Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Zerrahn, Carl

ZERRAHN, Carl, musician, b. in Malchow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, 28 July, 1826. He began the study of music in Rostock at the age of twelve years, and completed his education in Hanover and Berlin. About 1848, with twenty-five others, he organized “The Germania Musical Society” and came to this country, giving concerts in London on their way. They reached New York in September, 1848, and gave successful concerts in New York and Brooklyn, which were followed by others in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and New England. They appeared for five or six years with Jenny Lind, Madame Sonntag, Ole Bull, Thalberg, Alfred Jaell, Camilla Urso, and other artists, disbanding in 1854. In that year Zerrahn became musical director of the Handel and Haydn society of Boston, which post he now holds. From 1866 till 1882 he was conductor of the Harvard musical association. He has conducted the music festivals of the Worcester county musical association every year since 1865, with the exception of 1868, which he spent in Germany, and took part in the New York festivals of 1869 and 1873. He is a member of several musical societies, and has edited two books designed for musical organizations, “The Index” (Boston, 1881) and “The Apograph” (1885).