio Busoni,[16] violinist Jan Kubelík,[17] soprano Dame Nellie Melba,[17] and cellist Guilhermina Suggia.[13]

He married Helen Mary Perry in 1908, and they had at least one son, Alfred Siegfried Curtis.[18]

At the beginning of World War I, Lionel Powell[19] was taken on as a partner[2] in the agency (renamed Schulz-Curtius Powell) when Schulz-Curtius, a German national, was interned as an "enemy alien", despite having become a naturalized British subject in 1896, and changing his name by deed poll to Alfred Curtis on 24 September 1914.[20] Powell continued to manage the agency through the 1920s[21] after the death of its founder in Bournemouth, Hampshire, on 4 March 1918.[22] He was 64 years old.

  1. ^ a b UK, Naturalisation Certificates and Declarations, 1870-1916
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference FifieldChapterTwentytwo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference AskonasHolt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference MusicWorldNYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference ConcertProgrammesWagner was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference RitblatBritishLibrary was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference FifieldChapterThree was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference WagnerWoodNYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference WoodLifeMusic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference PittMusicalTimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference PallMallAbroadNYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ChristensenStelzner was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference SuggiaRegressoLeipzig was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference RichterLetter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference LengyelRichterNYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference BusoniLetters was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference MelbaKubelikTourNYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754–1932
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference PowellObituaryMusicalTimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ "The London Gazette". The London Gazette. 29 September 1914. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference KenyonMusicalTimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England.