175 th Anniversary of the Vienna Philharmonic

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1 175 th Anniversary of the Vienna Philharmonic The orchestra celebrates their mutual 175 th anniversary together with the New York Philharmonic. A special exhibition in the Haus der Musik opens on March 29, 2017, with free admission. The new rooms for the Historical Archives of the Vienna Philharmonic in the Haus der Musik will also be opened. This year the Vienna Philharmonic celebrates its 175 t h anniversary was also the year of the founding of the New York Philharmonic. This led to a joint exhibition that opened on February 22 in the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. On March 29, the exhibition Vienna and New York: 175 Years of Two Philharmonics will open in the foyer of the Haus der Musik in Vienna, and can be viewed free of charge until January Regarding this exhibit, Philharmonic Chairman Andreas Großbauer states, "Many objects, such as the founding documents, concert programs, orchestra and tour photos, musical scores, and letters from Gustav Mahler, will be available for viewing by the public for the ver y first time. The documents selected illustrate various highlights and reveal similarities as well as differences in the histories of these two venerable orchestras. In addition, the relationships of both ensembles to composers such as Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler are explored, along with their collaborations with such conductors as Arturo Toscanini, Leonard Bernstein and Zubin Mehta. Another key aspect of the exhibit is the focus on the ramifications that the National Socialistic era had for both the Vienna Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic. Concept of the Exhibition: In the main room of the large hall, the entire rear wall of the main hall of the auditorium will be panelled with wood veneer and accentuated three- dimensionally by way of abstract stringed instruments fashioned from black wood that project diagonally from the wall. This creates niches that create a stratification of the objects and allow the visitor an undisturbed observation of the various objects. Interactive screens will be positioned on the front face of the wall between these instruments. The exhibited objects themselves will be embedded in the sur face of the stringed instruments of var ying sizes (abstract violins, violas, celli and contrabasses), displayed behind glass and lit from the rear. The objects of varying sizes have a proportional thickness of approximately 10 cm. The ceiling height will be defined by an oversized page of music made from silk which will be set gently in motion by the natural air currents, thus suggesting the resonance of the orchestra. To the sides of the main hall, visitors can take a journey through time from the present into the future. The exhibition is intended as an extension of the museum on the first and third floors of the Klangmuseum in the Haus der Musik. On the first floor of this building, in which Philharmonic founder Otto Nicolai once resided, is located the Museum of the Vienna Philharmonic, with additional documents and mementos from the orchestra s histor y. On the third floor, visitors have the opportunity to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic themselves using the Vir tual Conductor. Additional rooms are dedicated to Viennese classical period composers such as Joseph Haydn,

2 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, and composers such as Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schönberg are featured as well. A special exhibition can be viewed until April 5, consisting of a monumental sculpture, constructed out of the Philharmonic's transport crates, entitled Special Cases Cosmic Rocket by the artist Nives Widauer. The rocket formed by the crates is a generally symbolic allusion to travel and the orchestras' mobility. A volume of photographs from the exhibit entitled Special Cases has been published by the Hatje Cantz Publishing House. Opening of New Rooms for the Vienna Philharmonic Historical Archives In the Haus der Musik, the orchestra's anniversary will also be marked by the opening of the newly arranged Historical Archives. The expansion of the archives has been made possible by funds from the Birgit Nilsson Prize In conjunction with the media tour of the new archives, there will be a one-time showing of original objects from the exhibit. "We are not only proud that the Haus der Musik represents the location of the founding of the Vienna Philhar monic and the home of the orchestra's Histor ical Archives, but also that many of the orchestra's treasures are accessible to the public here in the Museum of the Vienna Philharmonic", says Haus der Musik Director Simon Posch. Haus der Musik The Haus der Musik is an interactive and experiential museum in downtown Vienna, and is the location of the founding of the Vienna Philharmonic, which has its own museum here. Here, the fascinating world of music and sounds presents itself over five floors. The composer and conductor Otto Nicolai ( ) resided in an apar tment in this building at the time that he founded this unique orchestra in The Museum of the Vienna Philharmonic of fers vivid testimony to Austrian musical and cultural histor y

