Concert Society Bad Kreuznach
| Concert Society Bad Kreuznach | |
|---|---|
| Seat: | Bad Kreuznach / Germany |
| Founding: | 1830 |
| Genus: | mixed choir |
| Founder: | Franz Xaver Buhs |
| Head : | Stefan water |
| Voices : | > 100 ( SATB ) |
| Website : | www.konzertgesellschaft-bad-kreuznach.de |
The Konzertgesellschaft Bad Kreuznach is an association of music lovers (e.V.). She is a member of the Rhineland-Palatinate Choir Association .
history
The Bad Kreuznach Concert Society was founded in 1830 . The founding of the concert society goes back to an appeal by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , who called for mixed choirs to be created as part of a trip to the Rhine. The then Lord Mayor Franz Xaver Buhs took this as an opportunity to found a “Choral Society for Mixed Choirs” on October 21, 1830. The first public performance took place on April 6, 1831 with Joseph Haydn's oratorio “The Seven Words of the Savior on the Cross”. The association was founded during the Biedermeier period , which was characterized on the one hand by the restoration , but on the other hand by the emergence of a separate culture and art of the bourgeoisie , also and especially in the field of music.
Until 1845 the concert company was led by Buhs, who also conducted. He was followed by various choir directors in rapid succession until the bookseller Robert Voigtländer took over the choir in the 1860s and was able to consolidate it. From 1864 to 1868 a student of Franz Liszt , Th. Scharfenberg, led the choir. After him August Bungert took over the management and also set higher artistic standards through more intensive training. When Bungert left Kreuznach again in 1873, Gisbert Enzian became the director of the choir for decades until 1907 . Numerous large choral works were performed under him, some with almost 200 singers. During this time, the choir was mostly accompanied by amateur musicians or a military band, but sometimes also by the Bad Kreuznach spa orchestra.
After Enzian had finished his activity, the choir initially only existed as the “Kreuznacher Frauenchor” under the chairmanship of Mrs. von Nasse. Hermann Gausche became the choirmaster, who also had to lead the men's choir of the Kreuznacher Liedertafel. On July 24, 1908, the women's choir and members of the MGV Liedertafel again formed a mixed choir under the name of Konzertgesellschaft and chaired the Germer medical council; The conductor was the choirmaster and composer Josef Knettel . After the First World War from 1920 to 1930, Hermann Frölich led the concert company. Then Rudolf Michaelis became chairman of the choir, Knettel remained musical director. During the National Socialist era , the choir was initially to be dissolved, but it made arrangements with the “Office for German Culture” and remained as the “Municipal Concert Society”. November 1946, the activity of the choir was approved by the military government of the French occupation zone again under Knettel and Michaelis. As early as April 1, 1947, Handel's “Acis and Galatea” was the first music event in Kreuznach after the Second World War .
In 1955 the concert company celebrated its 150th anniversary with an anniversary celebration at which Beethoven's choral work “Missa solemnis” was performed. In 1957 Josef Knettel ended his activity as musical director and his proposed successor was Bundeschormeister Rudolf Desch . Desch shaped today's choir in his activity as musical director until 1980. His composition "Mass-B-Moll" is still part of the choir's repertoire. From 1966 to 1980 Vera Dupont was chairwoman of the concert society. After Desch, Music Director and Bundeschormeister Theo Fürst and Church Music Director Dieter Wellmann followed as musical directors. From 1999 to 2008, University Music Director Helmut Freitag was musical director. The first chairman of the concert company was Ernst Martin from 1980 to 2008. H. Freitag and E. Martin resigned from their offices at the beginning of May 2008.
Volker Feddersen was elected chairman. In August 2008 Stefan Wasser became musical director. In June 2011, following a general meeting, the board announced that the company was in a tight financial situation. The number of concert goers is declining. As a result, the development of the club has turned for the better. Margrit Fehr has been chairwoman since June 2012.
The concert society today
The Bad Kreuznach Concert Society is organized as a registered association. The focus of the work of the concert company is the choir with over 100 members, which mainly performs oratorios . Every year a large choir concert with an orchestra and solo performances is prepared. In addition to the oratorio concerts, the concert society organizes concert programs with chamber music, vocal ensembles and instrumental soloists.
Current
After Carl Orff's Carmina Burana in the version for two pianos and percussion with the participation of other choirs in June 2012, the Konzertgesellschaft v. a. Oratorios and other sacred works. Mozart's Requiem was performed in March 2013 with great public success . After JS Bach's St. Matthew Passion in April 2014, Handel's Der Messias in October 2014 and Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Elias in May 2015, the concert performance of the opera Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber in November 2015 was a highlight in Bad Kreuznach's musical life.
Awards
- Zelter badge awarded in 1957 by Theodor Heuss .
Fonts
- Festschrift for the 150th anniversary (1830–1980) Konzertgesellschaft Bad Kreuznach.
- Festschrift for the 175th anniversary (1830–2005) Konzertgesellschaft Bad Kreuznach.