Thuringian Symphony Orchestra Saalfeld-Rudolstadt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Thuringian Symphony Orchestra Saalfeld-Rudolstadt is a symphony orchestra founded in the 17th century as a court orchestra and based in Rudolstadt .

history

In 1635, during the reign of Count Ludwig Günther I of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt , the orchestra was first mentioned as the "Rudolstädter Hofkapelle". The early music directors included Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (1657–1714) and Traugott Maximilian Eberwein (1775–1831), who ensured a rich and cosmopolitan musical life. From 1808 on, Eberwein performed several new works by Beethoven in Rudolstadt, including the 9th Symphony in 1827 .

Since 1793 the court orchestra has also accompanied all opera performances in the newly opened Rudolstädter Theater , which was played from 1794 to 1803 by the ensemble of the Weimar Court Theater led by Goethe . Among the operas that were staged here shortly after their premiere were Weber's Der Freischütz (1822) and Auber's Die Stumme von Portici (1828). In 1834 Richard Wagner made a guest appearance in Rudolstadt for six weeks as the young music director of the Bethmann Opera Company . In 1855 his Tannhäuser was performed here.

Well-known instrumental virtuosos also played with the orchestra, such as Niccolò Paganini in 1829 and Franz Liszt in 1844 .

After the Free State of Thuringia was founded in 1919, the theater was given the status of a state stage and the orchestra was renamed the “Thuringian Regional Orchestra Rudolstadt”. On September 24 and 25, 1921, the music director Ernst Wollong organized the first “Historical Music Festival” together with the management of the “German Music Evenings” and the “Municipal Singing Academy” in Rudolstadt and at Heidecksburg Castle . Other important conductors in the time between the two world wars were Otto Hartung and Hans Swarowsky . In 1928 Eugen d'Albert conducted the orchestra for the performance of his opera Die toten Augen on the Heidecksburg.

After reunification in 1992, the Rudolstadt regional orchestra was merged with the state symphony orchestra of the neighboring town of Saalfeld , which had existed for 40 years, under the new name “Thuringian Symphony Orchestra Saalfeld-Rudolstadt”. At this time, the Bayreuth- born theater director Peter P. Pachl attempted to revitalize the Rudolstadt festival tradition with works by the artistically controversial Hitler friend Siegfried Wagner at the center. In 1995 a cooperation with the Landeskapelle Eisenach began , but this was ended again in 2003.

Oliver Weder has been music director since 1997 and offers an extensive program of symphony and palace concerts as well as numerous special, youth and children's concerts in both cities. From 2003 the Thuringian Symphony Orchestra designed the musical theater program in cooperation with the music theater ensemble of the Nordhausen Theater as well as with in-house productions and a collaboration with the music academies in Weimar and Mainz .

With the directorship of Steffen Mensching , a series of drama orchestra productions began in 2008, in which the special Rudolstadt constellation of the house with its drama and orchestra divisions is very successful. In particular, the anti-depression revue "Drunter und Drüber" for the 20th anniversary of the Wende and "Die Schicksalssinfonie" gained national attention through guest performances in Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theater and TV recordings. The Thuringian Symphony Orchestra Saalfeld-Rudolstadt has made a name for itself nationwide in recent years with regular concert guest appearances in Hesse , Bavaria , Lower Saxony , Baden-Württemberg (at the Ludwigsburg Palace Festival ) and Berlin . There were also CD recordings with instrumental works from the historical Rudolstadt musical tradition. TV recordings for MDR and Arte followed in 2009 and 2010 .

Since 2008, the orchestra has also participated in the annual Rudolstadt Dance and Folk Festival, where it played a.o. a. with Arlo Guthrie and Juan José Mosalini .

The Thuringian Symphony Orchestra recently received prominent invitations to the "Berlin - St. Petersburg" festival in the Glinka Chapel in St. Petersburg and, in 2013, to Bayreuth in the Wagner year.

Music directors and conductors

CD publications (selection)

  • Eduard Lassen, Faust I - The Rediscovered Drama Music (2015)
  • Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Piano Concertos in A major & B flat major (2009)
  • Hans Pfitzner, The Heart, op.39 (1994)

Literature (selection)

  • Peter Larsen, Ute Omonsky, Markus Wakdura: Music at the Rudolstädter Hof: The development of the court orchestra from the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century , Rudolstadt 1997.
  • Eckart Kröplin, Peter P. Pachl (Eds.): 200 Years of Theater Rudolstadt , Rudolstadt 1994.
  • Ute Omonsky: Article "Rudolstadt" in Music in Past and Present online , Kassel 2016. ( April 19, 2020 )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thuringian Symphony Orchestra. Theater Rudolstadt , accessed on May 15, 2020 .