Frederik William Prausnitz (August 26, 1920 in Cologne – November 12, 2004 in Lewes, Delaware) was a German-born American conductor and teacher. His grandfather,Wilhelm Prausnitz, was the dean of the medical school at Graz, as well as a Privy Counsellor. His family, of Lutheran background, emigrated fromCologne toPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania in 1937 because of deep disagreements with theNazi regime. Upon graduation from theJuilliard School he won a conducting competition sponsored by theDetroit Symphony Orchestra in 1943, taught at Juilliard for some twenty years in the 1950s and 1960s, took over as conductor of theNew England Conservatory Orchestra inBoston, Massachusetts, and eventually moved toLondon where he was a staff conductor with theBBC Symphony Orchestra. After his return to the US he was the Music Director of theSyracuse Symphony for three years, then joined the faculty of thePeabody Conservatory inBaltimore, Maryland where he remained until his retirement in 1998. Noted especially for his commitment to contemporary music, he was also a devoted exponent of the music ofGustav Mahler. He wrote a biography ofRoger Sessions and a conducting textbook,Score and Podium. He adopted the unusual form of his first name after seeing an Italian concert poster with that misspelling.

• New York Times Obituary of 22 November 2004, accessed 17 August 2008

• 1920 births
• 2004 deaths
• American male conductors (music)
• 20th-century American conductors (music)
• 20th-century American male musicians
• Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States