20th-century German male musicians

Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler (UK: FOORT-veng-glər, US: -⁠lər, German: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈfʊɐ̯tvɛŋlɐ]; 25 January 1886 – 30 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major influence for many later conductors, and his name is often mentioned when discussing their interpretative styles.Furtwängler was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic between 1922 and 1945, and from 1952 until 1954. He was also principal conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra (1922–26), and was a guest conductor of other major orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic.
Although not an adherent of Nazism, he was the leading conductor to remain in Germany during the Nazi regime. Despite his open opposition to antisemitism and the ubiquity of Nazi symbolism, the regime did not seek to suppress him, at Joseph Goebbels' insistence, for propaganda reasons. This situation caused lasting controversy, and the extent to which his presence lent prestige to Nazi Germany is still debated.

Walter Dobrzynski, better known as Walter Dobschinski (October 29, 1908, Berlin - February 16, 1996, Berlin) was a German jazz trombonist and bandleader.
Dobschinski received formal musical training on piano at the Berlin Conservatory, but concentrated on trombone once he became interested in jazz music. He played with Teddy Stauffer for most of the 1930s, including on tours of western Europe and on the ship SS Reliance. In 1939 he worked with Kurt Hohenberger, and was involved with the German Dance and Entertainment Orchestra during World War II. Following the war, he led a swing jazz ensemble for Berliner Rundfunk, recording extensively with this group; Rex Stewart appeared on some of these recordings. He continued leading ensembles in the 1950s, but in his later career he concentrated on arranging and composition.

Werner Friedrich Emil Eisbrenner (2 December 1908, Berlin – 7 November 1981, West Berlin) was a German composer and conductor, best known for his film music.

Eisbrenner studied church music and musical education from 1927 to 1929 at the Berlin Staatlichen Musikademie. He then worked as a pianist, arranger, Kapellmeister and conductor, as well as composing violin concertos, orchestral music, the musical comedy Von Hand zu Hand and the music for film, radio and television for which he is best known. This includes the theme for Hans Albers's film Große Freiheit Nr. 7.
Eisbrenner was a member of the jury at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival.Eisbrenner also headed a private "Lehrinstitut für Kirchen- und Schulmusik". In 1974, he received the Filmband in Gold for his long and outstanding contributions to German film. On 23 April 1998 a plaque was unveiled at his former home at Wohnung Bismarckallee 32a in Berlin. He was married to Kathe (née Jacobi) Eisbrenner (b. ?? – d. 11 March 1974). He is buried in the Waldfriedhof Dahlem.

Konrad Wölki (27 December 1904 – 5 July 1983) was a German composer, mandolinist and music educator who contributed to the musically critical appreciation of the Zupforchesters (German mandolin orchestras—may also include other plucked string instruments or conventional orchestral instruments). Historian Paul Sparks labeled Wölki "the founding father of modern German plucked-string music."He was a senior member of the German Mandolin and Guitar Player Federation (D.M.G.B.) until he was forced out in 1935 and replaced with a Nazi party member. In 1961 he helped create the Bund Deutscher Zupfmusiker (League of German plucked instrumentalists, BDZ), with members from his own D.M.G.B. and the German Workers Mandolinists Federation (D.A.M.B.), another mandolin organization closed down under the Nazis).The D.M.G.B. federation published compositions for its members to play. Wölki, the DMGB's "most significant figure" composed music in the 1920s for the mandolin and guitar based orchestras "that demonstrated the dramatic potential and range of color" possible for the plucked orchestra.In the 1930s, Wölki explored 18th century mandolin music from 1760s and 1770s Paris and reached a conclusion that caused controversy. He found that the classical music of the period that used mandolin had been played without tremolo. While some cherished the tremolo, others embraced "a return to classical methods". His influence through the works he composed resulted in a restraint in the use of tremolo in new German compositions.He was the author of a history of the mandolin, Geschichte der Mandoline (1939), and a three-volume mandolin method, Deutsche Schule für Mandoline. He continued to teach in Berlin, educating many of the next generation of mandolinists.He composed or arranged 103 pieces of published music.

Hugo Heermann (3 March 1844, in Heilbronn – 6 November 1935, in Meran, Italy) was a German violinist. He studied the violin with Lambert Joseph Meerts at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels, and later with Joseph Joachim. From 1864 he lived in Frankfurt am Main, where he taught violin from 1878 to 1904 at the Hoch Conservatory. He played 1st violin with Hugo Becker, Fritz Bassermann and Adolf Rebner in the "Museums-Quartett" (also called the "Heermann-Quartett" and "Frankfurter Quartett"). Between 1906 and 1909 he taught at the Chicago Musical College, in 1911 at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin and 1912 at the Conservatoire de musique in Geneva. In 1909 and 1910 he briefly was a member of The Dutch Trio, which transposed into the Heermann-van Lier String Quartet. He served as concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for a period beginning in 1909; he was succeeded in that post by his son Emil. He has the distinction of having been the first to have played Brahms' Violin Concerto in Paris, New York City and Australia. After his retirement in 1922 he lived mostly in Meran, Italy.

Ernst Hermann Ludimar Meyer (8 December 1905 – 8 October 1988) was a German composer and musicologist, noted for his expertise on seventeenth-century English chamber music.

Günter Raphael (30 April 1903 – 19 October 1960) was a German composer. Born in Berlin, Raphael was the grandson of composer Albert Becker. His first symphony was premiered by Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1926 in Leipzig with the Gewandhaus Orchestra. From 1926 to 1934 he taught in Leipzig, but illness and the rise of Fascism – he was declared a "half-Jew" – made this difficult for him. He received the Franz Liszt Award for composition in 1948. His students include Kurt Hessenberg.
His compositions include five symphonies, concertos for violin and for organ, six string quartets, numerous solos and duos for strings and winds with and without piano of which several have been recorded. Raphael also composed organ, piano and choral works. He was also responsible for arranging a performance version of Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto in A major (1865) when its piano and cello score was discovered in 1918.He was also an editor of classical and baroque scores for Breitkopf and Härtel, preparing editions of, for example, flute sonatas by Frederick the Great and works by Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach (some of these can be found in the Cornell University Library).

Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (5 May 1900 – 28 May 1973) was a German conductor and composer. After studying at several music academies, he worked in German opera houses between 1923 and 1945, first as a répétiteur and then in increasingly senior conducting posts, ending as Generalmusikdirektor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
After the Second World War, Schmidt-Isserstedt was invited by the occupying British forces to form the Northwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he was musical director and chief conductor from 1945 to 1971. He was a frequent guest conductor for leading symphony orchestras around the world, and returned to opera from time to time, including appearances at Glyndebourne and Covent Garden as well as the Hamburg State Opera.
Schmidt-Isserstedt was known for his transparent orchestral textures, strict rhythmic precision, and rejection of superfluous gestures and mannerisms on the rostrum. His extensive recorded legacy features the Austro-German classics with which he was widely associated, but also includes works by Czech, English, French, Italian and Russian composers.

James Simon (29 September 1880 – 12/14 October 1944) was a German composer, pianist and musicologist.

Herbert Ludwig Sandberg (26 February 1902 – 7 January 1966) was a Swedish conductor, librettist, and composer of Polish Jewish descent.