Misch, Ludwig

Ludwig Misch was born in 1887 in Berlin. After graduating in musicology at the University of Berlin he continued his musical education at the Sternschen Konservatorium. In addition he received a doctorate in law in 1911. With his comprehensive academic training Ludwig Misch established himself as a music critic, conductor, teacher and an authority on Beethoven. With the Nazis' takeover in 1933 he was restricted in his public and creative work for being a Jew. In the first years of the 1930s Ludwig Misch founded his own a cappella choir, "Neue Madrigalvereinigung," later the "Juedische Madrigalvereinigung." They gave their first concert in 1934. In March 1943 he was forced to work for the Jewish library of the Reich Security Head Office.

Because of the fact that he was married to a Christian woman, Anni Brix, he was spared from deportation to a concentration camp and survived World War II. In 1947 he moved to New York City, where he continued working on writing about the life and work of Beethoven. He wrote 40 articles for several publications.

Ludwig Misch passed away 1967 in New York.

From the guide to the Ludwig Misch Collection, 1933-1967, bulk 1930s-1940s, (Leo Baeck Institute)