Kaufmann, Walter, 1907-1984

A native of Bohemia, Kaufmann was a composer and conductor. After traveling to Bombay in 1934 to study Indian music, he was forced to remain there indefinitely due to the threat of the Nazis and their occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. In India he composed music for films; directed a chamber music society; and from 1937 to 1946 was the director of musical programs for All India Radio, Bombay. He later wrote on Indian music, which also influenced his own compositions. In 1946 he went to England for a year and then moved to Canada, where he was the director and conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 1948 to 1957. He moved to the U.S. in 1957, joining the music faculty at Indiana University, Bloomington. Willy Haas, a writer and critic, was a friend of both Kaufmann and Werfel from Prague and wrote a letter to Werfel and Alma Mahler on Kaufmann's behalf.

From the description of Correspondence to Alma Mahler and Franz Werfel, 1944. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155863626