Anton Seidl

Anton Seidl (7 May 1850 – 28 March 1898) was a Hungarian conductor.

Biography

He was born in Pest, Hungary. He began the study of music at a very early age, and when only seven years old could pick out at the piano melodies which he had heard in the theatre. At 15, he became a student of harmony in counterpoint under Nicolitsch at the Hungarian national musical academy, of which Liszt was director. He attended the normal school at Pest for three years, the gymnasium eight years, and afterward attended the university for two years. At age 16 he had been thinking of becoming a priest, but his love for music prevailed and he entered Leipzig Conservatory in October 1870, remaining there until 1872, when he was summoned to Bayreuth as one of Richard Wagner's copyists.

At Bayreuth, he assisted in making the first fair copy of Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner treated him as one of the "chosen few", and it was natural that he should take a part in the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876. Wagner then sent him to Vienna to stage Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (the last two Ring dramas) there.