Carlos Veerhoff

Carlos Veerhoff was born on 03.06.1926 in Buenos Aires (Argentina) with his twin brother Wolfgang Otto. His birth name was Carlos Enrique Veerhoff (I have a copy of his birth certificate). The father Heinrich Veerhoff was a businessman in the illuminated advertising sector and his mother, Karla Veerhoff (born Panzner), was a violinist. His maternal grandfather was Karl Panzner (1866-1923), a famous conductor in Germany.

Due to different job offers of his father the Veerhoff family moved several times in the early years of Carlos Veerhoff. In 1930 the family moved back to Germany, 1933 to South Africa and 1935 back to Germany. The experiences of the life in Africa were impressive to Carlos Veerhoff, but he also developed there an enormous interest in flight engineering and fluid mechanics. So his first steps into music were not before the age of 15.

While living in Germany Carlos Veerhoff Germanized his second forename and varied between both "Heiner" and "Heinrich" (there are documents in my archive that show both spellings), but later focussed on "Heinrich".

From the age of 16 Carlos Veerhoff dedicated himself to music and became a pupil of the "Musisches Gymnasium" in Frankfurt am Main. After a short intermezzo as a soldier in World War II in which he was injured, he had composition lessons by Hermann Grabner, later he studied with Walter Gieseking (piano), Günter Wand (conducting) and Walter Braunfels (composition).

In 1947 Carlos Veerhoff went back to Argentina, due to health problems and started there his career as a composer. But although his compositions received first performances by famous and acclaimed musicians from the very start (for example his op.0 by Ferenc Fricsay), Carlos Veerhoff remained - from his own point of view - an outsider of the main musical life. For example he never received a professorship and had to work hard to get his compositions performed. On the other hand, nearly all of his compositions received performances and in many cases by renowned performers.

From 1969 Carlos Veerhoff lived and worked in Germany. His last years he lived in Murnau near Munich. He died there on 18.02.2011.

Carlos Veerhoff Archive

In my possession is a large part of the musical estate of Carlos Veerhoff. The finding aid below provides a detailed list of all the documents in the archive.

Below you can find some of the music of Carlos Veerhoff. Feel free to study the music.

Altdeutsche Lieder, for voice and piano op.2

Lieder für hohe Stimme, for voice and piano

String quartet No.1 op.1

Sonata quasi una Fantasia per violino solo op.10

4 piano pieces

Sonatine for piano

Concerto for 2 violins and orchestra op.55

Violin concerto No.1 op.40