3 175 Years Vienna Philharmonic For the past 175 years, the Vienna Philharmonic has been inseparably linked with European musical tradition from the classical to the contemporar y. The Philharmonic's per formances have gone down in musical histor y and several masterpieces have been written for the ensemble. When in 1842, conductor and composer Otto Nicolai and music critics Kritiker August Schmidt and Alfred Julius Becher considered the founding of a professional orchestra for the per formance of symphonic reper toire (which until that time had not existed in Vienna), the primary goal was to facilitate high quality performances of the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven. From the beginning, this undertaking found willing partners in the members of the Imperial Court Opera Orchestra. The first Philharmonic Concert on March 28, 1842, Easter Monday, initiated a success stor y which the proponents at that time could have hardly imagined. Early concer ts took place in the Grand Ballroom (Redoutensaal) of the Vienna Imperial Palace. With the introduction of the subscription concerts in 1860, the Philharmonic returned to its original home in the Court Opera House before moving to the newly opened Musikverein in The orchestra's Historical Archives are in possession of a so-called "founding document", a draft by Otto Nicolai outlining democratic principles of self-government which remain valid for the Vienna Philharmonic to this day. Decades later, August Schmidt, one of the orchestra's founding fathers, maintained that Otto Nicolai scribbled these notes during a conversation with Schmidt himself and Becher in the Zum Amor Inn in Vienna, a frequent haunt of artists and journalists. This would correspond to the informal character of this slip of paper - so valuable today - which Schmidt preserved along with the earliest Vienna Philharmonic concer t programs. Each of the gentlemen who conceived this idea brought a musical background, but all three were also interested in politics and were committed to the realization of democratic ideals. Otto Nicolai ( ) was born in Königsberg in East Prussia. After experiencing difficult early years in which his father attempted to make a musical child prodigy out of the young half-orphan, he fled to Berlin at the age of 16 and was taken in and raised by the musician, academic and friend of Goethe, Carl Friedrich Zelter. Nicolai received a position as organist in Rome in 1833 and then came to work as a conductor for one year at the Vienna Court Opera in He returned to Italy where one of his most important compositions, Il templario was premiered. Nicolai, highly respected as a conductor, was again engaged by the Vienna Court Opera from When in 1847 the premiere of his opera Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (which remains to today his most often played composition) was rejected, the impulsive and temperamental Nicolai decided to accept an offer from Berlin and turned his back on Vienna forever. August Schmidt ( ) was among Nicolai's patrons in Vienna. His full-time occupation was that of a controller of national finances, but he was also a very successful musician, writer and journalist. In 1841, he founded the Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung, the paper which also made the first announcement of the new Philharmonic concerts. In 1847, he sold the newspaper due to recurring problems with the censors and from then on wrote as a critic for various other papers. He was a co-founder of the Wiener Männergesang -Verein in 1843 and the Wiener Singakademie. Both choirs are still in existence today. Alfred Julius Becher ( ), a musician, composer and para-legal, had even in his youth been imprisoned for seditious activities. The fact that one of the co-founders of the Vienna Philharmonic was arrested in 1848 and

