Background
Kurt Hessenberg was born on August 17, 1908 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, as the fourth and last child of the lawyer Eduard Hessenberg and his wife Emma, née Kugler.
Kurt Hessenberg was born on August 17, 1908 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, as the fourth and last child of the lawyer Eduard Hessenberg and his wife Emma, née Kugler.
From 1927–1931 Hessenberg studied at the Leipzig Conservatory.
Among his ancestors was Heinrich Hoffmann, whose famous children"s book Struwwelpeter Hessenberg was to arrange for children"s choir (op 49) later in his life. In 1933 Hessenberg became a teacher at the Hoch"sche Konservatorium in Frankfurt am Main, where he himself had taken his earliest music lessons. 45. Hessenberg was appointed professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in 1953 and taught there until his retirement in 1973.
Kurt Hessenberg died in Frankfurt am Main on June 17, 1994.
Among his most noted students were Hans Zender and Peter Cahn.