Meininger court chapel

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The Meininger Hofkapelle with GMD Philippe Bach

The Meininger Hofkapelle is one of the oldest and most traditional ensembles in Europe. The more than 300-year-old orchestra, based in the Thuringian district town of Meiningen , has been affiliated with the Meiningen Theater since 1952 and today has 68 members. The Swiss Philippe Bach has been General Music Director since the 2010/2011 season , 1st  Kapellmeister and Deputy General Music Director (GMD) since the 2019/2020 season Harish Shankar ( Malaysia ), 2nd Kapellmeister since the 2019/2020 season Peter Leipold . The orchestra director is Alexander John.

history

Duke Bernhard I.

founding

The chapel was founded by Duke Bernhard I in 1690 soon after the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen was founded. The initially small ensemble initially consisted of a few instrumentalists and singers who were supposed to satisfy the growing cultural needs in the still young residence. The court orchestra was dominated by modern zeitgeist from the very beginning, as attempts were made at an early stage to combine court and church music into a civil concert life.

Start time

One of the first conductors was Georg Caspar Schürmann from 1702 to 1707 . Johann Ludwig Bach led the chapel from 1711 to 1731 . He was followed by his descendants Gottlieb Friedrich Bach and Johann Philipp Bach , who, like him, presented church music. The bandmaster Johann Matthäus Feiler (1778–1814) earned great merits afterwards, who, in addition to demanding opera performances, also initiated subscription concerts. In 1800 the court orchestra accompanied the opening celebrations of the first theater in the Duchy of Bad Liebenstein . In 1829 the previous concert master Eduard Grund took over the baton and opened the new theater building with “Fra Diavolo” in 1831, until he was replaced in 1857 by his violin colleague Jean Joseph Bott . The symphony gained a high status under the last two conductors mentioned . The next bandmaster was Adolf Emil Büchner from 1865 to 1880 .

Great flowering until 1914

Franz Liszt organized the festival of the “ Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein ” in Meiningen in 1867 together with the court orchestra , at which new works by Liszt, Bülow, Damrosch , Lassen , Draeseke and Volkmann were performed. In 1876, at Richard Wagner's request, the court orchestra provided the main contingent of the festival orchestra at the first Bayreuth Festival . The Meiningen musicians then took part in the festival for several years.

Meininger Court Chapel with Hans von Bülow (1882)
The Meininger Court Chapel with Fritz Steinbach (1899)

When Hans von Bülow took over as court conductor at the beginning of October 1880, the band's most successful period began, which he developed into a European elite orchestra with a reform of the symphonic concert . Duke Georg II and Bülow, who reigned from 1866, were able to win over well-known composers such as Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms to work in the court orchestra. The world premiere of Brahms's 4th Symphony took place in Meiningen . In keeping with the “ Meininger ” theater troupe , the band began to travel increasingly from 1881 onwards. Under Bülow a total of 200 public concerts took place throughout Germany and large parts of Europe. Brahms also conducted the court orchestra a few times.

In 1885 Richard Strauss, then 21 years old, took over the baton. He was followed by Fritz Steinbach (1886–1903) and Wilhelm Berger (1903–1911), who continued Bülow's legacy and toured with the band through Holland, Switzerland, Denmark, England and Bohemia.

The guest locations of the Meininger Hofkapelle in this era were: Gotha , Erfurt , Würzburg , Bayreuth , Nuremberg , Munich , Magdeburg , Berlin , Leipzig , Dresden , Wroclaw , Prague , Stettin , Danzig , Königsberg , Vienna , Graz , Budapest , Baden-Baden , Strasbourg , Basel , Stuttgart , Karlsruhe , Darmstadt , Mainz , Frankfurt am Main , Marburg , Cologne , Düsseldorf , Barmen ( Wuppertal ), Bremen , Hamburg , Odense , Copenhagen , Amsterdam , Rotterdam , Utrecht , Brussels and London .

