Musikverein Kaiserslautern 1840
The Musikverein Kaiserslautern 1840 eV is an association for the maintenance and promotion of choral singing. Since it was founded in 1840, the music association has enriched the cultural life of the city of Kaiserslautern as its oldest cultural institution with concerts and numerous events, for which the association also received various awards, such as the Zelter plaque and the coat of arms of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1980.
history
The history of the choir of the Musikverein Kaiserslautern 1840 eV goes back to the men's choir "Liederkranz". When the Bavarian King Ludwig I in Kaiserslautern laid the foundation stone for the construction of the fruit hall according to plans by the architect August von Voit on June 13, 1843, the choir of the Musikverein sang on the fairground on this special day. In November 1848 the choir of the Musikverein gave its first concert in the Fruchthalle. During this time, in the run-up to the Palatinate Revolution, the meetings and work of associations such as the Musikverein Kaiserslautern 1840 e. V. used by the members for political discussions beyond music maintenance. The central location of the revolution, where the provisional government of the Palatinate was elected on May 2, 1849, was the Fruchthalle in Kaiserslautern. The Musikverein played a prominent role in this development, which after the suppression of the revolution by the troops of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia led to the association having to be dissolved in 1852 for political reasons. In the period up to the official resumption in 1856, the members met anyway and “served the lovely Frau Musika in secret with the necessary caution”.
Social significance and concert activity
Until the middle of the last century, the city's oldest cultural bearer enriched the social life of the city of Kaiserslautern with up to five balls. Founded out of the free bourgeoisie by well-known representatives of economic and social life, e.g. B. Karl Pfaff, up to 900 members formed the foundation of the association.
The Musikverein Kaiserslautern 1840 eV has continuously enriched the musical life of the city of Kaiserslautern with outstanding, demanding concert projects, e.g. For example, with the performances of Mozart's coronation mass in 1953, 1962, 1983 and 2008, Beethoven's Missa solemnis in 1965 and his C major mass in 1963 and 1970, the Requiem by Verdi in 1980 and 1999 or the creation by Joseph Haydn in 1987 and 2000 the state horticultural show. The Carmina Burana was performed by the Musikverein in 2002 and 2006. As part of the concert series in the city of Kaiserslautern, the Musikverein in 2001, in cooperation with the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Rhineland-Palatinate and under the direction of renowned pianist Buchbinder Rudolf the Choral Fantasy of Beethoven in the Fruchthalle listed.
Choirs and conductors
Today the music association has a concert choir under its roof. Youth work and the promotion of young talent are carried out by supporting special musical projects with children and young artists from the region.
The singers are partly made up of trained singers who also participate in theater productions in the special choir of the Pfalztheater . The music association and its concert choir consist of 40 members. The focus of the musical work is on the development and performance of great works of choral literature.
The previous choirmasters were: Philipp Walter (1849–1852), Heinz (1857–1858), J. Bergmann (1867–1869), Wilhelm Damian (1870–1902), Albert Mattausch (1902–1925), Rudolph Barbey (1928– 1948), Herbert Beutler (1949–1951), Paul Landenberger (1951–1996), Graham Cox (1996–1998), Andrew Ollivant (1998–2000), Ulrich Nolte (2000–2014) and currently Christoph Schuster.
Record recording
In 1980, Paul Landenberger conducted a recording of Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem .