Philharmonic State Orchestra Mainz

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String section of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Mainz at the introduction of Michael Ebling into the office of Lord Mayor of Mainz.

The Mainz State Philharmonic Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the Mainz State Theater . In addition to music theater and ballet performances, symphony, youth and chamber concerts are part of the range of activities. It is one of the three symphony orchestras in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . Hermann Bäumer has been chief conductor since September 2011 .

history

16th and 17th centuries

Under Elector Albrecht von Brandenburg , who resided in Mainz from 1514 , the Electoral Mainz Court Chapel is mentioned for the first time. The first verifiable Kapellmeister , Jan le Febure, began working at the Mainz court in 1601. In the period that followed, the musical design of numerous imperial coronations is documented, which means that the Mainz court orchestra gained national fame at an early stage. The orchestra played for the coronation of Emperor Matthias in 1612 . At the beginning of the 18th century, Elector Lothar Franz von Schönborn began to rebuild the court chapel in a secular manner. This included the addition of woodwinds and horns to the strings. It was also the Elector of Schönborn who introduced employment documents in the form of a decree for court musicians.

18th and 19th centuries

For the year 1777, the orchestra had 35 members. The first permanent theater was built in Mainz in 1760. Elector Emmerich Joseph von Breidbach zu Bürresheim expressly allowed his musicians to participate in opera performances. The orchestra was now also an opera orchestra. Only a few years later, Elector Emmerich Joseph had the Electoral Comedy House built on the Große Bleiche. He subsidized the game and in turn made his orchestra available. In the first musical almanac from 1782, the Mainz court orchestra is now named among the most outstanding in Germany. In the years that followed, opera made a name for itself primarily with Mozart's works. Mozart's Don Giovanni was first performed in German in Mainz in 1789 . Mozart stayed in Mainz several times and gave concerts with the court orchestra. The opera experienced a special period of prosperity in Mainz at the end of the 18th century and was considered to be one of the best in Germany. The strength of the court orchestra was an impressive 48 musicians for the time. Elector Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal had meanwhile upgraded the theater to a national theater . But just a few years later, during the First Coalition War , the comedy house was destroyed. The elector ordered the conversion of his stables into a theater. It was to serve as a venue for the next 40 years.

With the end of the electorate in Mainz, hard times began for the musicians. Only a small part of the orchestra remained in Mainz and now formed the theater orchestra under new management. It was directly dependent on the success or failure of the constantly changing theater directors. But as early as 1804 the society "United Music Friends" was founded and gave the concert business stable framework conditions. Now it was possible to organize regular symphony concerts and to attract important musicians like Nicolò Paganini or Franz Liszt .

On September 21, 1833, the curtain rose for the first time in the newly built theater on Gutenbergplatz (today's State Theater). Was played Weber's 9 "Jubilation Overture" and Mozart's " Titus ". The difficult situation of the orchestra finally stabilized when it was taken over by the city of Mainz in 1876. Under the roof of the city, 45 musicians were no longer directly threatened by financial failure at the theater. Under the first municipal conductor Emil Steinbach, the Mainz stage became a leader in the interpretation of Richard Wagner's works. But his works could also be heard in concert. The first public performance of the concert version of Wagner's “ Siegfried Idyll ” under Steinbach's direction took place on November 30, 1877 in Mainz . The first performance of Hans Pfitzner's “ Der arme Heinrich ” on March 24, 1895 was directed by the composer himself.

20th and 21st centuries

On December 21, 1906, with the first performance of “ Salome ”, the period of intensive care for Richard Strauss ' works began. In 1927 Leoš Janáček's “The Cunning Little Vixen” had its German premiere in Mainz. Hans Knappertsbusch conducted the gala concert for the 100th anniversary of the theater on Gutenbergplatz. In the following years conductors like u. a. Karl Schuricht, Erich Kleiber, Rudolf Kempe, Eugen Jochum, Karl Böhm are guests. After the theater was partially destroyed during the air raids on Mainz in World War II, Karl Maria Zwißler began to reform the orchestra. The Gutenberg Festival Week in 1947 once again brought its first high point with a concert performance of Wagner's “ Tristan und Isolde ”. 1954 followed the concert performance of the " Ring des Nibelungen " by Richard Wagner. In addition to their own efforts, excellent guest soloists made the performances almost legendary. The reorganization of the theater to the Staatstheater-GmbH in 1990 brought further reinforcement to the orchestra to now 81 posts and the renaming of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Mainz State Theater . In 2001, Catherine Rückwardt became the orchestra's general music director, one of the first women in this position at a state theater.

In 2003 the responsible ministry initially planned the merger of the orchestras in Mainz and Ludwigshafen into a "New State Philharmonic" as part of a "structural reform ". This could be prevented, but the compromise provided for a reduction in the number of posts in Mainz to 66 and in 2006 led to the separation of the orchestra from the Staatstheater-GmbH, which now operates as the state company and as the Philharmonic State Orchestra Mainz .

Hermann Bäumer has been chief conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Mainz since 2011. In 2019 the orchestra received the award "Best Concert Program of the Season" from the German Association of Music Publishers .

Concert activities

The Mainz Philharmonic State Orchestra performs at the Mainz State Theater and Ballet Mainz . Approx. 11 music theater productions and ballet productions are staged with the orchestra per season (approx. 100 performances). Its concert tradition is continued with around 50 concerts every year. This includes 9 symphony concerts, 4 concerts for young people, children's concerts, special concerts and several chamber concert series. The orchestra has its own youth work. In addition to the instruments of music education (concerts for children and young people, visits to rehearsals, visits to schools), the Mainz orchestra is characterized by projects such as a culture school , opera club and mobile orchestra .

CD productions

  • Hans Rott: Symphony for String Orchestra in A flat major
  • Hans Rott: String Quartet in C minor
  • Hans Rott: Symphony No. 1 in E major
  • Friedrich Gernsheim: Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Symphony No. 3 in C minor

Orchestra mobile

  • Peter and the Wolf , Symphonic Fairy Tale op. 76 for narrator and symphony orchestra by Sergei Prokofjew . Text by the composer. German version of the text by Christoph Rueger.
  • Nutcracker and Mouse King , music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky . Text by Anne do Paço based on the fairy tale of the same name by ETA Hoffmann .
  • Ali and the magic jug , a fairy tale about the magical effects of Enjott Schneider's music .

Hofkapellmeister and chief conductor

The Hofkapellmeister and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Mainz:

Web links

Commons : Philharmonic State Orchestra Mainz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Philharmonic State Orchestra Mainz: History. In: orchester-mainz.de. 2020 .;
  2. ^ Orchestra structural reform in Rhineland-Palatinate. In: German Music Information Center . September 11, 2003 .;
  3. ^ Agreement on the main features of the orchestral structural reform in Rhineland-Palatinate. In: German Music Information Center . January 21, 2004 .;
  4. ↑ State Orchestra Mainz offers "Best Concert Program". In: Music Today. April 15, 2019 .;