Meet the Musicians
Das Tastaturglockenspiel

Wolf Michael Storz und Claudio Estay González stellen geben einen historischen Abriss über die Entwicklung vom Carillon über das Tastaturglockenspiel bis hin zur Celesta. Sie bilden damit den Abschluss unseres Instrumenten-Spezials zum Jubiläumsjahr 500 Jahre Bayerisches Staatsorchester.

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 1
https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-1



Photo credit: Alice Bloomfield

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The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-1



Photo credit: Alice Bloomfield

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 2
https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-2



Photo credit: Gage Lindsten

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The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-2



Photo credit: Gage Lindsten

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 3
https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-3



Photo credit: Jiahuan Wang

">

The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-3



Photo credit: Jiahuan Wang

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 4
https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-4



Photo credit: Antoine Leisure

">

The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-4



Photo credit: Antoine Leisure

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 5
https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-5



Photo credit: Pete Sharp

">

The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/en/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-5



Photo credit: Pete Sharp

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 6
https://www.in-toon.com/de/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-6



Photo credit: Raman Djafari

">

The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/de/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-6



Photo credit: Raman Djafari

Lesestücke
Sakuntala’s Ring: Act 7
https://www.in-toon.com/de/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-7



Photo credit: Masanobu Hiraoka

">

The story of Sakuntala’s Ring is based on Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala. This is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The illustrations were commissioned by the Bayerisches Staatsballett on the occasion of the revival of the ballet La Bayadère in May 2023. Seven illustrators have each illustrated one act of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. Click through the acts, look at the pictures and listen to the sound design by Renu Hossain. She has worked with a recording of La Bayadère with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Using the menu, you can not only set the language, but also choose whether you want to show or hide the texts and music. We would be delighted if you could send us a message via the menu item “Participate” and share your ideas with us.

https://www.in-toon.com/de/ballets/sakuntalas-ring/act-7



Photo credit: Masanobu Hiraoka

Meet the Musicians
Viola No. 1

Christiane Arnold, violist in the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, talks about the discovery of what is believed to be the first viola acquired by the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Violin maker Osamu Nambu goes into more detail about the elaborate restoration that brought the imitation Stradivari instrument back to life.

Meet the Musicians
Moritz Winker, bassoon (Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI53hNFGsLw&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=4

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Find out from Moritz Winkler, bassoonist in the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, how he came to play his instrument and more about the concert in Carnegie Hall 2018.

Click here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI53hNFGsLw&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=4

Meet the Musicians
The Guarneri bass

Thomas Herbst, double bass player in the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, introduces the historic Guarneri bass.

Chefs
Felix Mottl
http://www.rgrossmusicautograph.com/60/089-60.jpg, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46867254

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Felix Mottl was born on 24 August in Unter-St. Veit near Vienna. He studied harmony and counterpoint at the Vienna Conservatory with Anton Bruckner, among others, before founding the Academic Wagner Society and working as a répétiteur at the Vienna Opera. In 1876, he worked as a copyist and assistant at the first Bayreuth Festival, where he conducted over 70 performances between 1886 and 1906. After working as General Music Director of the Philharmonic Society in Karlsruhe and as a guest conductor in Paris, Brussels, London and New York, he came to Munich in 1904 as Court Kapellmeister. In 1907, he was appointed director of the Munich Court Opera, where he worked until his death. Felix Mottl died as a result of a heart attack suffered on 21 June 1911 during a performance of Tristan in Munich. The corresponding passage in the second act is recorded in the performance material of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and is a reminder of the tragic event at every performance to this day.



Photo credit: By J. Hartmann, Bayreuth – http://www.rgrossmusicautograph.com/60/089-60.jpg, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46867254

Chefs
Hermann Zumpe
edocs.ub.uni-frankfurt.de, PD-alt-100, https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5002963

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Hermann Zumpe was born in Oppach on 9 April 1850 and died in Munich on 4 September 1903. He took composition lessons with Albert Tottmann in Leipzig, and in 1872 he became the conductor of a Leipzig vaudeville theatre. In the same year, he went to Bayreuth, where he assisted Wagner with the completion of his Ring scores and prepared a piano reduction of Götterdämmerung. After positions as Kapellmeister in Salzburg, Würzburg, Magdeburg, Frankfurt and Hamburg, he was appointed Court Kapellmeister in Stuttgart in 1891. From 1895, he conducted the Kaim Orchestra, which later became the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, before moving to Schwerin as Court Kapellmeister in 1897. In 1901 he moved to the new Prinzregententheater in Munich in the same position and in 1902 he was appointed General Music Director.



