He lived in Indianola, Texas
in 1850 and became a surveyor then moved to San Antonio in 1854. He worked
in architecture, engineering, teaching photography, lithography and
as a composer.
He sang tenor in the Männergesang-Verein
(men's singing society) and soon became its assistant conductor. Then he
founded the Beethoven Maennerchor shortly after and conducted the chorus
at the Casino.
His professional activities included architecture, engineering, teaching, photography, and lithography, the last with abolitionist newspaper editor Adolph Douai. In 1855 Thielepape surveyed the town site of Uvalde. In 1857 he designed the San Antonio Casino, a 400-seat auditorium and social center (see CASINO CLUB), and possibly helped plan the Menger Hotelv On April 2, 1858, he was among the organizers of the city's German-English School. He moved to New Braunfels in 1859 to design the Comal County Courthouse. Like many Union sympathizers of German origin, Thielepape probably spent part of the Civil War in Eagle Pass and Mexico. He was among those who raised the union flag over the Alamo.
Thielpape was appointed Reconstruction mayor of San Antonio on November 8, 1867. He supervised an administration that built bridges, laid macadam streets, strengthened the public schools, and provided the eventual arrival of the railroad. Throughout these years he continued to conduct and compose and founded a singing school. On March 12, 1872, Thielepape was removed from office, but he remained active in the community until, in April 1874, he turned his chorus over to Andreas Scheidemantel and moved to Chicago to participate in the building boom that followed the Chicago Fire. Even in retirement, Thielepape continued to compose; he wrote his last song in 1899.
He died in Chicago on August 7, 1904. His compositions, influenced by Felix Mendelssohn and Ludwig Spohr, included Lieder, six duets for soprano and tenor, and incidental music for Ludwig Anzengruber's play Der Meineidbauer, all with piano accompaniment; and one unaccompanied male chorus, Der Wind und der Wellen Lied.
Bibliography:
The Handbook of Texas Online:
Thielepape, Wilhelm Carl August.
Theodore Albrecht, German
Singing Societies in Texas (Ph.D. dissertation, North Texas
State University, 1975)
Theodore Albrecht, San
Antonio's Singing Mayor: W. C. A.Thielepape, 1814-1904
(MS, University of
Texas Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio).