The New International Encyclopædia/Götz, Hermann

GÖTZ, gẽts, (1840-76). A gifted German composer, born in Königsberg, Prussia. He did not begin his musical studies until his eighteenth year, and from 1860 to 1863 was a pupil at the Stern Conservatory. Berlin, where his teachers were Stern, Von Bülow, and Ulrich. Upon leaving the conservatory, he became organist of a church at Winterthur, Switzerland. Götz's place among composers is permanently established by his one opera, Die Zähmung der Widerspenstigen, first performed at Mannheim on October 11, 1874. In addition to some orchestral compositions, he left an unfinished opera, completed by his friend Ernst Frank, called Francesca von Rimini. Ill health, brought on by overwork, caused him to retire in 1870 to Hottingen, near Zurich, and he died there, December 3, 1876.