Photo credit: From unknown - edocs.ub.uni-frankfurt.de, PD-alt-100, https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5002963

Chefs
Bernhard Stavenhagen
https://www.tripota.uni-trier.de/portraits/385/2/385_0966_p_900.jpg

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Bernhard Stavenhagen was born in Greiz on 24 November 1862 and died in Geneva on 25 December 1914. After the family moved to Berlin, he became a pupil at the Royal Academy of Music before studying piano, music theory and composition from 1878. His C major piano concerto won him the Mendelssohn Grand Prize for the Performing Arts. From 1885, he was a pupil of Franz Liszt in Weimar, whom he accompanied on his travels and whose funeral oration he delivered. In 1890, he was appointed Grand Duke of Saxony’s court pianist in Weimar, where he worked as court conductor from 1894. After Richard Strauss gave up his position in Munich to move to Berlin, Stavenhagen took over as Court Kapellmeister in 1898. He was engaged here until 1902, when he once again devoted himself increasingly to soloist and chamber music activities.



Photo credit: https://www.tripota.uni-trier.de/portraits/385/2/385_0966_p_900.jpg

Chefs
Hugo Röhr

Hugo Röhr was born in Dresden on 13 February 1866 and died in Munich on 7 June 1937. He studied in Dresden with Franz Wüllner, the conductor of the world premieres of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, who was engaged as First Court Kapellmeister in Munich from 1871. From 1886 he worked as a solo repetiteur at the Court Opera in Dresden, then as a conductor at the Augsburg City Theatre, the Kassel Court Theatre and the German State Theatre in Prague and Breslau. From 1892 to 1896 he held the post of First Kapellmeister at the Mannheim National Theatre before being appointed to the Munich Court Theatre in 1896. His secular oratorio Ekkehard was premiered at the Musikalische Akademie, followed by his opera Das Vaterunser in 1904 at the Munich Court Theatre. He held his post until 1918.


Photo credit: Musikalische Akademie Mannheim

Meet the Musicians
Giorgi Gvantseladze, oboe (Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF_5KDG-wVw&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=9 

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The oboist of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester Giorgi Gvantseladze talks about his instrument and how he came to play it.

Click here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF_5KDG-wVw&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=9 

Chefs
Max Erdmannsdörfer

Max Carl Christian Erdmannsdörfer was born in Nuremberg on 14 June 1848. He studied music theory, piano and violin at the Leipzig Conservatory between 1863 and 1867 before training as a conductor in Dresden in 1868/1869. In 1871, he became court conductor to the Prince of Schwarzburg in Sondershausen, and between 1881 and 1889 he conducted the concerts of the Russian Music Society in Moscow, where he also taught at the conservatory. From 1889, he conducted the philharmonic concerts and the Singakademie in Bremen before moving to Munich in 1895. One year later, he was appointed Bavarian court conductor. He also conducted the Academy Concerts and taught at the Academy of Music until 1898. Erdmannsdörfer died in Munich on 14 February 1905.


Photo credit: Wilhelm Höffert, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Chefs
Richard Strauss

From 1894, the 30-year-old Richard Strauss conducted the Munich Court Orchestra for two years, first as Royal Kapellmeister and then as Court Kapellmeister. Alongside Wagner, Mozart’s operas were a particular focus of his work in Munich. His symphonic poems Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry PranksAlso sprach Zarathustra and Don Quixote were also composed during this time, although they were premiered in Cologne and Frankfurt rather than Munich.


Photo credit: Portrait photograph of Richard Strauss (cabinet format). Atelier Hertel; Weimar (Friedrich Hertel † 1918), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Chefs
Franz Fischer

Franz Fischer was born on 29 July 1849 in Munich, where he also died on 8 June 1918. He took part as cellist in the Munich premiere of Wagner’s Rheingold, but also played his instrument as principal cellist at the Pest National Theatre and in the first festival orchestra at the Bayreuth Festival. As Hofkapellmeister at the Mannheim National Theatre, he conducted Wagner’s Tannhäuser before being appointed to the same position in Munich under General Music Director Hermann Levi. He conducted the posthumous Munich premiere of Wagner’s Die Feen in 1888 and several concerts as part of the Musikalische Akademie. He worked in Munich between 1880 and 1913.