4 executed as a revolutionary is today largely forgotten. Becher was the founder of the newspaper Der Radikale and chairman of the Demokratie - Klubs as well as other associations pursuing democratic ideals. He advocated for the rights of workers and demanded freedom for the various peoples of the monarchy. After the suppression of the revolution in Vienna, which Becher had supported, he was denunciated, arrested, sentenced to death and summarily executed by firing squad in front of the Neutor. The Philharmonic principles that were instituted in 1842 stipulate that only musicians of the opera orchestra can become members of the Vienna Philharmonic. The musicians organize and present their concerts autonomously and divide the earnings among themselves. A chairman and administrative committee elected from the membership of the orchestra manage the organization's business. In this manner, the musicians of the 19 th century who had been underpaid and enjoyed little prestige gained an opportunity to expand their sphere of artistic activity well beyond their responsibilities at the opera house. From the beginning, the orchestra has displayed a strong social consciousness, characterized by a commitment to individuals in need and the fostering of young musicians. To this day, the orchestra annually per forms numerous benefit concerts and develops initiatives for needy persons. Since its foundation, the members of the Vienna Philharmonic have always selected conductors of distinction and cultivated per formances of the most significant musical repertoire. The musicians appointed Otto Nicolai as their first conductor, who steered the orchestra's destiny until 1847 while personally conducting most concerts. After Nicolai left, only few concerts took place. With the introduction of the Subscription Concert Series in 1860 under Carl Eckert, one conductor was engaged for at least one entire season. At the same time, the subscription concert system established an economic foundation which remains to this day. Eckert was followed by Otto Dessoff from Otto Dessoff. Prominent successors included Hans Richter ( and ), Gustav Mahler ( ), Felix Weingartner ( ), Wilhelm Furtwängler ( ) und Clemens Krauss ( ). Special artistic relationships developed with many composers and conductors such as Johannes Brahms (premieres of the 2 nd and 3 rd Symphonies), Anton Bruckner (premiere of the 2 nd, 4 th, 6 th and 8 th Symphonies), Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner. In 1908, the Vienna Philharmonic became an officially recognized association (Verein). In 1924, the first Philharmonic Ball was held in the Musikverein, an event still considered to be one of the highlights of the Viennese carnival season. In 1933, the orchestra adopted a system of using guest conductors and since that time has not had a principal conductor. Most important conductors at this time were, in addition to Furtwängler and Krauss, Hans Knapper tsbusch, Ar turo Toscanini and Bruno Walter. The close collaboration with Richard Strauss, who conducted the Vienna Philharmonic from 1906 to 1944, was especially significant. Premieres included Strauss' operas Die Frau ohne Schatten and Die ägyptische Helena (new version) at the Vienna State Opera as well as Die Liebe der Danae and the 2 nd Concerto for Horn at the Salzburg Festival. Foreign tours began under Gustav Mahler with Vienna Philharmonic appearances during the World Exposition in Paris in Until this day, most foreign tours have taken the orchestra to Germany, followed by Japan and the USA. The first overseas journeys took the orchestra to South America in 1922 under Felix Weingartner and 1923 under Richard Strauss. The first visits to Japan and the USA took place in 1956; to the Soviet Union in 1962; to China 1973; to Israel 1988 and to Australia in 2006.

5 The events of March 1938 brought without a doubt the most fateful break in the history of the Vienna Philharmonic. For the first time since the founding in 1842, the orchestra's democratic principals were suspended following the Anschluss on Nazi-Germany in Collaboration with Jewish musicians and artists was no longer legally possible and conductors such as Bruno Walter could no longer be invited. Compositions by ostracized composers could no longer be performed. Five Jewish members of the orchestra were in the following years murdered in the concentration camps; two died as the consequence of forced evictions; ten others were forced into exile. Eleven musicians considered by the Nazis as "half-jews" could only remain in the orchestra with special permission and were subject to poorer working conditions and ongoing danger. As a result of a denunciation, one young colleague was sent to the eastern front where he died in battle. The role of the Vienna Philharmonic in the National Socialistic period is the subject of ongoing academic research. After the end of World War II, some of the previously emigrated conductors returned to the podium of the Vienna Philharmonic, among them Erich Kleiber, Otto Klemperer, George Szell and Bruno Walter. Attaining special prominence have been Honorary Conductors Karl Böhm and Herbert von Karajan as well as Honorary Members Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Lorin Maazel, Georges Prêtre, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta and Riccardo Muti. 175 years after its founding, the Vienna Philharmonic, which per forms over 40 concer ts annually in Vienna among them the New Year's Concert and the Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn as well as having appeared every summer since 1922 at the Salzburg Festival and playing more than 50 concerts annually on tour around the world, is considered one of the world's leading orchestras. Silvia Kargl

