Schuricht, Carl

Conductor

born: 03.07.1880 in Danzig

died: 07.01.1967 in Corseaux-sur-Vevey (Switzerland)

The son of a master organ builder and an oratorio singer moved to Wiesbaden in 1893 with his mother, who had been widowed at an early age. There he attended the Royal Realgymnasium and received his first conducting lessons from Franz Mannstaedt.

While studying at the Berlin University of the Arts, he worked as a répétiteur at the Mainz State Theater. Due to health problems, Schuricht took a break for several years before accepting the position of conductor at the Dortmund Philharmonic in 1906. This was followed by positions in Zwickau, Bad Kreuznach, and Frankfurt am Main. In 1912, he was appointed municipal music director in Wiesbaden. Promoted to general music director in 1922, he held this position until 1944. He led the spa orchestra and, with interruptions, the Cäcilienverein from 1913 to 1937. His work helped enhance Wiesbaden’s reputation as a city of music beyond the region. Beginning in 1933, guest conducting engagements took him to Vienna, Berlin, and Stuttgart. In 1935, he conducted the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra in a gala concert for SS-Standarte 13 on the occasion of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler’s birthday. Schuricht also conducted concerts to benefit “Kraft durch Freude” and the Winter Relief Fund.

In September 1933, Carl Schuricht separated from his third wife, who was persecuted as a Jew and subsequently went into exile. Since the Nazi authorities considered the separation not to have been fully finalized, Schuricht was not hired in 1935 for the Wiesbaden gala concert in honor of Adolf Hitler. In the summer of 1944, he was added to the so-called “God-Gifted” list of the Reich Ministry of Propaganda. At the end of the year, the conductor emigrated to Switzerland.

His interpretations focused on the symphonies of Bruckner and Mahler (“Symphony of a Thousand” in 1913, “Gustav Mahler Week” in 1920 and 1921). In addition, he introduced Wiesbaden to Arnold Schoenberg’s “Gurre-Lieder” and Frederick Delius’s “A Mass of Life.” In his performances of works by Beethoven, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Brahms, and Schumann, he impressed audiences with his “tendency toward a deeply spiritual interpretation.” Schuricht was in high demand as a guest conductor throughout Europe and overseas. He performed for the “Kraft durch Freude” organization and in the occupied territories.

After 1945, he worked primarily with the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Süddeutscher Rundfunk in Stuttgart. In 1953, he was named an honorary citizen of the city of Wiesbaden. In 1973, a street where he had lived was named after him. At the Kurhaus in Wiesbaden, the “Carl Schuricht” Salon and a monument in front of the Christian-Zais-Saal commemorate the conductor. 

His urn was interred at the Nordfriedhof. In 2011, he was granted an honorary grave in Wiesbaden.

Due to his profession, Carl Schuricht was a member of the Reich Music Chamber. By conducting a birthday concert in Stuttgart in honor of Heinrich Himmler, he provided moral support to the Nazi regime and gained material benefits, in part, as a result of this performance. At the same time, Schuricht provided financial support to his Jewish (ex-)wife, thereby offering tangible assistance to individuals who had been threatened, harmed, or persecuted by the Nazi regime. Because of his marriage to a Jewish woman, Schuricht was not permitted to conduct the gala concert in honor of Adolf Hitler at the Wiesbaden Kurhaus in 1935. For this reason, the Historical Expert Commission—established in 2020 by resolution of the City Council to review public spaces, buildings, and facilities in the state capital of Wiesbaden named after individuals—recommended that Carl-Schuricht-Straße be contextualized. The city administration followed this recommendation with a resolution dated March 24, 2026.

[This text was written in 2012 by Wolfgang Jung for the print edition of the Wiesbaden City Encyclopedia and supplemented in 2023 by Dr. Katherine Lukat]