Wendelin Weißheimer (26 February 1838 – 16 June 1910) was a German composer, conductor, essayist, teacher, and writer on music. He studied with Franz Liszt and was in close contact with Richard Wagner, Hans von Bülow, Peter Cornelius, Louise Otto-Peters, Ferdinand Lassalle, August Bebel and many other notable musicians of his time. He served as composer and conductor of choirs in Mainz, Darmstadt, Baden-Baden, Würzburg, Munich, Leipzig, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Szczecin, Strasbourg and at Milan's La Scala. Early life Origin, family and childhood The Weißheimer family resided in Westhofen in the 14th century. Wendelin's grandfather, Johann Weißheimer I, from Osthofen, inherited a stone mill from his mother's family at the end of the 18th century. Viticulture, agriculture, animal husbandry and mill grinding were already undertaken on the manor complex in the 19th century. The manor is still owned by the Weißheimer family. This complex was one of the most important in the former Grand Duchy of Hesse. Wendelin Weißheimer was born at the Stone Mill Winery of Osthofen, the eighth and youngest child of Johann Weißheimer II and Ottilie, née Best der Welt. His parents were wealthy and his father, a highly respected and multi-talented man with a keen interest in history and politics, had already been mayor for several years and a member of the first Osthofen Hessian Ständekammer, which is why Wendelin met, at a young age, men of the March Revolution of 1848 at the Stone Mill. Despite his commitments as landowner and politician, Wendelin Weißheimer's father found time to deal with family and traditional, historical studies, the result of which was his multi-volume chronicle of the Osthofens recorded in handwritten diaries. He allowed Wendelin to study music, although this clearly contradicted his intentions of making Wendelin his estate's heir. The path to music Weißheimer's background differed from other composers in that he did not come from a musical family. His father had intended him to inherit the Stone Mill, and thus he was sent to a secondary school in Darmstadt when he was only 13 as an apprentice. There, through his piano teacher, a member of the theater orchestra, he had an opportunity to listen to a rehearsal for the performance of Tannhauser. He had heard earlier parts of the music during a visit to a military concert. Weißheimer wrote that these experiences influenced him greatly. In his book: Experiences with Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt and many