F. Moritz with one of his beautifully maintained Heckels.
The career of Frederick Moritz as a musician and as a bassoonist in particular was a highly interesting one. Born in the small hamlet of Sulzthal near the famous Spa "Bad Kissingen" in Germany, the youngest son of a well-known bandleader, he entered music school in 1910 in Coburg, where he studied with Emil Hoffmann who was then 1st bassoon of the Coburg court-theater orchestra.
After graduating in 1913 Moritz advanced rapidly so that, already in 1914, he was principal bassoon in the Dortmund Philharmonic. But after two years there the draft-board caught up with our young bassoonist.
In 1919, after the war ended, in another great leap, Moritz auditioned for the Berlin Philharmonic and was successfully installed as first solo bassoonist in that renowned orchestra under the great Arthur Nikisch. There followed four of the most illustrious years of experience for any bassoonist, aged 22.
Besides Nikisch, many more conductors who later were famous also in America frequently conducted the Philharmonic. Among them: Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwaengler (who later became permanent conductor), Weingartner, Koussevitsky, Richard Strauss and many others.
But with all these successes on hand there were hard times in Germany and the outlook was dark. So Moritz tried his luck in America. He came to Los Angeles in 1923 and was engaged by Walter as solo bassoonist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In this position Mr. Moritz remained for 47 years, turning down all offers, including solo bassoon at NBC with Toscanini, the New York Philharmonic and some prominent positions in Movie-Studios. Moritz said, "I belong to Los Angeles", and his wife Katherina, his son Roland and daughter Evamaria were of the same opinion.
In Los Angeles, Moritz says, he performed as soloist more than 15 times, playing: the two (sic.) Mozart concerti repeatedly, also Weber, some Vivaldi and four performances of a new concerto by Ernest Kanitz. But none of these performances were quite as exciting as the two farewell performances of K. 191 on November 25 and 27, 1970. The November 27th was broadcast widely in the U.S.
Following the performance during the first concert Mr. Moritz was presented by the conductor, Zubin Mehta, with a beautiful plaque whose inscription Mr. Mehta read to the audience:
This was followed by tremendous applause, and after Mr. Mehta said some more nice things, in particular, "As you have just heard, Mr. Moritz is leaving us in top form," the entire audience and orchestra membership rose for a thunderous standing ovation.
I think we all can join with a "BRAVO" of our own to Frederick Moritz for such a brilliant conclusion to a 60-year musical career!