Julius Eichberg was born in
Düsseldorf, Germany to a Jewish family. His first musical instruction came from his father whose pupil was an acceptable violin player by his seventh year. He had further early violin instruction with F. W. Eichler,
Julius Rietz, and with
Johannes Fröhlich at the Musical Academy of Würzburg. Upon the recommendation of
Felix Mendelssohn, he entered the
Brussels Conservatoire at the age of nineteen, where he took first prizes for violin playing and composition. He was a pupil of Belgian composer
Charles Auguste de Bériot, studied composition under
François-Joseph Fétis, and studied violin under Lambert Joseph Meerts. For eleven years he occupied the post of professor in the Conservatoire of
Geneva, in Switzerland, and directed an opera troupe. In 1857, he went to the United States, staying two years in New York City and then proceeding to
Boston, Massachusetts, where he became the chef d'orchestre at the
Boston Museum, directing the Boston Museum Concerts until 1866. These concerts were a major fixture in the Boston musical scene, showcasing light and popular music as well as choral and orchestral works. It afforded Eichberg an opportunity to play his own compositions, including his operettas
A Night in Rome and
Rose of Tyrol. His most successful work,
The Doctor of Alcantara, was premiered at the
Boston Museum at the April 7, 1862 concert, and ran throughout the country for 20 years. The piece was, according to
Kurt Gänzl, the "first American musical". He formed a trio with cellist August Kreissmann and pianist Hugo Leonhard, who played in a series of "Musical Soirées" in Boston in the early 1860s.
Gottschalk accompanied Eichberg in a series of concerts in Boston in 1862.
Marietta Sherman Raymond and
Arma Senkrah were students. He later composed symphonies and piano pieces. Eichberg died in Boston on January 19, 1893; his obituary gives January 18. He was interred at Mount Auburn cemetery, the first burial there of an identifiable Jew. ==Family==