Loeffler, Charles Martin (Tornow) (1861–1935)

Alsatian-born US composer, a US citizen from 1887. He went to the USA in 1881, and played in Frank Damrosch's orchestra, in quartets, and with touring companies. In 1882 he joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he remained, sharing the first desk with the leader, until 1903.

Before Alsace was lost to France in the 1870–71 war, Loeffler, whose father was an agricultural chemist and an author who wrote under the name of ‘Tornow’, was taken to Smela, near Kiev, Russia, and it was there that he was first given violin lessons. The family later moved to Debreczin in Hungary and about 1873 to Switzerland. There he decided to become a violinist and went to Berlin, Germany, to study with Eduard Rappoldi, Friedrich Kiel, Woldemar Bargiel, and lastly Joseph Joachim. Later he had a period of study with Joseph Massart and Ernest Guiraud in Paris, France, joined the Pasdeloup Orchestra and that of a wealthy amateur, where he remained until his emigration to the USA in 1881.

Works the psalm ‘By the Waters of Babylon’ for women's voices and instruments, Beat! Beat! Beat! Drums! (from Whitman's ‘Drum Taps’, 1917) for male voices and orchestra, Evocation for women's voices and orchestra; chamber music.