 

Photo credit: Franz Fischer, photographed around 1880 by Egon Hanfstaengl Source: Portrait collection of the Munich City Museum

Meet the Musicians
Alexandra Hengstebeck, double bass (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=danUb7_QVsY&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=3

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Find out more about her instrument and the acoustic challenges in the Elbphilharmonie, where the Bayerisches Staatsorchester played in 2018, from the double bass player Alexandra Hengstebeck.



Click here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=danUb7_QVsY&list=PLXtVSYTiDLYTFYEZmEQw4iwDsF5AdcmXK&index=3

Chefs
Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer

Meyer was born in Altenburg on 2 March 1818 and died in Munich on 30 May 1893. After working in Trier and Stettin, Meyer became court conductor in Munich in 1869, where he worked until 1882. The young Richard Strauss studied with Meyer from 1875 and later dedicated his Serenade in E flat major op. 7 to him, which was the 17-year-old composer’s first work to be premiered outside of Munich in 1882.

BSOrec
THE SNOW QUEEN
https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1592&cents=2499


DVD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1588&cents=2499


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

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The Snow Queen is Hans Abrahamsen’s first opera composed for the phenomenal soprano Barbara Hannigan, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale. Barbara Hannigan is joined by Rachael Wilson, Katarina Dalayman and Peter Rose, with Cornelius Meister as music director. Experience the recording of the English premiere at the Bavarian State Opera in a production by Andreas Kriegenburg.


Blu-ray: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1592&cents=2499


DVD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1588&cents=2499


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

BSOrec
ELIAS
https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=717&cents=2500


Photo credit: © EVISCO

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This is the first historic recording from the archive on the Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings label: Felix Mendelssohn’s Elias under the musical direction of Wolfgang Sawallisch from 1984. This concert recording brings together a top-class ensemble of singers such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Margaret Price, Brigitte Fassbaender, Peter Schreier and Kurt Moll, all of whom have left their mark on the Bayerische Staatsoper – in some cases over decades.

The performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elias opened the 1984 Munich Opera Festival and was also the opening event of the 88th German Catholic Day. The then State Opera Director and General Music Director Wolfgang Sawallisch set an example: With a sacred oratorio, he demonstrated the stylistic versatility of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, which is based at the National Theater, and with the work of a Protestant-baptized composer of Jewish origin in the context of a Catholic event, he sent out a widely noticed ecumenical signal.


CD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=717&cents=2500


Photo credit: © EVISCO

Programm
1st Chamber Concert 2023/24 (Harmoniemusiken)

On 15 October, the chamber music series of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester will open its new season. Music from Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio in an arrangement by Wenzel Sedlak, Eugène Bozza's Octanphonie and Arvo Pärt’s Fratres for wind octet and percussion will be heard in the Allerheiligen Hofkirche. In addition, Gideon Klein’s text On Culture will be performed before his Divertimento is heard. Klein was a Czech-Jewish composer born in 1919 whose budding career as a piano virtuoso was abruptly interrupted by performance bans and the war. His Divertimento was written at a time when Klein had to interrupt his studies in musicology in 1939 due to the closure of the Prague Conservatory, and deals with the political events of the time. In December 1941, Klein was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he gave concerts and lessons as well as lectures. Shortly before the liberation by the Allies, Klein died in the Fürstengrube concentration camp on 27 January 1945.

BSOrec
GUSTAV MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 7
https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1539&cents=1900



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

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This album is the first release from the Bayerische Staatsoper label -Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings. This live recording of Gustav Mahler's 7th Symphony from the National Theater in Munich reveals a dramatic interpretation of one of the summit works of the late Romantic orchestral repertoire. Here we witness an orchestra intimately familiar with its conductor telling an epic story beyond all symphonic power and brilliance: an unforgettable musical moment and a unique sonic experience. The recording under Kirill Petrenko received, among others, the Gramophone Award 2022 in the category Orchestral.


