Municipal music association in Düsseldorf

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Municipal music association in Düsseldorf
Seat: Düsseldorf / Germany
Carrier: State capital Düsseldorf
Founding: 1818
Genus: mixed choir
Founder: Friedrich August Burgmüller
Head : until 2019: Marieddy Rossetto
Voices : 130 ( SATB )
Website : https://www.musikverein-duesseldorf.de

The Städtische Musikverein zu Düsseldorf eV - concert choir of the state capital Düsseldorf - is one of the oldest and most traditional amateur choirs in Germany. Founded in the context of the 1st Lower Rhine Music Festival in 1818, the association played a key role in shaping the musical life of Düsseldorf in the following decades. a. under the music directors Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Robert Schumann . After the Second World War, the choir expanded its field of activity. In addition to his regular activity in the symphony concerts of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra , he has undertaken concert tours in Germany and abroad and has participated in many records, CD and television productions.

The Städtische Musikverein zu Düsseldorf eV supports the education project "SingPause - Singing in Düsseldorf primary schools"

history

At the beginning of 1818, the "Verein für Tonkunst" was set up to prepare and carry out the first Lower Rhine Music Festival. Its first public appearance took place on May 10, 1818 with a performance of Haydn's " Jahreszeiten " under the direction of the municipal music director Friedrich August Burgmüller . From this group, the music association was formed on October 16 of the same year.

The Musikverein soon proved to be the bearer of public musical life in Düsseldorf, as it not only performed concerts itself, but also organized orchestral concerts. Under Julius Tausch , the orchestra of the Städtische Musikverein was finally renamed the “Städtisches Orchester” by the city of Düsseldorf with the takeover of the orchestral musicians in fixed contractual structures with effect from August 20, 1864, which later became the “Düsseldorfer Symphoniker” under Eugen Szenkar .

In the early days, the appointments of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Robert Schumann to the post of City Music Director were far-sighted and, from today's perspective, ambitious decisions. Although Mendelssohn only worked in Düsseldorf for two years - from September 25, 1833 to July 25, 1835 - this time must now be considered decisive for the development of a regular musical life in what was then still a relatively small city. Mendelssohn regularly rehearsed with the choir on Tuesdays and contemporary sources report that the elegant young man from Berlin led to a brisk rush of new singers. In contrast to Schumann after him, Mendelssohn found his time in Düsseldorf to be a happy one and was happy to return later. B. for the premiere of his oratorio Paulus on the occasion of the Lower Rhine Music Festival in 1836 in the Tonhalle .

Schumann's management was not under a good star, as it ended with his attempted suicide in 1854 and the subsequent self-admission to the Richarz mental hospital in Bonn-Endenich. On the other hand, Schumann's years in Düsseldorf (1850–1854) were extraordinarily productive in artistic terms, as evidenced not least by the list of works that were created or premiered there.

Under Schumann's successor, Julius Tausch, music director from 1854 to 1889, bourgeois musical life in Düsseldorf flourished. His successors Julius Buths , Karl Panzner , Georg Lennart Schneevoigt and Hans Weisbach led the city's musical life to international renown until 1933. Edward Elgar's oratorio “ The Dream of Gerontius ” was first performed outside of England by Julius Buths in 1901 in the presence of the composer. In 1912 came the Symphony no. 8 by Gustav Mahler , and stood at 19 November 1925 for the first time the " Gurrelieder " by Arnold Schoenberg on the program.

During the time of National Socialism , Hugo Balzer was in charge of urban musical life. For the Musikverein these years meant serious changes. After the freedom of association was abolished, the choir's statutes also had to be changed. According to the statutes of February 15, 1935, the respective cultural department of the city of Düsseldorf took the place of a chairman. He then appointed all other members of the board.

After the Second World War, the choir work had to be restarted. However, the choir's first post-war guest performance was recorded as early as 1947, and it took the singers to Neuss. With the statutes of November 8, 1949, the board again consists of nine members elected by the general assembly. (These statutes were subsequently changed several times, most recently in October 2008). The contract with the state capital Düsseldorf, which regulates the participation of the choir in the city's symphony concerts, also dates from 1949.

Under the Düsseldorf general music directors Heinrich Hollreiser , Eugen Szenkar , Jean Martinon , Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos , Henryk Czyż , Willem van Otterloo , Bernhard Klee , David Shallon , Salvador Mas i Conde , John Fiore and Andrey Boreyko , the music association has since developed on an international level great recognition. Since the beginning of the 2015/16 season, Ádám Fischer has been "Principal Conductor" of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker. In addition to the respective music directors / chief conductors, numerous internationally renowned musicians were guests at the podium of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and thus also in collaboration with the choir: Hermann Scherchen , Istvan Kertesz , Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt , Jean Fournet , Antal Doráti , Sir Charles Groves , Sir Neville Marriner , Dimitrij Kitajenko, Krysztof Penderecki and others v. a.

The choir of the Städtischen Musikverein zu Düsseldorf (concert choir of the state capital) made several guest appearances in Paris in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as in Madrid, Granada, Besançon and at the Flanders Festival. Since the 1970s, the choir has repeatedly made guest appearances and a. invited to Salzburg, Amsterdam, Antwerp, The Hague, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, as well as Vienna, London, New York, Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Helsinki and other cities in Germany and Europe. Outstanding here is a tour together with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and the Wuppertaler Kurrende under David Shallon in May 1989 (!) To Berlin / GDR, Dresden and Leipzig, which - shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall - was also international in the media (TV + Rdf) Received attention. The numerous concert tours in the years from 1950 onwards led to collaboration with outstanding orchestras in Europe and beyond. B. Orchester de Paris, Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra London, Orchestra of St.Lukes, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian and Hamburg State Orchestra, RSO (German Symphony Orchestra) Berlin, RSO Saarbrücken, NDR Symphony Orchestra (NDR-Elbphilharmonie-Orchester) etc. Here the choir experienced a. a. Conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Bernard Haitink, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Riccardo Chailly, Michael Tilson Thomas, James Conlon, Neeme Järvi, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir John Pritchard, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Vaclav Neumann, Charles Dutoit.

In addition to the classical and romantic choral literature, the choir has also participated in concerts of contemporary music in the recent past. This ranges from performances of the “Requiem” by Edison Denissow , the “Te Deum” by Krzysztof Penderecki and “La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ” by Olivier Messiaen to world premieres: “Perche” by Jürg Baur - as a commissioned composition for 150th anniversary of the choir in 1968, “Morgentraum” by Edison Denissow - also commissioned for the 175th anniversary of the choir (1995), “Kreitens Passion” by Rudij Martinus van Dijk (2003) and “Merlin Prolog” by Manfred Trojahn (2006).

Since 2004, the young talent initiative "SingPause - Singing at Düsseldorf Elementary Schools" initiated by the Municipal Music Association (chairman: Manfred Hill) has currently (2020) reached over 16,000 children a year. This education project has now received several awards. The funding initiative, which is now well known far beyond the borders of the state capital and has also been introduced in several cities, is competently and successfully supervised by specially trained singing teachers under the artistic direction of Marieddy Rossetto. (www.singpause.de)

Choir directors since 1945

  • Michel Rühl, (1929–1951)
  • Reinhard Zilcher, (1951–1953)
  • Michel Rühl, (1953–1961)
  • Bernhard Zimmermann, (1962–1964)
  • From 1964 the choir director Hartmut Schmidt , under whose aegis the guest performance was expanded, had a formative influence on the work of the choir . Hartmut Schmidt began an intensive recording activity, mainly with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, but also among others. a. with the Berlin Philharmonic , the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra , the Filharmonisch Orkest van Flanderen and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne.
  • From 1995 to 2000 Raimund Wippermann was the choir director of the Municipal Music Association in Düsseldorf.
  • From 2001 to 2019, Marieddy Rossetto was the first female choir director in the history of the Städtisches Musikverein.
  • From 2020 to the present: NN (current search process)

World premieres with the participation of the Städt. Musikverein zu Düsseldorf (selection)

  • Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Paulus, 1836
  • Robert Schumann, Advent song, 1850
  • Robert Schumann, Requiem for Mignon, 1850
  • Robert Schumann, Night Song, 1851
  • Robert Schumann, New Year's Song, 1851
  • Robert Schumann, The Rose Pilgrimage, 1852
  • Robert Schumann, The King's Son, 1852
  • Julius Buths, Rinaldo, 1900
  • Edward Elgar, The Dream of Gerontius, 1901 (first edition in German)
  • Robert Schumann, Vom Pagen and the King's Daughter, 1902
  • Wolfgang Fortner, Marian Antiphons, 1929
  • Kurt Hessenberg, Vom Wesen und Vergehen, 1952
  • Ernst Pepping, Te Deum, 1959
  • Jürg Baur, Perché, 1968
  • Edison Denissow, Morning Dream, 1995
  • Alexander Zemlinsky, Spring Funeral (revised version), 1997
  • Rudi Martinus van Dijk, Kreitens Passion, 2003
  • Manfred Trojahn, Prologue to Merlin, 2006

Discography

  • Hermann Gehlen, Jazz Fair, 1969
  • Robert Schumann, Paradise and the Peri, 1973
  • Robert Schumann, The Rose Pilgrimage, 1975
  • Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Paulus, 1976
  • Robert Schumann, Scenes from Goethe's Faust, 1982
  • Robert Schumann, Requiem, Requiem for Mignon, 1984
  • Robert Schumann, Four Ballads for Choir and Orchestra, 1986
  • Robert Schumann, Mass in C minor, 1988
  • Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Symphony No. 2 "Lobgesang" 1988
  • Hans Pfitzner, Von deutscher Seele , 1989
  • Arnold Schönberg, Gurre-Lieder, 1990
  • Gustav Mahler, Das klagende Lied, 1991
  • Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 in D minor, 1993
  • Hector Berlioz, Damnation de Faust, 1994
  • Dmitrij Schostakowitsch, Symphony No. 13 "Babij Jar", 1994
  • Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Elias, 1997
  • Alexander Zemlinsky, Complete Choral Works, 1998
  • Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphonies 1-9, 2003
  • Robert Schumann, Manfred, 2011 (DVD)
  • Gustav Mahler, Symphonies 2, 3, 8, 2017-2019

Awards

  • The city. Musikverein zu Düsseldorf carries the Zelter badge .
  • The recording of Gustav Mahler's “Das klagende Lied” with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly was nominated for a Grammy in 1993.

literature

  • Rainer Großimlinghaus, Out of Love for Music Volume 1 and 2 , Düsseldorf, 1988 and 2001, self-published
  • Rainer Großimlinghaus, For the love of music Volume 3 -Das Schallarchiv- , Düsseldorf, 2018, self-published
  • Waltraud Rexhaus MA, Finding aid for the newer part of the archive of the Municipal Music Association of Düsseldorf , Düsseldorf 1992, city archive
  • Nina Sträter, The citizen raises his voice , V&R Unipress, 2018
  • Municipal Music Association of Düsseldorf eV / Georg Lauer, MusikVereint , Cologne, 2018, Verlag Dohr

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernd Kortländer (Ed.), “By the way, I like it splendidly here” , Düsseldorf, 2009, ISBN 978-3-936698-11-4
  2. ↑ Waltraud Rexhaus MA, finding aid to the newer part of the archive of the Municipal Musikverein in Dusseldorf , Dusseldorf 1992, City Archives