Max Weil

Weil, Max

Max Weil. Conductor, violinist, teacher, b Philadelphia 1869, d California 1952(?). He studied the violin in Leipzig under Adolf Brodsky and Hans Sitt, then played in Damrosch's SO in New York for two years. He became head of the violin department of the Halifax Conservatory (Maritime Conservatory of Music) ca 1892 but resigned in 1900 to found the Weil School of Music. He took over and enlarged the Haydn Quintette Club and formed the Halifax Symphony Orchestra, which made its debut 24 Apr 1897. He attracted several good teachers to Halifax and helped to develop the public's taste for opera, producing Flotow's Martha in 1896 and Gounod's Faust and Balfe's The Bohemian Girl later. He left Canada in 1908, and it is known that he played principal second violin with the Minneapolis-St Paul SO but returned in 1912 to conduct the second Calgary Symphony Orchestra (debut 27 Jan 1913). With the outbreak of war in August 1914 Weil (who was of German descent) left the country and settled in Los Angeles, where he eventually had a career in real estate. He also composed songs and pieces for string orchestra. He has been described by Phyllis R. Blakeley as a conductor of energy, with a capacity for hard work, a quick eye, and an unerring ear.