Adolf Busch

Adolf Busch (born Aug. 8, 1891, Siegen, Ger.—died June 9, 1952, Guilford, Vt., U.S.) was a German violinist and conductor. A protégé of Max Reger, he became concertmaster of the Vienna Konzertverein at 20 and founded the legendary Busch Quartet after World War I. Forbidden by the Nazis to perform with Rudolf Serkin, his Jewish son-in-law, he moved to Switzerland, then England, and finally to the United States, where in 1950 he cofounded the Marlboro Music Festival in Marlboro, Vt. His brother Fritz (1890–1951), a piano prodigy, held several important conducting positions after World War I, including music director of the Stuttgart Opera. As Fritz Reiner’s successor at the Dresden Opera, he conducted important premieres, particularly of Richard Strauss’s operas. Dismissed for opposition to Hitler, he conducted in Scandinavia and Argentina and in 1934 became the first music director of the Glyndebourne Opera.