Goldschmidt studied philosophy at Hamburg University and was encouraged by
Busoni to become a composer. He entered the Berlin Hochschule in 1922 and
became a member of Franz Schreker’s composition class (along with Krenek, Haba,
Petyrek and Horenstein). He also studied conducting and played freelance in the
Berlin Philharmonic; in 1923 coached the choir for the Berlin premiere of
Schönberg’s “Gurrelieder”. Conducted in Dessau and with the Berlin Staatsoper;
in 1925 was awarded the Mendelssohn State Prize for his orchestral Passacaglia, premiered by Erich Kleiber. From 1926 he was
under contract to Universal Edition and was regarded as a leading light of the
younger generation of composers; he also conducted widely, as far afield as
Leningrad in 1931. German career climaxed in the premiere of his opera “Der
gewaltige Hahnrei” in Mannheim in 1932; after the Nazi seizure of power his
livelihood disappeared. In 1935 a music-loving Gestapo officer strongly advised
him to leave Germany at once; he emigrated to England and settled in Belsize Park, Hampstead.
Worked for the BBC, becoming Music Director of its German Serive 1944-47.
During the war 22 members of Goldschmidt’s family perished in Auschwitz and
Belsen. British citizenship 1947, conducted at Glyndebourne, Edinburgh festival
and all the BBC orchestras into the 1960s. His opera ‘Beatrice Cenci’ was a
prize-winner in the 1951 Festival of Britain opera competition, but no
production followed and by the late 1950s, owing to lack of interest in his music in Britain and in Germany, he gave up composition for
24 years. 1958–64, collaborated with Deryck Cooke on the complete performing
version of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony. He conducted the world premiere of this
‘Cooke Version’ with the LSO in 1964. In 1982 broke his compositional silence
to write a Clarinet Quartet for Gervase de Peyer, and thereafter resumed
composing — mainly chamber music. A revival of interest in his work led to
performances in the USA and Germany (he was guest of the 1986 Berliner Festwochen), recordings, new
productions of his operas and the recovery of lost manuscripts.