Gothenburg Concert Hall

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Konserthuset
Konserthuset, Poseidon sculpture

The Gothenburg Concert Hall (Swedish: Göteborgs konserthus) was planned by the Swedish architect Nils Einar Eriksson and built in 1935 on Götaplatsen . Together with museums and other cultural institutions, the concert hall forms the frame of the Götaplatsen, the center of which is the Poseidon sculpture by the sculptor Carl Milles . The large main hall, “Stora Salen”, has seats for 1,247 guests, the side hall, “Stenhammarsalen”, is used for smaller chamber concerts . The hall is used by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra , among others .

history

Today's building on Götaplatsen was built with the help of a large donation from Caroline Wijk of 700,000 SEK . The new building was necessary because the old concert hall from 1901 had burned down to the ground on January 13, 1928. The cause of the fire was a malfunction of the heating.

Building description

The factual building has a rectangular base. The front facing Götaplatsen is horizontally divided into three parts: the ground floor with a covered entrance area in the middle “Stora Salen” and on the left “Stenhammarsalen” as well as the uncovered entrance to the ticket office on the right. The foyer is located on the main floor and has a glass front facing the square. In front of it there is a balcony on which there are eight pillars that end with the facade. All facade surfaces on the ground and main floors are clad with natural stone. The third area is the roof area: an attached body clad with copper sheets, which is only half the total width of the building. The side facades are faced with clinker brick and are visible from the front as a lateral boundary.

From the “Stora Salen” entrance area, visitors can reach the large foyer via two staircases on the right and left . This is also used for events and is known for its frescoes by Swedish artists. The main hall can be reached directly from the foyer on two levels.

Acoustics

The concert hall is also used for sound recordings because of the good acoustics. With an inventory of built until the war ended in 1945 acoustically best concert halls in the world of the destroyed houses, the Gothenburg Concert Hall receives deducting the rank 5. The hall has a capacity of 11,900 cubic meters and owns at full occupation of a reverberation time of Tm = 1.7 Seconds, or Tt = 1.9 seconds. For comparison, the post-war Beethovenhalle Bonn from 1959 with 15,700 cubic meters of volume has a reverberation time of Tm = 1.7 seconds or Tt = 2.0 seconds.

New organ

In 1937 the Danish organ builder Marcussen & Søn installed an organ above the orchestra podium. Because of the cramped setup, the instrument could not fully develop its sound. Although a renovation was carried out in the 1980s, the instrument has not been used at all since the beginning of the 21st century. In January 2018 it became known that the Austrian organ building company Rieger was to build a new instrument. The assembly should take place in summer 2019 and 2020, the intonation is then planned for summer 2021. The new instrument, which will cost around SEK 35 million, is expected to be used for the first time in October 2021.

literature

  • Jürgen Meyer: Acoustics and musical performance practice: guidelines for acousticians, sound engineers, musicians, instrument makers and architects . Edition Bochinsky, 2004, ISBN 978-3-932275-95-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pressmeddelande: Konserthuset får ny orgel Report on the homepage of HIGAB, the property management of the City of Gothenburg (in Swedish). Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  2. ↑ Ny Konserthusorgel Report on the homepage of the Göteborgs internationella orgelakademi (in Swedish). Retrieved July 25, 2019.

Coordinates: 57 ° 41 ′ 49 ″  N , 11 ° 58 ′ 45 ″  E