| Biography | Hans Weisbach was internationally known as a Bach specialist, and, for instance, led the first performance in England of Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080, in 1930; he repeated it, with the London Symphony Orchestra, in each of the ensuing six seasons. He was a fervent advocate of the music of Bruckner as well as that of Bach. Gerhard Herz recalls the performances of Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244) conducted by Hans Weisbach as being characteristic of the traditional mainstream of Bach performance practice in Germany during his youth in the 1920's and 1930's. Fortunately, a concert performance of J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244), given under Weisbach's baton in the Altes Gewandhaus in Leipzig on April 19, 1935, has been preserved on records.
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