Benjamin Bilse, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Benjamin Bilse

German composer and conductor

Date of Birth: 17-Aug-1816

Place of Birth: Legnica, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland

Date of Death: 13-Jul-1902

Profession: composer, conductor

Nationality: Germany

Zodiac Sign: Leo

Benjamin Bilse (17 August 1816 – 13 July 1902) was a German conductor and composer. Bilse was born in Liegnitz (present-day Legnica) in the Prussian Silesia Province.
He obtained a rich musical education, as at the Vienna Conservatory under violinist Joseph Böhm, and played in the orchestra of Johann Strauss I.
Returned to Liegnitz, he became municipal Kapellmeister in 1842. From 1867 he regularly performed with the "Bilse's Band" (Bilse'sche Kapelle) at the Concerthaus on Leipziger Straße in Berlin.
The orchestra became increasingly popular, Bilse toured Europe and gave guest concerts in Saint Petersburg, Riga, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Vienna, as well as at the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris, where his band performed The Blue Danube together with Johann Strauss II.
In 1873 Richard Wagner conducted the orchestra in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm I. After a fierce quarrel with Bilse about another fourth-class concert trip to Warsaw, 54 musicians in 1882 split to found the "Former Bilse's Band" under conductor Ludwig von Brenner, shortly afterwards renamed Berlin Philharmonic, today one of the world's leading orchestras.
Bilse retired a few years later and returned to Liegnitz, where he also died.



Description	German engraver
Date of birth/death	28 July 1823	27 May 1892
Location of birth/death	Nuremberg	Leipzig
Work location	Leipzig
Authority control	: Q21396170 VIAF: 69194417 ISNI: 0000 0000 6658 8207 LCCN: n97875130 GND: 117218456 NKC: mzk2012693875 WorldCat