CD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=1539&cents=1900



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Programm
1. Akademiekonzert 2023/24 (Petrenko)

For three performances of Gustav Mahler’s brilliant Symphony No. 8, former General Music Director Kirill Petrenko returns to Munich on 8, 9 and 11 October. In 1910, the work was premiered in Munich at the Neue Musik Festival Hall, now Hall 1 of the Deutsches Museum Transport Centre. Because of the immense personnel required by the score, including a huge choir and eight vocal soloists, the organiser of the premiere at the time advertised the work with the title “Symphony of a Thousand”. A Pentecost hymn by Hrabanus Maurus in the first part of the symphony meets the setting of the last verses of Goethe’s Faust II.

BSOrec
MAVRA/IOLANTA
https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=468&cents=2499

DVD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=475&cents=2499


Photo credit: © EVISCO

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The Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera on DVD for the first time! Together with the young singers of the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera, director Axel Ranisch presents an unusual approach to two rarely performed works: In Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky’s last opera Iolanta, a blind princess searches for the reasons for her sadness and finds love. In Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassical buffa one-act Mavra, an inventive young woman has a risky idea and smuggles her lover into her mother’s house disguised as a cook. With great love for his characters and an impressive sense for the relationships between them, Ranisch weaves both works into an enchanting coming-of-age tale about family, love, realization and self-determination: Mavra and Iolanta becomes Mavra / Iolanta.


Blu-ray: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=468&cents=2499

DVD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/itemdetail?itemId=475&cents=2499


Photo credit: © EVISCO

Chefs
Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99154084

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Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger was born in Valduz (Liechtenstein) on 17 March 1839 and studied at the Hauser Conservatory in Munich, where the twelve-year-old was then considered the youngest and most talented student at the institute. In 1859 he was employed as a piano teacher at the Munich Conservatory and as organist at the church of St. Michael. Rheinberger’s first compositions were published by Peters from this time onwards. From 1864 he was solo répétiteur at the Munich Court Opera, where he took part in the world premiere of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, among other works. In 1876 he was appointed professor of composition and organ playing at the newly founded Royal School of Music. Just one year later he took up the post of court conductor in Munich, succeeding Franz Wüllner, which he gave up in 1894 in order to devote himself fully to his compositions. Rheinberger died in Munich on 25 November 1901. He left behind numerous works, including masses, songs, symphonic instrumental music and operas. His Wallenstein Symphony, the opera The Seven Ravens, his Requiem in B flat minor and his Florentine Symphony op. 87 were particularly successful during his lifetime.


Photo credit: By Atelier Müller-Hilsdorf, Munich – own (Münchner Stadtmuseum), CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99154084

Chefs
Hermann Levi

Hermann Levi was born in Giessen on 7 November 1839 and quickly made a name for himself as a musical prodigy. After early studies in Mannheim and Leipzig, he held posts as music director and Kapellmeister in Saarbrücken, Mannheim and Rotterdam from 1859 onwards. From 1864 to 1872 he worked as Hofkapellmeister in Karlsruhe, where Wagner became aware of him during his Meistersinger conductions. In 1872 Levi finally came to Munich as court conductor. He worked as assistant in Bayreuth, among other places, where he conducted the first performance of Parsifalin 1882. In Munich, he championed works by Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner, Richard Strauss, but also Hector Berlioz and Engelbert Humperdinck. He also had a decisive influence on the so-called Mozart Renaissance with his translations that were used until the 1930s. Two years after being appointed General Music Director, Levi retired in 1896 due to illness. He died in Munich on 13 May 1900. Because of his importance for music and especially his pioneering work at the National Theatre in Munich, the Orchestra Academy of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, founded in 2002, has borne his name since 2021: Hermann Levi Academy.


Photo credit: Andrea1903 (scan); photographer unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Programm
4th Festival Chamber Concert (Recital Pascal Deuber)

The 4th Festival Chamber Concert on 27 July in the Cuvilliés Theatre featured Richard Strauss’ Andante for horn and piano in an arrangement by Pascal Deuber, as well as the Quintet in C minor by the English composer York Bowen, Jan Koetsier’s Skurrile Elegie auf Richard Wagner and Daniel Schnyder’s Concertino for horn, percussion and string quintet. In addition to Pascal Deuber on horn, Matjaž Bogataj and Felix Key Weber (violin), Adrian Mustea (viola), Emanuel Graf (violoncello), Blai Gumí Roca (double bass) and Claudio Estay (percussion) performed.

