# Peter Herman Adler

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{{short description|American conductor (1899–1990)}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}}
thumb|upright|Peter Herman Adler, 1951

'''Peter Herman Adler''' (December 2, 1899 – October 2, 1990) was an American [conductor](/source/conducting).

==Career==
Adler was born in [Gablonz an der Neiße](/source/Jablonec_nad_Nisou), [Austria-Hungary](/source/Austria-Hungary), which is now in the [Czech Republic](/source/Czech_Republic). While at the [Prague Conservatory](/source/Prague_Conservatory), he studied with [Vítězslav Novák](/source/V%C3%ADt%C4%9Bzslav_Nov%C3%A1k), [Fidelio Finke](/source/Fidelio_Finke), and [Alexander von Zemlinsky](/source/Alexander_von_Zemlinsky).<ref name="Harvard Bio">{{cite book|editor-last=Randel|editor-first=Don Michael|title=The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Nusic|year=1996|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Mass.|isbn=0-674-37299-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/harvardbiographi00rand/page/5 5]|chapter=Adler, Peter Herman|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/harvardbiographi00rand/page/5}}</ref> In the 1930s, he was music director of the Bremen State Opera (likely the ''Stadttheater am Wall'', destroyed in Allied bombings in 1944) and of the State Philharmonia of [Kiev](/source/Kiev). He also appeared throughout Europe as a guest conductor.<ref name="NY Times Obituary">{{cite news |last1=Rockwell |first1=John |title=Peter Herman Adler; TV Opera Pioneer And Conductor, 91 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/03/obituaries/peter-herman-adler-tv-opera-pioneer-and-conductor-91.html |access-date=August 23, 2025 |publisher=The New York Times |date=October 3, 1990}}</ref>

In 1939, he fled Europe and immigrated to America. Several of his relatives on both sides of his family were murdered in the [Holocaust](/source/Holocaust).

Adler made his debut with the [New York Philharmonic](/source/New_York_Philharmonic) in 1940. He was the music and artistic director of the [NBC Opera Theatre](/source/NBC_Opera_Theatre) (1950–1964) and the National Educational Television Opera. He was a pioneer of  televised broadcast of opera, commissioning such works as [Gian Carlo Menotti](/source/Gian_Carlo_Menotti)'s ''[Amahl and the Night Visitors](/source/Amahl_and_the_Night_Visitors)'' and ''[Maria Golovin](/source/Maria_Golovin)'', [Norman Dello Joio](/source/Norman_Dello_Joio)'s ''[The Trial at Rouen](/source/The_Triumph_of_St._Joan)'', and [Bohuslav Martinů](/source/Bohuslav_Martin%C5%AF)'s ''[The Marriage](/source/The_Marriage_(opera))''; [Jack Beeson](/source/Jack_Beeson)'s ''My Heart's in the Highlands'', [Thomas Pasatieri](/source/Thomas_Pasatieri)'s ''[The Trial of Mary Lincoln](/source/The_Trial_of_Mary_Lincoln)'', and [Hans Werner Henze](/source/Hans_Werner_Henze)'s ''La Cubana''. Adler was also involved in the early career development of such singers as [Leontyne Price](/source/Leontyne_Price), [George London](/source/George_London_(bass-baritone)) and [Mario Lanza](/source/Mario_Lanza). He later conducted the [Baltimore Symphony Orchestra](/source/Baltimore_Symphony_Orchestra) from 1959 to 1968. He conducted the United States premiere of Ernst Bloch's opera ''[Macbeth](/source/Macbeth_(Bloch))'' at the Juilliard School in May 1973.<ref>Schonberg, Harold C. (May 11, 1973), [https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/11/archives/macbeth-blochs-1909-opera-has-a-premiere-here.html?sq=Bloch+MacBeth+Juilliard&scp=1&st=p "'Macbeth,' Bloch's 1909 Opera, Has a Premiere Here"], ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)''.</ref>

Adler made only one foray into movies, adapting the music for ''[The Great Caruso](/source/The_Great_Caruso)'' in 1950, for which he received an [Academy Award](/source/Academy_Award) nomination.

Adler died in [Ridgefield, Connecticut](/source/Ridgefield%2C_Connecticut) in 1990. He never married nor had children, and was survived by a nephew.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{cci}}

{{Baltimore Symphony conductors}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, Peter Herman}}
Category:1899 births
Category:1990 deaths
Category:People from Jablonec nad Nisou
Category:American male conductors (music)
Category:20th-century American conductors (music)
Category:20th-century American male musicians
Category:American people of Czech-Jewish descent
Category:Jews who emigrated to escape Nazism
Category:Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States
Category:Prague Conservatory alumni
Category:Music directors of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Peter Herman Adler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Herman_Adler) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Herman_Adler?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.