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VENTH, CARL (1860-1938). Carl Venth, violinist and composer, son of Carl and Fredericka (von Turkowitz) Venth, was born in Cologne, Germany, on February 16, 1860. In 1878 he entered the Cologne Conservatory, where he studied violin. In 1879 he made his first concert tour through Holland and went to Paris as a concertmaster of the Opera Comique. He arrived in America in 1880 and after a concert tour from Boston to St. Louis became concertmaster at Rudolph Bila's concerts in New York. Venth was a member of the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House from 1884 to 1888, when he organized the Venth Violin School in Brooklyn. Between 1889 and 1897 he led the Seidl Orchestra and the Euterpe Orchestral Society and organized the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra and the Venth Quartet. On July 13, 1897, in Brooklyn, he married Cathinka Finch Myhr of Norway. He was concertmaster of the St. Paul Symphonie in 1906 but returned to New York in 1907 to organize the Venth Trio. Sometime between 1907 and 1912 Venth moved to Texas as director of the violin department of Kidd-Key College at Sherman. In 1912 he directed the Frohsinn Chorus and conducted the Symphony Orchestra at Dallas. He became dean of the school of fine arts at Texas Woman's College at Fort Worth, where he conducted the choral club and was president of the Music Teachers' Association. From 1931 to 1938 he was head of the music department of the University of San Antonio. Venth's published music included 100 piano and violin pieces and songs. He died at San Antonio on January 30, 1938.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 30, 1938. Frank W. Johnson, A History of Texas and Texans (5 vols., ed. E. C. Barker and E. W. Winkler [Chicago and New York: American Historical Society, 1914; rpt. 1916]). Goldie Capers Smith, The Creative Arts in Texas: A Handbook of Biography (Nashville: Cokesbury, 1926).

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/VV/fve5.html (accessed August 21, 2008).

(NOTE: "s.v." stands for sub verbo, "under the word.")

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Last Updated: January 10, 2008
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