Chefs
Franz Wüllner

Franz Wüllner was born in Münster on 28 January 1832 and already toured with Beethoven’s late piano sonatas between 1850 and 1854. In 1854 he moved to Munich, where he worked as a piano teacher from 1856. After positions as municipal music director in Aachen and as director at the Lower Rhine Music Festival, he was appointed court conductor of the Royal Vocal Orchestra in Munich in 1864. Wüllner conducted the premieres of Wagner’s Rheingold and Walküre in Munich and was finally appointed 1st Court Kapellmeister in 1871. He worked in this position until 1877, when he took over the direction of the conservatoire in Dresden as well as the Court Kapellmeister’s office there. In 1884 he went to Cologne as municipal Kapellmeister and conductor of the Conservatory. He died in Braunfels on 7 September 1902.



Photo credit: Dresden, Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB), shelfmark/inventory no.: MB.gr.2.2

Programm
Festival Renaissance Concert (Renaissance and Early Baroque at the Munich Hofkapelle)

On 24 July, General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski conducted a special concert at the Alte Pinakothek, featuring Renaissance and early Baroque composers who are rarely heard in the context of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Orlando di Lasso and Ludwig Senfl are two central figures in the 500-year history of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and have already found their way to the National Theatre this year. Vincenzo Galilei, father of the natural scientist Galileo Galilei, worked in Munich at the court of Albrecht V as court musician. Johann Christoph Pez was not only born in Munich, but was court musician under Elector Max Emanuel from 1688. Rupert Ignaz Mayr was also part of the electoral court chapel, namely under Maximilian II. Emanuel.

Programm
2nd Anniversary Concert (Woodwind Serenades)

Two special concerts celebrating the anniversary of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester celebrate the Munich “household gods” Richard Strauss and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the first of the two concerts, instrumental late works and an early song cycle by Strauss are on the programme; in the second, the orchestra’s woodwind section presents two wind serenades, in addition to Mozart’s work in C minor, Antonín Dvořák’s Serenade in D minor.

The second anniversary concert (in Munich’s Prinzregentenheater) will feature the woodwind section of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester performing two of the serenade genre’s pinnacle works. In 1782, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had just begun to build up an existence as a freelance composer and musician in Vienna, after the personnel manager of his Salzburg employer had kicked him out of his employment. The commission to provide a work for the “imperial harmony” (brass band) just founded by Joseph II came welcome but at short notice (“I quickly had to make a night of musique, but only on harmonie”), and as so often, Mozart’s contribution far outstripped the usual: with the nocturnally sombre Serenade in C minor, he basically created a veritable symphony for winds. Antonín Dvořák had this model in mind when he, in turn, wrote a serenade in a minor key for woodwind instruments almost a hundred years later – two works that exhaust the wealth of expressive possibilities of oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon, in the case of the Bohemian composer further enriched by violoncello and double bass.



Photo credit: Nikolaj Lund 

Programm
Festival Service

At the annual Festival Service, which takes place in cooperation with the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Franz Schubert’s Mass No. 4 in C major op. 48 D 452 was performed on 25 June. Two works by the contemporary Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa were also performed: Kuroda-bushi (from Japanese Folk Songs) for alto flute and Lullaby of Itsuki (No. 2 from Two Japanese Folk Songs and Gesine) for harp. The Bayerisches Staatsorchester and the Bayerischer Staatsopernchor were joined by vocal soloists Emily Pogorelc, Emily Sierra, Jonas Hacker and Jacques Imbrailo, and Frank Höndgen on the organ. Sergej Bolkhovets was the musical director.



