PUEHRINGER, FERDINAND (2 Nov. 1841-15 Sept. 1930), impresario, conductor, composer, and teacher, came to America in 1863 from Vilma, Austria after having studied music with Franz Von Suppe. He became a professor of music at Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio, and came to Cleveland in 1872. As an impresario, Puehringer put the GERMANIA ORCHESTRA on a sound financial basis by beginning subscription concerts. He organized and directed many of his own groups, including the Boys Band; a singing and orchestra school; and the PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, 30 amateur, then later professional musicians, which gave its first performance on 31 Oct. 1881 to benefit the Society for Organizing Charities. He also produced many operas, including Lortzing's Der Waffenschmied (1874), and The Czar and Zimmerman, The Bohemian Girl with EFFIE ELLSLER, and Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld (1876). Puehringer later became director of the Park Theatre Orchestra. In 1887, his light opera Captain Cupid, with libretto by Wm. R. Rose of the PLAIN DEALER and Wm. E. Sage of the CLEVELAND LEADER, was produced there. His other works include The Hero of Erie (about Oliver Hazard Perry's battle on Lake Erie in 1813), and Anna Liese.
Puehringer married Mary Emich (d. 1938) and had 1 child, Ritta (Caldwell). He was buried in Highland Park Cemetery.