Weisgall, Hugo D. (13072714)

Record status: unconfirmed. Class-roster match confidence is medium. Correct the infobox if you have a source, and note it on talk.

Hugo David Weisgall
Personal details
Birth name	Hugo David Weisgall
Born	13 October 1912 Ivančice, Moravia, Austria-hungary
Died	11 March 1997 Long Island, New York
Nativity	Czechoslovakia
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	13072714
Rank	Technical Sergeant
Rank at Ritchie	Technician Fifth Grade
Camp Ritchie	Class 2 (24 August – 17 October 1942)
Enlisted	Baltimore, Maryland

Interview Watch Hugo David Weisgall on Milken Archive oral history.

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

Hugo David Weisgall (13 October 1912 – 11 March 1997) was a Moravia-born composer and Ritchie Boy (Class 2) who conducted Allied musical forces in Britain and later wrote major American operas.

Biography

Hugo David Weisgall was born on 13 October 1912 in Ivančice (Eibenschütz), Moravia, then in Austria-Hungary. His family emigrated to Baltimore in 1920; he became a U.S. citizen in 1926. He studied at the Peabody Conservatory and the Curtis Institute, earned a Ph.D. in German literature at Johns Hopkins University (1940), and led ensembles including the Baltimore String Symphony.

Weisgall trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 2). A 1943 newspaper report identifies him as a technical sergeant assigned to London as a liaison between the United States and governments in exile. While serving in the Army he conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall on 29 July 1943 before an audience of about 6,000 for the premiere of his overture American Comedy 1943, which he had begun while training at Camp Ritchie—reportedly the first time an American had conducted the BBC orchestra in its promenade-concert series.

After the war he served as an assistant cultural officer in Prague (Foreign Service, from November 1946). Weisgall became one of the leading American opera composers of his generation—works include The Tenor, The Stronger, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and Esther—and taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Juilliard, and Queens College. He died on 11 March 1997 on Long Island, New York.

Research notes

• DEML instruction team
• OCR (83%) of `5774657545889452.jpg` (Camp Ritchie) — rank mentioned: Sergeant.

Gallery

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  Stars and Stripes, 30 July 1943 — “U.S. Sergeant Leads BBC Symphony” (composite clipping; RB Archive)

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	85
Nara ASN	13072714
Nara Name	ROYER JOHN M
Nara State	1
Nara County	11
Nara POE	3110
Nara DOE	140542
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	BI
Nara Branch Code	0
Branch	Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Nara Term or Enlistment	5
Term of enlistment	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Defer. Date	0
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	31
Nativity.1	MARYLAND
Nara Year of Birth	21
Nara Race	1
Nara Race Description	White citizen
Nara Education	3
Nara Civilian Occupation	819
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	67
Nara Weight (lbs)	122
Class_Name	Weisgall, Hugo D.
match_method	unique_name_no_asn
row_source	both

Timeline

• 13 October 1912 — Born in Ivančice, Moravia.
• 1920 / 1926 — Emigrated to Baltimore; naturalized U.S. citizen.
• 1940 — Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University.
• Camp Ritchie Class 2 — Military intelligence training; wartime conducting in Britain.
• 13 November 1946 — Assistant Cultural Officer, Praha (Foreign Service).
• Postwar — Operas and teaching (JTS, Juilliard, Queens College).
• 11 March 1997 — Died on Long Island, New York.

Sources

• Stars and Stripes, 30 July 1943 — coverage related to Weisgall (RB Archive)
• RB Archive wartime clippings (Stars and Stripes; BBC Symphony coverage)
• Milken Archive Aviary recording — Hugo Weisgall interview
• Milken Archive oral history — Hugo Weisgall (31 May 1995)
• Wikipedia — Hugo Weisgall
• Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
• Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-10-09 (2 posts)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-10-16 (2 posts)
• OCR-reviewed Facebook gallery document: 5774657545889452.jpg
• New York Times report on Weisgall conducting the BBC Symphony, 29 July 1943
• Baltimore newspaper report, ?Weisgall Leads 3 Big British Orchestras?
• Continuation of Baltimore newspaper report
• Newspaper report, ?Local Soldier?s Overture To Get British Premiere?
• Continuation of newspaper report on Weisgall