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Programm
3rd Festival Chamber Concert (Mozart and the Munich Hofkapelle)

On 19 July, the third Festival Chamber Concert took place in the Cuvilliés Theatre. Four works by Mozart were performed: namely his Quartet for Oboe, Violin, Viola and Violoncello in F major KV 370, the concert arias “Ma, che vi fece” – “Sperai vicino il lido” as well as “Misera, dove son” – “Ah, non son’ io che parlo” together with the soprano Jasmin DelfsTalia Or and the String Quartet in G major KV 387. The concert opened, however, with Johann Christian Cannabich’s Quintet for two flutes, violin, viola and violoncello in F major, op. 7 No. 1. Cannabich became a member of the Mannheim Court Orchestra at the age of twelve, where he advanced to concertmaster. From 1757 he led the Mannheim court orchestra as Kapellmeister. After the Elector Karl Theodor was appointed Elector of Bavaria and took his court orchestra to Munich, Cannabich took over the direction of instrumental music in Munich. In 1777 Mozart stayed at Cannabich’s house and wrote about him to his father Leopold: “I cannot describe what a good friend Cannabich is to me”.

Programm
Festspiel-Nachtkonzert (Surprise variations)

On 17 July, OperBrass gave a concert at the Prinzregententheater: Brass players are always good for a surprise. Mostly unexpected. Sometimes delicate, often exquisite, always fine and tactful.
OperaBrass therefore with one sound – but many variations:
Brass variations from original compositions and arrangements for ten brass players.
Unheard. Creative. Original.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Programm
2nd Festival Chamber Concert (Cellissimo)

On 13 July, the cellists of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester Yves Savary, Jakob Spahn, Benedikt Don Strohmeier, Oliver Göske, Rupert Buchner, Roswitha Timm, Anja Fabricius and Clemens Müllner played the second Festival Chamber Concert in the Cuvilliés Theatre. The musical range of the programme covered the last five centuries: from an arrangement of a madrigal by Orlando di Lasso to the Concerto per 2 Violoncelli e basso continuo in G minor RV 531 by Antonio Vivaldi and Gioachino Rossini’s Wilhelm Tell fragment for 6 violoncellos as well as Antonín Dvořák’s Rondo in G minor for violoncello and orchestra op. 94 to Krzysztof Penderecki’s Agnus Dei and a composition by the contemporary composer Anne Wilson.

Chefs
Hans Richter
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29443729

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Hans Richter was born in Raab (in present-day Hungary) on 4 April 1843; his father was a cathedral conductor and his mother an opera singer. After his father’s death, he received his further education in Vienna, first as a choirboy, then at the conservatory. From 1862 to 1866 he was horn player with the orchestra of the Kärntnertortheater, before coming to Tribschen in October 1866 to join Richard Wagner, where he copied the score of his opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. As musical assistant, he took part in the rehearsals for the Munich premiere of the same opera and was eventually appointed royal music director here. As early as the following year, however, i. e. 1869, he gave up this post again because he refused to premiere Das Rheingold against the composer’s wishes. Instead, Franz Wüllner was to conduct the first performances of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in Munich, which King Ludwig II had longed for. From June 1870 Richter worked as Wagner’s secretary in Tribschen, where he also copied the score of Siegfried. From 1871 he was Kapellmeister at the National Theatre in Pest, and from 1875 he worked at the Vienna Court Opera, conducting, among other things, the concerts of the Vienna Philharmonic between 1875 and 1898. He was the conductor of the first complete Ring performances in 1876 in Bayreuth, where he conducted a total of 77 performances, and conducted the German opera performances at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden between 1903 and 1910. Richter died in Bayreuth on 5 December 1916.


Photo credit: By Herbert Rose Barraud, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29443729

Programm
1st Anniversary Concert (Richard Strauss)

Two special concerts celebrating the anniversary of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester celebrate the Munich “household gods” Richard Strauss and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the first of the two concerts, instrumental late works and an early song cycle by Strauss are on the programme; in the second, the orchestra's woodwind section presents two wind serenades, in addition to Mozart's work in C minor, Antonín Dvořák’s Serenade in D minor.

In the first anniversary concert (at the National Theatre in Munich), GMD Vladimir Jurowski conducts a programme that ranges from the music of the young Strauss to two examples of his late instrumental works. The Metamorphoses were composed under the impression of the destruction of the Munich opera house, an epitaph to a vanished epoch and a swan song to an era whose entanglements reverberate in the polyphonically intertwined web of the 23 solo strings. With the Sonatina for 16 winds, Strauss takes up the instrumentation of a youthful work. Self-ironically described as a “wrist exercise”, as it were a postscript to what was actually the end of his creative work, this opus “from the workshop of an invalid” is at the same time an example of Strauss’s contrapuntal mastery of emotional compression. Marlis Petersen has been a welcome guest at the National Theatre since the beginning of her opera career, celebrated as the Queen of the Night as well as Marietta or Lulu and recently also in Strauss roles such as Salome and Marschallin. As a good friend of the Bayerisches Staatsorchesters, she enriches the programme with a rarity: she sings the song cycle Mädchenblumen in an arrangement for chamber ensemble by Eberhard Kloke, in whose arrangement of Der Rosenkavalier the orchestra accompanied her in her role debut as Marschallin.


