Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts has its origins in Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium, a foundation established by the Frankfurt burgher, Dr. Joseph Hoch in 1878. The founding principal Joachim Raff and his successors were able to attract renowned and internationally distinguished artists as teachers at the University, such as the pianist Clara Schumann, Engelbert Humperdinck and the cellist Hugo Becker.

During the pre-World War One period many students from all over the world studied in Frankfurt, some of them going on to become famous, such as Eduard McDowell, Percy Grainger, Ernst Toch, Otto Klemperer, Hans Rosbaud and Paul Hindemith. After 1918, the Conservatorium attracted attention through new,innovative courses and contents which were promoted by Bernhard Sekles, who was appointed Principal in 1923:  these included founding an opera school, early musical education for very young children, courses for adults as well as the first German jazz class in 1927.

[Translate to English:] Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung führte zur Entlassung sämtlicher jüdischen Lehrer. Negative Auswirkungen auf die Qualität der Ausbildung waren unvermeidlich und wurden bewusst in Kauf genommen; es dauerte Jahre, bis sich das Konservatorium einigermaßen von diesem Aderlass erholt hatte.


1938 wurde schließlich die Gründung einer Staatlichen Musikhochschule durch Abspaltung einiger Ausbildungsgänge des Konservatoriums veranlasst. Dadurch entstanden zwei getrennte Institutionen: «Hochschule» und «Musikschule». Beide führten jedoch weiterhin den traditionellen Namen «Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium».

Nach Kriegsbeginn 1939 konnte der Lehrbetrieb zunächst relativ geordnet fortgeführt werden, bis im Oktober 1943 die Unterrichtsgebäude durch schwere alliierte Bombenangriffe in Schutt und Asche gelegt wurden.

Thanks to the initiative of the organist Helmut Walcha, the department of church music reopened in autumn 1947 and shortly afterwards the department of school music. In spring 1949 the seminar for private music teachers also resumed its work. The gradual revival of artistic instrumental and vocal training started in summer 1950 when the violinist Walther Davisson became Principal.

In 1956, Hessische Rundfunk moved into new premises and handed over its old Funkhaus in Eschersheimer Landstrasse, built in 1930, to the college, where classes are still taught today.

The opera school which had been established in 1954, was expanded in 1960 to include a drama school and in 1961 by a dancing class. In the 1960s, the «Studio for New Music» was founded. Such great personalities as Theodor W. Adorno, György Ligeti and Luigi Dallapiccola could be engaged for the events put on by the studio and these attracted great public attention. As a pendant, a «Studio for Old Music» was also established.

The Principal at this time was Philipp Mohler, who remained in office for 17 years and appointed some very eminent musicians including Branka Musulin, Jiri Stárek, Edgar Krapp, Gerhard Mantel, Leonard Hokanson and Helmuth Rilling.

Mohler's successor Hans-Dieter Resch, Principal from 1975 to 1995, re-established the departments of jazz and popular music as well as musical science, so that the University again finally offered the entire spectrum of subjects.

He also engaged well-known artists including Edith Peinemann, Hartmut Höll, Charles Spencer, Hans Zender, Bernhard Kontarsky, Raymund Havenith, Karl Berger, Isabel Mundry and Tabea Zimmermann.

The list of graduates over the last four decades extends from Werner Hoppstock, Aldo Baldin, Hans Drewanz and Rolf Riehm, through Udo Samel, Michael Ponti, Maria Kliegel, Hans Jürgen von Bose, Wolfgang Schmidt, Robert Schunk and the Pekinel sisters, right up to Ruth Ziesak, Christoph Prégardien, Gabriele Schnaut and Christian Elsner, clearly documenting the University's re-emergence as one of the leading educational establishments of its kind.

A few years ago Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts launched out on a comprehensive reform process with the aim of becoming a university on an international scale.

An important milestone along the path to achieving this was the establishment of new courses: "Theatre and Orchestra Management" (2005), "International Ensemble Modern Academy – Masters Programmes at the  HfMDK" in cooperation with the Ensemble Modern (2006), Teaching of Contemporary Dance (2007) and Choreography and Performance (2008) in cooperation with Tanzlabor_21/Dance Plan Frankfurt/Main within the framework of "Dance Plan Germany" – a project sponsored by the Federal Cultural Foundation, «Kronberg Academy Masters» (2007) in cooperation with the Kronberg Academy.

Since 2002, the courses in performing arts have also enjoyed the benefits of the Hessian Theatre Academy (HTA) which has its headquarters at the University. The Academy is an amalgamation of eight theatres and opera houses, as well as all the theatrical training programmes at universities in Hesse.