Born Friedrich August Stock, he was an exceptional orchestra builder responsible for establishing the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as an important ensembles in the United States. His father was a bandmaster who saw to it that the son received musical training. Young Frederick took violin lessons from his father, then with G. Japtha. As a student at the Cologne Conservatory, he took composition with Franz Wüllner and Engelbert Humperdinck, among others. His first position after graduating was as a violinist in an orchestra in Cologne's Municipal Orchestra. Conductor Theodore Thomas was given the task of organizing a new Chicago Orchestra. He traveled to Europe to audition players, and selected Stock to be a violist in the orchestra from the beginning in 1895. He became an assistant conductor to Thomas in 1901. In 1903, Stock received the responsibility of conducting all concerts given outside of Chicago by the orchestra. When Thomas died in 1905, Stock was appointed the conductor of the orchestra, a post he retained until his death in 1942. It was under his stewardship that the organization's name was changed in 1912 to Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He steadily improved the quality of the orchestra. When it was handed to his successors, it had become a well-seasoned, if not stellar, orchestra, staffed by well-chosen players who were mostly able to respond to the more inspiring leadership of Kubelik, Reiner, and Solti to become one of the world's great orchestras. Stock's repertory initially included some of the latest composers of the day, including Prokofiev, Hindemith, Debussy, Ravel, Mahler, and Schoenberg. Sergey Prokofiev premiered his Third Piano Concerto in Chicago with Stock conducting. Later in his career, Stock became more conservative in his tastes, settling more and more firmly into the standard Germanic repertory. When he programmed American works, it tended to be compositions based on German traditions. His conducting was highly competent, but often lacked the final element of inspiration, judging from contemporary accounts written by non-Chicagoans. This assessment is backed up by the recordings he left, which tend to contradict the very high opinion Chicago still has of him.