Sachs was born in
Lišov in
Bohemia to a
Jewish family. He studied the violin at the
Prague Conservatory, graduating in 1905, when he joined the
Czech Philharmonic. From 1907 to 1910 he was concertmaster of a theatre orchestra in
Belgrade,
Kingdom of Serbia, and from 1910 to 1911 a music teacher in
Novi Sad. In 1911 he began to conduct opera in
Zagreb,
Croatia (then part of
Austria-Hungary; later part of
Yugoslavia). He conducted the first production of
Janáček's
Jenůfa in Zagreb in 1920. He was appointed Director of Opera at the National Theatre in
Brno, Czechoslovakia in 1932, remaining there until 1938. In 1933 in Brno he conducted the world premiere of the ballet
Svatba, set to
Stravinsky's
Les noces, choreography by Máša Cvejicová. That same year 1933 saw Sachs conduct the first performance in Brno of
Káťa Kabanová since the 1928 death of its composer Janáček. It is clear from the markings on the scores held there that Sachs dispensed with the practice of linking scenes in the opera by way of extended interludes. In the 1930s, he was considered the most important member of the Jewish community involved in music in Zagreb. He conducted the first performance of
Wagner's
Parsifal in Zagreb. During
World War II, as a Jew, Sachs converted to
Catholicism in an attempt to save himself from persecution by the
Independent State of Croatia regime. For a time he was sheltered at the ward of ophthalmologist Dr. Vilko Panac in the
Sisters of Charity Hospital Zagreb. Later
Dido Kvaternik intervened to help save Sachs and his wife from persecution. He was President of the Croatian Society of Music Artists 1945–48, and he was instrumental in the development of the Zagreb Opera after World War II. He was also known for his work in the concert hall, particularly in the symphonies of
Beethoven, and
Smetana's symphonic poem cycle
Má vlast. He made a number of recordings, including
Ivan Zajc's opera
Nikola Šubić Zrinski. He died in Zagreb in 1968, aged 83. His own works are mainly forgotten, but his
Pastorale and Dance is still in the repertoire. In Sachs' honour, a street and a
kindergarten in Zagreb are named after him. ==References==