Introduction

Biography

A cho­ral di­rect­or and com­pos­er, Wil­helm stu­died at Cas­sel un­der Lou­is Spohr, and then in Frank­furt am Main with Alo­ys Schmitt and A. An­dré.

From 1841–64 he di­rect­ed the Kre­feld Lied­er­ta­fel, for which he com­pos­ed nu­mer­ous male chor­us­es.

In Kre­feld in 1854 he set to mu­sic Max Schneck­en­bur­ger’s 1840 po­em Die Wacht am Rhein.

In re­cog­ni­tion of the suc­cess and na­tion­al im­port­ance of this song, he re­ceived the ti­tle of Roy­al Prus­sian Mu­sic Di­rect­or in 1860, and four years lat­er re­ceived a gold me­dal from Queen (lat­er Em­press) Au­gu­sta.

On June 24, 1871, he rec­eived a per­son­al ac­know­ledg­ment from Chan­cel­lor Ot­to von Bis­marck. The same year, he re­ceived an an­nu­al gift from the govern­ment of 3,000 marks, which was then more than four times a ty­pi­cal sa­la­ry.

From 1865 on, Wil­helm di­rect­ed the mu­sic so­cie­ty in Schmal­kal­den, where he lived un­til his death.