[Sir Isidor Georg]. English musician (naturalized 1890), of German family, born at Breslau, and educated as a pianist, making his first public appearance in Berlin in 1862. He subsequently, however, took up singing, having developed a fine baritone voice; and in 1868 he sang the part of Hans Sachs in Meistersinger at Munich. In 1877 he began a successful career in England, singing at the principal concerts; and in 1881 he married the American soprano, Lilian Bailey (d. 1901), who was associated with him in a number of vocal recitals. He was also prominent as a conductor, starting the London symphony concerts in 1886, and both in England and America (where he was the first conductor of the Boston symphony concerts, 1881) he took a leading part in advancing his art. He composed a number of instrumental works, a fine Stabat Mater (Birmingham festival, 1894), &c., and an opera, Nubia (Dresden, 1899). From 1905–8 he taught at the Institute of Musical Art, New York. He was knighted in 1914. A Mass in eight parts a cappella was first sung in 1916. In 1907 he published Personal Recollections of Brahms and twelve years later Musings and Memories of a Musician. Henschel’s very highly developed sense of interpretation and style made him an ideal concert singer, while he was no less distinguished as accompanist.