6 Historical Archives of the Vienna Philharmonic With the foundation of the Vienna Philharmonic commenced also the documentation of its concer t activity: Next to the original founding decree of Otto Nicolai (March 1842) and the programme leaflets of the Philharmonic concerts, around 70 documents are preserved even from the early years of the orchestra. Shortly after the introduction of Philharmonic subscription concerts in the year 1860, a sheet music archive was established, which until 2010 was continuously managed by an active member of the Vienna Philharmonic: The acquisition and retention of sheet music is settled already in the first internal regulations of the Vienna Philharmonic from September Next to the maintenance and continued enlargement of the music librar y, the programme leaflets, posters, important documents, letters, honorar y gifts, etc. were also stored in this operational archive. Its managers there-by (unknowingly) also ran a historical archive, even though such a one did officially not exist the separation of the operational archives from the historical archives took place only with the resolution of the philharmonic general assembly from July 30, In May 1985, a separate room was established for the historical archives in the building of the Musical Society, and 15 years later it moved to the House of Music, in which is located also the Museum of the Vienna Philharmonic. It is in this building, the former palace of Archduke Carl, in which Otto Nicolai lived during the foundation of the orchestra. An extensive collection of programmes and a concert database are at the heart of the historical archives, and nearly all objects and documents of the collection stand in direct relation to the Vienna Philharmonic. The stock covers: _ About programmes/ programme leaflets _ Posters _ About letters (Berg, Bernstein, Brahms, Böhm, Bruckner, Busoni, Dessoff, Dvorák, Einem, Elgar, Furtwängler, Hindemith, Karajan, Kienzl, E. und C. Kleiber, Knappertsbusch, Korngold, C. Krauss, Krenek, Krips, Lehár, Mahler, Nicolai, Pfitzner, H. Richter, F. Schmidt, Schönberg, R. Strauss, J. Strauß, Weingartner, B. Walter u. a.) _ Honor ar y gif ts (awards, prizes, golden/platinum/double - platinum records or discs, etc.) _ Memor abilia of composer s and musicians or cer tain events Brahms glasses, nib and cigarette case, a matchbox with Wagner s picture from the belongings of Bruckner, Beethoven s walking cane, Mahler s travelling cap, the batons of various conductors, Bernstein s dress coat, etc.) _ Decrees and certificates _ Medals _ Damenspenden of the Philharmonic balls since 1924 _ About pictures of the Vienna Philharmonic and its conductors (partially with dedications) _ Autograph manuscripts (Brahms, Richard Strauss, Pfitzner, et al.) _ Membership registers, card indexes _ Files and documents (protocols of committee meetings and general assemblies, official documents, business papers, etc.)) ^ The Vienna Philharmonic extends its gratitude to the Birgit Nilsson Foundation, which administers the inheritance of this unforgettable vocalist. The expansion of the Historical Archives of the Vienna Philharmonic was made possible through the funds from the Birgit Nilsson Prize 2014.

7 THE VIENNA PHILHARMONIC RECORDPLAYER A timelessly elegant record player of the highest quality has been developed in cooperation with the Austrian company, Pro-ject Audio, to mark the 175 th anniversary of the Vienna Philharmonic. The 175 The Vienna Philharmonic Recordplayer is built using material found in musical instruments. The wooden chassis and the lacquer of the 175 correspond to that of a violin. Metals used for switches and arm for operating the machine also come from instrument manufacture. The goal of this collaboration is to approximate as closely as possible the sound of the world famous Vienna Philharmonic. The limited edition series of 175 articles offers music aficionados a unique collector's item in a classical design, with serial number and dedication. Ever y Vienna Philharmonic Record Player is produced exclusively by hand over a two-month time period. Technical Data: Nominal speeds: 33/45 r.p.m Drive principle: beltdrive Tur ntable: aluminium, 300mm diameter Axle main bearing: stainless steel Wow and flutter: at 33 U/min: ±0,10 %, at 45 U/min: ±0, 09 % Speed variance: bei 33 U/min: ±0,13 %, bei 45 U/min: ±0,10 % Signal to noise: 72dB Tone arm: 9" Aluminium S-Shape, Brass Headshell Car tridge: Selected High- End Moving Coil System Or tofon 175 Accessories included: record clamp, leather pad, dust cover, high end phono cable, precision scale Power supply: 110/ 120 or 230/240 Volt at 50 or 60 Hz Power consumption: maximum 5 Watt, < 0,5 Watt in Standby Dimensions (W x H x D): 462 x 131 x 351mm, dust cover open 462 x 423 x 390mm Weight: 13 kg netto I n fo r m a t i o n a n d O r d e r s : Heinz Lichtenegger, CEO Audiotuning + Pro-ject Audio, h.l@audiotuning.at audio.com

8 Media Contacts: V i e n n a P h i l h a r m o n i c Dr. Claudia Kapsamer Phone , media@wienerphilharmoniker.at MMag. Georgina Schenner Phone , presse@wienerphilharmoniker.at