Concentus Musicus Vienna

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The Concentus Musicus Wien is an instrumental ensemble that specializes in performing early music .

history

As an original sound ensemble from the very beginning, the Concentus Musicus Wien paved the way for historical performance practice and its success story. The name of the ensemble goes back to the Concentus Musico-Instrumentalis collection (1701) of the imperial court composer Johann Joseph Fux . The Concentus was founded in 1953 by Nikolaus Harnoncourt , who led the ensemble from cello or viol until 1987 and remained artistic director until shortly before his death in March 2016. "The music of every epoch can be presented most vividly with the sound means of its time", is Harnoncourt's credo. For more than four years, the musicians of the ensemble initially spent exclusively rehearsing, honing the sound and an adequate interpretation of baroque and pre-baroque works. In 1954 the ensemble made its unofficial debut with Monteverdi's "Orfeo" under Paul Hindemith in the Wiener Konzerthaus, and in 1957 it made its first public appearance in the Palais Schwarzenberg in Vienna .

The interpretations were continued with annual concert cycles in Vienna, guest performance tours (from 1960) and a large number of recordings - the Brandenburg Concerts by Johann Sebastian Bach were at the beginning. Among the many projects of the Concentus Musicus Wien is u. a. the complete recording of all Bach cantatas , which was made between 1970 and 1990 in cooperation with the Leonhardt Consort under Gustav Leonhardt and was awarded a Gramophone Award .

The ensemble has also made a name for itself with opera recordings and performances: Mozart's Lucio Silla and Il re pastore , Haydn's Armida , Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Salzburg Festival and The Fairy Queen or Monteverdi's L'Orfeo , Castor et Pollux by Jean Philippe are mentioned Rameau (this recording had almost the same effect as the Monteverdi recordings, namely a kind of renaissance of these works) also numerous oratorios by George Frideric Handel . Last appeared in styriarte rehearsed CD with Haydn's Orlando paladino and a recording of Mozart's Zaide .

The repertoire of the Concentus Musicus today spans from the Renaissance to Haydn and Mozart, it includes both sacred and secular works. In the last few years under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Concentus Musicus also worked on the works of Beethoven. The last concert that the Concentus Musicus played under his direction was the Missa solemnis .

The concert master in the successor to Alice Harnoncourt is Erich Höbarth (* 1956), Herbert Tachezi took care of the continuo on harpsichord and organ until 2010 , then Stefan Gottfried .

In 2013 the ensemble was honored with the ECHO Klassik as Orchestra of the Year (historical instruments).

When Nikolaus Harnoncourt informed his audience in an open letter on December 5, 2015 - on the eve of his 86th birthday - that his physical strength dictated the rejection of his future plans, the Concentus Musicus lost its founder and figurehead.

Since the resignation of Nikolaus Harnoncourt (and his wife Alice - the last two founding members), the Concentus Musicus has been led by Stefan Gottfried (conductor, pianist, harpsichordist and long-time assistant to Harnoncourt) together with Erich Höbarth (1st concert master) and Andrea Bischof (2nd concertmaster).

While various conductors conducted the Concentus Musicus during the season of Harnoncourt's resignation ( Pablo Heras-Casado , Diego Fasolis , Andrés Orozco-Estrada etc.), Stefan Gottfried will conduct the Concentus Musicus in the future. Under Stefan Gottfried, the Concentus Musicus plays some small-scale programs from the time of origin (Baroque: Johann Joseph Fux , Romanus Weichlein , Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer , Antonio Vivaldi ). But there are also large-scale baroque and classical programs ( B minor mass , major mass in C minor , symphonic programs, etc.), as well as the further development of the ensemble towards late classical and romantic composers ( Franz Schubert , Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , ...) on the program.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ styriarte: Nikolaus Harnoncourt designed moving “Missa solemnis”. In: Tiroler Tageszeitung Online. Retrieved March 4, 2020 .
  2. ↑ echoklassik.de - Prize Winner 2013 ( Memento from June 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ William Sinkovicz : Sinkothek live , December 7, 2015
  4. ↑ New Concentus boss Gottfried: "Giving up was not an option". In: Salzburger Nachrichten. Retrieved August 23, 2016 .