Augsburg Philharmonic
The Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra (until summer 2012: Philharmonic Orchestra Augsburg ) are the orchestra of the theater in Augsburg ; it was founded in 1865. The orchestra has 70 posts and is therefore assigned to the TVK B tariff group . General music director and artistic director of the orchestra has been the conductor Domonkos Héja since the 2015–16 season .
As the largest symphonic orchestra in the city, the Augsburg Philharmonic performs around 120 music theater performances a year - both in the Great House of the Theater and on the open-air stage . In addition, under the musical direction of General Music Director Domonkos Héja, a dozen symphonic programs are on the program: classical symphony concerts as well as gala programs and an extensive music education program that reaches several thousand young people in and around Augsburg every year .
history
Until 1945
At the instigation of two members of the “Augsburger Liedertafel” for many years, the city council of Augsburg decided on September 9, 1865 to found the “Municipal Orchestra”, which was to be used primarily in the theater. Magistrate and Mayor Ludwig Friedrich Alexander von Fischer was mainly concerned with getting well presented operas on the stage and thus making the theater profitable. A fire behind St. Jakob in 1875 led to the new building of the current theater, which was opened on November 26, 1877 under director Krüger with Beethoven's Fidelio . With the orchestra, contemporary works such as Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner , Carmen by Georges Bizet and Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck were performed in the theater.
In 1910 the municipal orchestra played its first symphony concerts. From an artistic point of view, the orchestra sought to improve the level of the orchestra by recruiting good concert masters. But it was only after the First World War that it was transformed into a truly symphonic orchestra for stage and concert hall, which celebrated great successes under the direction of Bruno Walter , Hans Pfitzner and others. In 1920 the orchestra was taken over by the city of Augsburg. In the following years, great works such as Beethoven's 9th Symphony or Richard Strauss ' Alpine Symphony could be heard in the presence of the composer.
At the same time, modernity found its way into the theater repertoire: operas such as Paul Hindemith's Cardillac and Neues vom Tage , Ernst Krenek's Jonny plays or Siegfried Wagner's Der Bärenhäuter under the direction of the composer were featured. Musical modernism was also carried into the area of concert life by the municipal conductor Ewald Lindemann , who was in office from 1931 . He led u. a. Stravinski's Firebird Suite and his ballet Petruschka as well as Rudi Stephan's opera The First People (January 1932).
On October 8, 1934, Richard Strauss' 70th birthday was celebrated with a large symphony concert in the presence of the composer, and on October 14, 1935, the city orchestra celebrated its 70th anniversary. Even during the war there were performances, and numerous premieres and world premieres took place: the first performance of Wilhelm Jerger's Salzburg court and baroque music, the first performance of Karl Höller's Passacaglia and Fugue after Frescobaldi, and the world premiere of Otto Jochum's Goethe Symphony for orchestra with a final chorus the direction of the composer.
Since 1945
After the end of the war, the orchestra was reformed again in 1945 and led to a high level by the conductor Fritz Schnell . It quickly resumed full performance, at Christmas The Merry Wives of Windsor by Otto Nicolai and JS Bach's Christmas Oratorio were performed. In February 1946 Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro followed in the opera. This was preceded by an extraordinary concert event for the time: the performance of the symphony Mathis der Maler von Hindemith. It was the first major and demonstrative commitment to modern music after the war. In the spring of 1946 the open-air theater was able to play again and one of the traditional tasks of the orchestra was thus given again. A first high point of this time was the performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony on June 10, 1946. The orchestra was strengthened in numbers, which significantly increased its performance.
The symphony concerts were moved from the closed Ludwigsbau in Wittelsbacher Park to the rebuilt Great House of the Theater in 1963, and since 1972 the orchestra has had its permanent venue in the Augsburg Congress Hall , today's Kongress am Park (opening on June 17, 1972). In the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons, the orchestra was a guest in the Gersthofen town hall during the rebuilding and renovation of the Kongress am Park (reopening with the participation of the Augsburg Philharmonic: May 3, 2012) .
Among the musical directors and general music directors in Augsburg there are names like István Kertész , Hans Zanotelli (including Wozzeck , 1963), Bruno Weil , Michael Luig , Peter Leonard and Dirk Kaftan .
CD recordings
- Franz Schreker : The distant sound , with: you Randt, Schulz, Kaftan u. a., Ars Production, 2011
- Nino Rota : Cello Concerts No. 1 and 2, Il Gattopardo, with: Kleinhapl, Kaftan, Ars Produktion, 2011
DVD playback
- Die Weber (Direction: Friedrich Zelnik , 1927. Music: Johannes Kalitzke , 2012). In cooperation with the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation , ZDF and ARTE . With: Augsburger Philharmoniker, Johannes Kalitzke
literature
- Richard Hauber: History of the Augsburg Orchestra, Augsburg, 1924.
- Max Herre: The Stadttheater Augsburg - Festschrift for the 50th anniversary, Augsburg, 1927
- Friends of the Augsburger Stadttheater eV (ed.): Stadttheater Augsburg, Augsburg, 1956.