Title: Traditional German Music | HowStuffWorks
Headings: How German Traditions Work
How German Traditions Work
Traditional German Music

Content: Kitchen]. This environment cultivated generations of musical development and paved the way for German composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Music is perhaps the area where German culture is most prevalent beyond its own borders. Particularly in America, the influence of German immigrants is inescapable and may be largely responsible for the rise of symphony orchestras, which along with opera, was a popular art form in Germany, in metropolitan areas with large German populations. As early as 1853, Milwaukee hosted a performance of German composer Albert Lörtzing’s opera “Zar und Zimmermann” to an audience of 800. This was at a time when the city was only 30,000 strong [source: Daniels]. Advertisement
From that point onward, German-born conductors were a primary influence in American orchestras, conducting symphonies in Chicago and New York. And German-American banker Otto Kahn financed the Metropolitan Opera during its formative years [source: Daniels].