The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is among the oldest civic orchestras of the world. Its roots go back to 1743, when a group of Leipzig merchants founded a society called “The Grand Concert,” thus establishing a musical institution for this fair-trade city. In 1781 the Society relocated to one of the buildings used by textile merchants (the “Gewandhaus”) and thus acquired its signature concert hall—and the name by which it became known. Felix Mendelssohn established the ensemble’s European reputation when he became music director in 1835, operating as the first conductor in the modern sense of the term. His successors have included Carl Reinecke (1860–95), Arthur Nikisch (1895–1922), Wilhelm Furtwäng-ler (1922–28), Bruno Walter (1929–33), Franz Konwitschny (1949–62), Václav Neumann (1964–68), Kurt Masur (1970–96), and Herbert Blomstedt (1998–2005). Riccardo Chailly became the 19th music director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in September 2005. Their duties include concert and opera performances, and in collaboration with the famous “Thoma-ner,” they also play church music in the Thomaskirche. In 1981 they were at last able to move into the new Gewandhaus hall designed by architect Rudolf Skoda, after decades of performing in provisional spaces necessitated by the destruction of their historic building in the Second World War. The Gewandhaus Orchestra has played an essential role in the de-
velopment of symphonic music: Beethoven’s complete symphonies already formed part of its repertoire while the composer was still alive, the world’s first Bruckner cycle was performed in Leipzig, and in the 1970s the Gewandhaus Orchestra presented the first complete cycle of Shostako-vich symphonies. Numerous compositions have been given their world premieres by the orchestra, including Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Schubert’s “Great” Symphony in C major, Schumann’s “Spring” Symphony, and Brahms’s Violin Concerto.
LUCERNE FESTIVAL (IMF) debut on 8 September 1998, with Herbert Blomstedt conducting the Third Symphonies of Honegger and Bruckner.
August 2011