Photo credit: Nikolaj Lund

Chefs
Hans von Bülow
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Hans von Bülow was born on 8 January 1830 in Dresden, where he received his first lessons in music theory and where the premiere of Richard Wagner’s opera Rienzi left a lasting impression on the then twelve-year-old. He studied law in Leipzig and Berlin before the premiere of Wagner’s Lohengrin in Weimar on 28 August 1850 finally persuaded von Bülow to devote himself entirely to music. Hans von Bülow completed his pianistic training with the conductor of the Lohengrin premiere and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt, while Wagner himself supported von Bülow in his musical plans and arranged his first engagements as a conductor. Liszt’s daughter Cosima finally married Hans von Bülow in 1957, after he had already completed his first concert tours and taken up a permanent position as a piano teacher at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. In 1864, von Bülow was appointed to Munich by King Ludwig II at Wagner’s suggestion: initially as royal prelude player, then as head of the Munich Music School to implement Wagner’s reforms there, and finally as Court Kapellmeister from 1867. Despite his wife Cosima’s relationship with Richard Wagner, von Bülow remained loyal to the composer and conducted the premieres of his operas Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Munich. Cosima eventually moved to Switzerland to live with Wagner, whom she married in 1870. After this finality of separation, Hans von Bülow devoted himself to his career as a pianist, giving concerts in London, Russia and the USA. In 1877 he became first court conductor in Hanover, in 1880 court music director in Meiningen, and from 1885 he conducted, among other things, the Hamburg subscription concerts and events of the Berlin Philharmonic. Plagued by severe headaches and no longer able to undertake the extensive travels of his touring life, Hans von Bülow sought relief from the Egyptian climate in Cairo, where he died on 12 February 1894. Hans von Bülow not only composed songs, symphonic poems and piano music, but in addition to his activities as a conductor and piano virtuoso, he also appeared as an educator and music writer.


Photo credit: By author unknown – Carte de Visite Woodburytype – Print (Repro by/of Günter Josef Radig), Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6783959

Meet the Musicians
Marcus Schön, Clarinet (Solo)

The most beautiful opera moment for Marcus Schön was Suor Angelica’s transfigured death in Giacomo Puccini’s opera of the same name, embodied by Ermonela Jaho under the musical direction of Kirill Petrenko. His favorite conductor is the sadly departed Nikolaus Harnoncourt.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

BSOrec
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 2 / BRETT DEAN: TESTAMENT
Click here to buy the CD

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It was a special moment, the 1st Academy Concert of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in the 2020/2021 season: one of the first public concerts after the closure of the concert halls in 2020 and only the second concert under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski as designated General Music Director. The program included Ludwig van Beethoven’s revolutionary Second Symphony and the corresponding contemporary work Testament by Australian composer Brett Dean. Experience the live recording of this concert on CD!


Click here to buy the CD

Meet the Musicians
Casey Rippon, Horn

Casey Rippon würde sehr gerne irgendwo am Meer leben. In ihrem Kühlschrank dürfen Lao Gan Ma Erdnüsse in Chiliöl, Parmesan und Tiefkühl-Erbsen nie fehlen. Ihr Lieblingswort ist Vokuhila.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Thomas Klotz, Trombone

For Thomas Klotz, the best things about his job are the musical variety and the great colleagues. The last time he laughed tears was while reading Heinz Strunk’s Das Teemännchen. His favorite word is hammer!


