Sinfonieorchester Aachen Explained

The Sinfonieorchester Aachen is the concert and opera orchestra of the Theater Aachen. It consists of about 70 musicians and performs about 140 times a year. The regular symphony concerts take place in the .

History

The Sinfonieorchester Aachen, formerly known as Städtisches Orchester Aachen, is one of the oldest orchestras in Germany that is directed by the city. In the beginning it consisted of military musicians of the city guard, supported by part-time string players. It was not until 1771 that the musicians applied for the establishment and performance of so-called concerts for the amusement of the respectable people, which had not existed in this form in Aachen before. In 1782 they finally got the new Redoute in Aachen's Komphausbadstraße, built by as a concert hall. In 1787 Georg Zethner became the first Kapellmeister of the symphony orchestra. For the performance of Haydn's Oratorio The Creation in 1803, about half of the total of 48 orchestra members had been invited from outside to join the orchestra. On the occasion of the inauguration of the new municipal theatre on 28 March 1825 as part of the eighth Niederrheinisches Musikfest, which was held for the first time in Aachen, the orchestra including the choir was increased to 422 members in order to be able to perform under the direction of Ferdinand Ries. to be able to perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, although at that time some difficult passages were discreetly omitted. From then on, the orchestra regularly took part in this music festival, which was held until 1958, alternating between the cities of Elberfeld, Düsseldorf, Cologne and Aachen. It was occasionally conducted by foreign guest conductors such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Julius Rietz, Max Bruch, Carl Reinecke, Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner, Clemens Krauss and Felix Weingartner. Guest performers such as the only 12-year-old César Franck also appeared more and more frequently. (1835), Johann Strauss, father (1836) or Jacques Offenbach (1843) with the orchestra. In 1841, the symphony orchestra made its first major tour abroad, leading to France.

After the foundation of the Aachener Instrumentalverein in 1844, which was to strengthen the city orchestra, the city council decided in 1852 to transform the orchestra, which was still made up of recreational musicians, into a permanent institution, which now employed professional musicians on a salaried basis. The Aachen Symphony Orchestra was thus the first of its kind in the Rhineland. Between 1862 and 1864, the musicians found a temporary home in the in Aachen before they were able to settle down permanently in the theatre building. From this time on, the orchestra also offered regular winter subscriptions, musical project weeks and, from 1910, the well-known spa concerts. Depending on the programme, they were accompanied by various choral societies and choirs, which had been formed in large numbers in those years. To support the orchestra and as a link to the public, the "Gesellschaft der Theater- und Musikfreunde Aachen" was founded in 1924. In the meantime, the society has changed its name to accelerando – Freunde des Sinfonieorchester Aachen e.V.

During the Second World War, concert operations were maintained as far as possible. However, some of the performances took place in the auditorium or Talbothalle of the RWTH Aachen and in the Aachen Cathedral. After the war, the orchestra began to perform in a fortnightly rhythm from 1945 onwards, with performances from the Cathedral Music series. In 1946, it performed at the first music festival in the Steinfeld Abbey. After the reopening of the municipal theatre in 1951, the symphony orchestra used it as a concert hall. In the same year, it also resumed the spa concerts which had been interrupted during the war, and from 1958 it took over the musical arrangement of the again. In addition, in the following years it gave numerous guest appearances at home and abroad as well as regular joint events with the Aachener Domchor, the, the Aachener Bachverein, and the .

Some later very famous conductors like Fritz Busch, Herbert von Karajan and Wolfgang Sawallisch started their career in Aachen.

Kapellmeister and music directors

Recording

Marcus Bosch with the Sinfonieorchester Aachen

Further reading

References

  1. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/917995366 Theater und Musik in Aachen seit dem Beginn der preussischen Herrschaft

[2] [3]

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