Mollenhauer was born in
Erfurt,
Prussia. He studied under
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst and
Louis Spohr, and had become famous in Germany and at
Saint Petersburg before he was twenty-five years old. To escape
conscription, he went to England, where he met conductor
Louis-Antoine Jullien, and accompanied him to New York City in 1853. He settled there and became a founder in America of the Conservatory method of teaching the violin. Mollenhauer's best-known compositions for the violin are his quartets. He also wrote the operas,
The Corsican Bride (1861),
Love among the Breakers (also known as
Down among the Breakers; 1878), and
The Masked Ball (also known as
The Wager; 1879). He soloed with the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra for six years. He also created 2 pieces for violin with piano accompaniment, "The Boy Paganini" and "The Infant Paganini" both are still played worldwide. Among those he taught were African-American soloist and orchestra director,
Walter F. Craig. ==See also==