Background
Zach was born on August 31, 1864 in Lemberg, Galicia, what is now Lviv, Ukraine, the son of Heinrich and Julia (Deim) Zach.
Zach was born on August 31, 1864 in Lemberg, Galicia, what is now Lviv, Ukraine, the son of Heinrich and Julia (Deim) Zach.
Zach received his education in the lower and middle schools of Lemberg and Vienna. His early music instructors were Czerwinski in piano and Bruckmann in violin. At the age of sixteen, he entered the Vienna Conservatory of Music, and studied piano under Joseph Edler, violin under Siegmund Bachrich and Jakob M. Grün, harmony under Robert Fuchs, and counterpoint and composition under Franz Krenn.
Compulsory military service claimed Zach at nineteen. He entered the Austrian army as a musician, and served three years in the band of the 31st Regiment. He attained the rank of sergeant, was solo violinist in the regimental orchestra, and on occasion acted as conductor. Through routine scoring of music for military band, he acquired a wide knowledge of instrumentation and an astonishing facility in score reading.
In the summer of 1886 Wilhelm Gericke visited Vienna in search of new talent for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His attention was directed to the gifted young Galician violinist, and he promptly engaged him. For twenty-one seasons (1886-1907) Zach played viola in the Boston Symphony, serving under Wilhelm Gericke, Arthur Nikisch, Emil Paur, and Karl Muck. He became a member of the Adamowski String Quartette in 1890 and served as violist of that notable organization until it disbanded in 1906. He had from time to time composed marches and waltzes in the "Viennese" style: "Harlequin en Voyage"; "Waldgeist"; "Oriental March"; "Austria March"; "Military March"; and "Hussar Drill March. " These were performed by the Boston orchestra under his baton so successfully that he was placed on the staff of "Pop" conductors and served during the seasons 1895-1902 and 1905-1907. He organized a miniature symphony orchestra and for several summers conducted series of concerts at Keith's Theatre in Boston.
During the summer of 1904 Zach conducted the Boston Band at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. In 1907 the St. Louis Choral-Symphony Society engaged him to conduct the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, then about to begin its twenty-eighth season. He found in St. Louis an orchestra capable enough but absolutely lacking in discipline. Zach's apprenticeship under Gericke stood him in good stead. He was a leader with dignity and restraint, and he subjected each section of the orchestra to a tremendous amount of strenuous training, and ultimately developed a perfection of ensemble and a flexibility of interpretive power that made the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra one of the half-dozen great American orchestras. Through annual tours of the Southwest, the influence of the orchestra was markedly increased. Zach was a skilful program builder. While presenting the classical masters most effectively, he enlarged the repertoire of the orchestra by the performance of modern works of all schools. His persistent advocacy of the American composer constitutes his most significant contribution to American musical progress. During the fourteen seasons of his leadership, he produced forty-five symphonic compositions of major importance by twenty-six Amercan composers. The very last concert that he conducted, featured the works of Leo Sowerby, the young Chicago composer. Twelve days later, septic pneumonia terminated Zach's career. He was buried at Forest Hills, Massachusetts.
Zach's cultural interests were broad, and he was an able linguist and a brilliant conversationalist.
Zach married to Blanche Going of Boston, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1891. They had four children.
