Walter Henry Rothwell

Founding father

Rachmaninov turned down the job, but when Walter Henry Rothwell (above) was approached to be the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s first music director, he had no qualms. Recruited by the orchestra’s wealthy founder, William Andrew Clark Jr, Rothwell immediately set about assembling an ensemble of top musicians. And the London-born conductor had form: he studied in Vienna in the 1880s with teachers including Anton Bruckner and was later talent-spotted by Gustav Mahler, who took him on as his assistant conductor. Rothwell championed Romantic repertoire, and remained the LA Phil’s conductor until his death in 1927.