Introduction

Biography

George was the son of farm­er Pe­ter Rosche and Ca­the­rine Ur­schel, and hu­sband of Ida Kate Weis­er of In­di­an­apo­lis (mar­ried 1880, while he was at se­mi­na­ry).

Rosche at­tend­ed his first sing­ing school at age 10. When he was 12 years old, his fa­ther bought an or­gan, and George be­gan the stu­dy of mu­sic in ear­nest with Miss Chris­ti­na Carv­er.

At age 15, he at­tend­ed Da­na’s Mu­sic­al In­sti­tute at War­ren, Ohio, for a year. He then be­gan teach­ing pi­ano and or­gan, and lat­er sing­ing schools. Dur­ing this time, he al­so stu­died har­mo­ny and com­po­si­tion with Rev. Cort­hau­er of Mas­sil­lon, Ohio.

At age 19, he went to Stutt­gart, Ger­ma­ny, and at­tend­ed the Roy­al Con­ser­va­tory of Mu­sic for two years, stu­dy­ing pi­ano, pipe or­gan, har­mo­ny and com­po­si­tion and voice cul­ture.

Rosche re­turned to Am­eri­ca in 1876, and went to In­di­an­apo­lis, In­di­ana, where he taught pi­ano and oth­er sub­jects for three years.

In 1879, Rosche was called to the chair of mu­sic in the Se­mi­na­ry of the Ger­man Ev­an­ge­li­cal Sy­nod of North Am­eri­ca, in Elm­hurst, Il­li­nois.

Rosche left the se­mi­na­ry 1884 to go in­to the pi­ano and or­gan bu­si­ness, as well as mu­sic pub­lish­ing, with which he had been in­volved to some ex­tent while at the se­mi­na­ry.

Works

In 1897, he be­gan pub­lish­ing a month­ly ma­ga­zine, The Church Choir. He also pub­lished Gos­pel song books in both Eng­lish and Ger­man, and com­posed can­ta­tas and oth­er Sun­day school mu­sic. His works in­clude:

• Perlen und Blü­then, with C. A. Weiss (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: 1890)
• Geistliche Män­ner­chö­re (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: George F. Rosche, 1896)
• Songs of Praise and Wor­ship (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: 1913)