no Jewish elementary school in Ulm, Henle concentrated on religious service, directing the choir as well as religious and music education. He also resumed his studies at the Stuttgart conservatoire in composition and singing. In 1877 he earned his teaching license and a year later was approved as a cantor. His talent had come to the attention of rabbi Max Sänger from Hamburg, and in 1879 he was invited to perform at the reform Hamburg Temple with the prospect of getting a permanent tenure there. He was also asked to perform in Königsberg, East-Prussia, but left the position as cantor to his friend Eduard Birnbaum accepted the offer from Hamburg, where he immediately formed a mixed choir. One member of the mixed choir was Caroline Franziska Herschel, who was related to Moses Mendelssohn. They married in 1882, and from that date on Henle's wife accompanied him at his performances and official functions. They had three children, Alwin, Paul William and Albertine. Henle composed mostly for mixed choirs accompanied by organ, revolutionary at the time, given the traditionally strict separation of men and women in the synagogue. During Henle's thirty-four years as main cantor in Hamburg, he also worked as an author, developed the choirs of the reform synagogue, trained future singers and cantors, and was chairman of the German Association of Cantors for more than fifteen years. Henle reintroduced biblical cantillation and Ashkenazi pronunciation at the Hamburg synagogue. Until then the cantors of the Hamburg synagogue had used Sephardic recitative and Portuguese pronunciation of Hebrew. The tension between these traditions and the growing reformist movement within the congregation subsequently increased. Following the ideas of the reform movement, Henle introduced new concepts by employing traditions of his Southern German birthplace in his compositions, which were also influenced by the works of his wife's cousin, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who influenced Henle's contemporaries as well. Henle was also influenced by the works of Viennese cantor and composer Salomon Sulzer. Henle's efforts to reform the musical liturgy in Hamburg were ultimately successful, and his mixed choir became famous for its performances, which also benefited the fortunes of the synagogue. Henle's compositions were highly regarded and used not only by reform congregations in Germany but also in the United States. They were published in 1900 in Kompositionen von M. Henle, containing thirty hymns, and in 1913 a Haggadah for the Passover celebration at home included compositions