Max Reger conducted the court orchestra from 1911 to 1914 . Before he took over this office, he formulated this sentence, quote: “There is only one orchestra that I want: Meiningen.” Reger played very often on the organ of the Meiningen city church and suggested its renovation and expansion, which was then called in 1932 Reger organ was inaugurated. Today you can visit the Max Reger Archive with his artistic estate in the Meiningen museums in Elisabethenburg Palace .

1914 to 1995

The First World War ended this heyday. From 1921 the band with the new name Landesorchester was under the control of the State of Thuringia . Kapellmeister was among others Heinz Bongartz (1926–1930) during this time . On June 16, 1945 Peter Schmitz conducted the first concert after the Second World War .

In 1952 the orchestra was affiliated to the Meininger Theater and has been called the Meininger Theater Orchestra since then . Ulrich Haverkamp directed the chapel from 1952 to 1956. This was followed by Rolf Reuter from 1956 to 1961 , who placed particular emphasis on performances by Mozart and Strauss. In contrast, his successor Olaf Koch (1961–1967) felt particularly obliged to the Italian opera and the work of Shostakovich . In 1967 Wolfgang Hocke became the longstanding musical director, which he held until 1995.

From 1995

The 1995/96 season saw a woman conduct the Meiningen orchestra for the first time: Marie-Jeanne Dufour from Switzerland led the orchestra until 1999. Kirill Petrenko followed her as general music director and conductor of the orchestra until 2002 , which led to an increase in quality that received national attention. Petrenko was then replaced by the young Kazakhs Alan Buribayev, who was also chief conductor of the Astana Symphony Orchestra .

As part of the celebrations for the 175th anniversary of the Meininger Theater on December 17, 2006, the orchestra got its original name Meininger Hofkapelle back. In the 2007/2008 season, Hans Urbanek took over the court orchestra. He was replaced in 2010 by the Swiss Philippe Bach . From 2012 to 2015 the Englishman Leo McFall was 1st Kapellmeister.

At every season, the Meininger Hofkapelle regularly invites you to symphony concerts, youth concerts and foyer concerts in addition to its musical performances .

structure

  • Kapellmeister (3)
  • 1st violin (11)
  • 2nd violin (8)
  • Viola (7)
  • Cello (6)
  • Double bass (4)
  • Flute (4)
  • Harp (1)
  • Oboe (3)
  • Clarinet (3)
  • Horn (5)
  • Bassoon (3)
  • Trumpet (3)
  • Trombone (3)
  • Timpani / Drums (3)
  • Tuba (1)
  • Orchestra director
  • Orchestra attendant (2)
  • Sheet Music Librarian (1)
  • Secretariat (1)

In brackets: number of musicians (68) and staff (5), as of the 2019/2020 season.

Music directors

Hans von Bülow
Max Reger (1913)

Outstanding Kapellmeister

Guest Conductor

Individual members of the Meininger Hofkapelle

Richard Mühlfeld
Franz Hanika

literature

  • Kuratorium Meiningen (Hrsg.): Meiningen: Lexikon zur Stadtgeschichte. Edited by Alfred Erck, Ed. Johannes Mötsch, Bielsteinverlag, Meiningen 2008, ISBN 978-3-9809504-4-2 .
  • Das Meininger Theater (Ed.) / Alfred Erck: History of the Meininger Theater: 1831 - 2006. Resch-Druck, Meiningen 2006.

Web links

Commons : Meininger Hofkapelle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Internet presence of the Meiningen State Theater
  2. ↑ a b c d Kuratorium Kulturstadt Meiningen: Meiningen: Lexikon zur Stadtgeschichte . Bielsteinverlag, Meiningen 2008, pp. 117/118.
  3. ↑ a b c d Alfred Erck / Das Meininger Theater: History of the Meininger Theater. Chapter: Le concert, c'est moi. Resch-Druck, Meiningen 2006, pages 58-71.
  4. ^ Landesbibliothek Coburg, manuscript PM I / 65: Christian Mühlfeld: Musicians book of the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen