Berthold Damcke was a German pianist, conductor, composer and music critic. He was born on 6 February 1812 in Hanover, Germany, and studied with Aloys Schmitt and Ferdinand Ries.
From 1834, Damcke played viola in the Hanover Court Orchestra. He later directed choirs in Bad Kreuznach and, from 1837, in Potsdam. He subsequently lived and worked in Königsberg and Berlin.
Damcke worked in St. Petersburg from 1845 to 1855, appearing in concert as a pianist and conductor. He also contributed to the journals Library for Reading and Notes of the Fatherland, as well as the newspaper St. Petersburgische Zeitung and other publications.
In 1847, while working in Russia, he met Hector Berlioz and became his friend. Damcke later continued the friendship in Paris, where he lived from 1859, taught music-theoretical subjects at the Paris Conservatoire, and eventually became one of Berlioz's executors. He was also a regular foreign correspondent for several St. Petersburg journals and newspapers.
From 1855 he lived in Brussels, where his pupils included Samuel de Lange Jr. Damcke edited an edition of works by Christoph Willibald Gluck.
His compositions include the oratorios Deborah and Tobias, the opera Käthchen of Heilbronn (1845), based on the play of the same title by Kleist, and other choral, vocal and chamber works. Damcke died in Paris, France, on 15 February 1875 and was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery.