Vienna Symphony
The Vienna Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra annually with about 160 performances, including about 110 in Vienna. They are worldwide touring orchestra actively deny an essential part of the opera productions at the Theater an der Wien and Orchestra in Residence at the Bregenz Festival.
History
The orchestra was founded in 1900 as Vienna conducted with the aim of allowing the general public to participate by visiting affordable concert events in cultural life. So found at the beginning of the 20th century instead of so-called Popular concerts where often salon pieces for orchestra or potpourris were played. The first concert took place under Ferdinand Löwe on 30 October 1900. The orchestra brought a number of significant works premiered or Austrian premiere, as Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 (UA), Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6 (EA ) and Franz Schmidt's The Book with Seven Seals (UA). Of great cultural-political importance were also the workers' Symphony Concerts, which have been organized since 1907 by the Socialist Education Center at David Josef Bach and often led in the 1920s by Anton Webern.
In 1913 the concert site, the Vienna Konzerthaus, was inaugurated. The big bourgeois patronage support place in the 1st World War to an abrupt end, the orchestra was merged with the Vienna Composers Orchestra and performed in 1921 as the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in the services of the two great Viennese concert promoters, without even further to give independent concerts. Since 1924 the newly founded RAVAG (radio traffic company ) claimed the services of the orchestra for performances, yet remained a permanent financial crisis. Richard Strauss conducted charity "Monster Concerts " in which the Vienna Symphony Orchestra occurred together with the Vienna Philharmonic.
1933 took over the already corporatist controlled RAVAG 50% of the orchestra services and forced the dissolution of the orchestra - service contracts. Jewish musicians were dismissed and continued the orchestra now called Vienna Symphony Orchestra with a new organizational statute and deteriorating employment conditions. Oswald was Kabasta new orchestra leader, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra found in large England and Italy tours in 1935 and 1937, when international attention. After the National Socialists took power, the orchestra was first municipalized in its history and classified according to the rate schedule for German orchestras in the first category, which meant for the musicians Gage increases to 30 %. It is therefore not surprising that there was a disproportionately large share of party members and candidates among them (as with the Vienna Philharmonic ). Until 1944, the orchestra played among others in KdF concerts, in the kingdom of broadcasting and in the great Viennese concert series before it - was shut down in August this year - already considerably reduced personnel by the conscription.
After the war, the Viennese concert life arose under unimaginably difficult conditions new, the " Concert for the formation of the orchestra " was held on 16 September 1945 and brought Mahler's 3rd Symphony - Music of since 1933 no longer performed composers. Since almost all major conductors fell under the denazification provisions, Hans Swarovsky took over the short term the post of principal conductor Josef Krips also was instrumental in the rebuilding of concert life. From 1948, Herbert von Karajan was as a concert director of the Friends of Music Society quasi chief conductor of the orchestra and won with him in Germany tours in 1950 and 1953, large international successes. However, organizationally speaking acted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, now subsidized by the municipality of Vienna to continue as Mietorchester without own house and program autonomy. Among them was also the first "real" chief conductor after the war, Wolfgang Sawallisch, to suffer, under whose leadership the orchestra in the 1960s, for the first time took great overseas travel to the United States and Japan. Carlo Maria Giulini also failed because of the inextricable organizational structure and resigned after three years time chief conductor ( 1973-76 ).
Only in the 1980s, won the orchestra against the concert organizers a certain autonomy and could in their halls organize their own concerts. In addition, their improved cooperation among themselves and with the orchestra conducting substantial and resulted in a far more professional program and scheduling. After an unfortunate interlude with Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who refused any rehearsals, working with Georges Prêtre than 1 guest conductors and with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Vladimir Fedosseyev led to positive results. Between 1986 and 1996, had the orchestra in collaboration with Christian Kolonovits as Vienna Symphonic Orchestra Project ( VSOP ) with several long-players and concert tours success. In autumn 2005, Fabio Luisi took over the chief conductor position, who will end his activities in 2013. But it follows the season 2014-15 the Swiss Philippe Jordan.
The role of the orchestra is diverse: it includes two cycles of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna's Musikverein, a cycle in the Vienna Konzerthaus, a matinee and a chamber music cycle as a proper event and several special concerts. In addition, play the Vienna Symphony Orchestra every year since 2006, some opera productions at the Theater an der Wien, which is used after a long period as a musical stage again exclusively for opera productions. In addition, tours are held in Europe and overseas, since 1946 the Vienna Symphony occur every summer at the Bregenz Festival on with their development, they are closely connected. Lately finds the orchestral work also an important addition in the direction of youth work, charity and open-air concerts.
1951 included the Symphony to the winners of Karl Renner Prize.
Conductors
Chief conductor of the orchestra were:
- Ferdinand Löwe ( 1900-25 )
- Wilhelm Furtwängler ( 1927-30, Director of the Society of Friends of Music )
- Oswald Kabasta ( 1934-38 )
- Hans Weisbach ( 1939-44 )
- Hans Swarovsky ( 1945-47 )
- Herbert von Karajan ( 1948-64, concert director of the Society of Friends of Music )
- Wolfgang Sawallisch ( 1960-70, since 1982 Honorary Member and Honorary Conductor )
- Josef Krips ( 1970-73, Artistic Consultant )
- Carlo Maria Giulini ( 1973-76 )
- Gennady Rozhdestvensky ( 1980-82 )
- Georges Prêtre ( 1986-91, " Principal Guest Conductor " )
- Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos ( 1991-96 )
- Vladimir Fedosseyev (1997-2004)
- Fabio Luisi (2005-2013)
- Philippe Jordan ( 2014 )
Many other famous conductors stood on the podium of the orchestra, as Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Karl Böhm, Sergiu Celibidache, Jascha Horenstein, Carlos Kleiber, Otto Klemperer, Lorin Maazel, Bruno Maderna, Zubin Mehta, Mendi Rodan, Karl Richter, Horst Stein, Bruno Walter and Bruno Weil.