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Andreas Öttl, Trumpet (Solo)

The most beautiful opera moment for Andreas Öttl was Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca under Zubin Mehta immediately after his winning audition. Maestro Mehta said at the time, “If he does well, I would like to hear him play Mahler’s 9th Symphony.” Thus, in his first two appearances with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, he got to play two of his favorite composers. In his spare time, he loves to be with his two daughters in their garden.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Pascal Deuber, Horn (Solo)

Pascal Deuber likes to go on vacation somewhere secluded in the mountains. His favorite food is Puschlaver Pizzoccheri and the best book he has read so far is Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Jürgen Key, Clarinet

In his spare time, Jürgen Key spent most of his first 20 professional years doing things related to music, including a lot of chamber music and teaching students. But now he uses much more of his time for extended bicycle tours in Germany or even Austria, mostly along rivers. That gives him a lot. To experience these beautiful things, he believes you don’t have to travel far …

In his now 32 years with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, he will always have special memories of the three concerts he was able to experience with Carlos Kleiber in Ingolstadt, Munich and Italy in 1996. These are among the most brilliant and intense musical experiences he has ever had. The hall in which, in his opinion, everything sounds good is the Berlin Philharmonie. But there are many good halls, it’s just that one hall is not always equally perfect for every instrumentation or musical orientation.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Andreas Riepl, Double Bass

For Andreas Riepl, the best part of his job is that, as a double bass player, you can listen to and watch the audience from the pit. The best hall he has ever played in is Carnegie Hall. There, even a less than perfectly produced note sounds beautiful. One thing that is better for him in his home country than in Munich is that in the Upper Palatinate it is not frowned upon to eat something on the road.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Johannes Moritz, Trumpet (Solo)

Apart from his own, Johannes Moritz’s favorite instrument is the cello. He loves to spend his vacations on the farm.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Alexandra Hengstebeck, Double Bass (Deputy Solo)

Alexandra Hengstebeck would love to visit the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus (Brazil). After visiting the opera house, she would also like to take a tour through the Amazon rainforest. The book that has touched her the most is Identity: A Novelby Milan Kundera. The best hall she has ever played in is the Musikverein in Vienna. The basses sound fantastic there and she has the feeling that the whole history of music resonates with every note. Also, playing the very low C in the orchestra at the right moment is an indescribable feeling for her. What’s more, this note sounds especially beautiful on her service bass.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Andreas Schablas, Clarinet (Solo)

Andreas Schablas’ main residence is in a small town about 30 kilometers north of Salzburg in Flachgau. Of course, due to his employment, he is much in Salzburg city and in Munich, where he also has a residence. He rides his bike a lot and knows the surrounding area very well by now. He has seen a lot of the world, but ultimately he lives and works in what he considers the most beautiful place in the world and is always amazed at the varied and beautiful landscapes he discovers on his rides. For him, there is nothing more beautiful. His favorite place in the opera outside the orchestra pit is the Bruno Walter Hall. His favorite place to be is there after a performance, when he is still full of adrenaline and then has the hall to himself to prepare and practice. The last time he laughed tears with his wife and two children (17 and 20) was when they played table tennis again after two years. Not because they were particularly bad, it was just a very special time.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Programm
European Tour: Linz
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The Bayerisches Staatsorchester has two symphonies with the No. 4 in its luggage on its European Tour: namely those of the two composers Gustav Mahler and Anton Bruckner, each of whom shaped late romantic symphonic music with quite different musical means. On September 22, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester will play the one by Gustav Mahler in the Brucknerhaus in the Bruckner city of Linz, where Anton Bruckner worked as an organist and where, for example, his E minor Mass was first performed.



Image credit: By Josef Löwy - Yahoo et al, Location: Vienna, Austria, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5487947

Programm
European Tour: Vienna

On September 23, the last concert of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester’s 2023 European Tour will take place in Vienna. Here, among other pieces, the prelude to Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde will be heard. Before this succeeded in being premiered in Munich, other attempts at premiere failed. For example in Vienna, where the planned premiere in 1863 was abandoned after 77 rehearsals. Only the unconditional support of Ludwig II made it possible for Wagner’s “unperformable” opera to be premiered in Munich by the court orchestra there – today’s Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Now, then, the Tristan prelude is heard in Vienna by its premiere orchestra, in which the ambivalent harmonic course that has become proverbial with the “Tristan chord” is already apparent.


Photo credit: Detail from the score to Tristan und Isolde. Breitkopf and Härtel 1860

Programm
European Tour: Paris
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The Bayerisches Staatsorchester has had regular appearances with the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in recent years. For example, the orchestra has already performed the two Strauss operas Ariadne auf Naxos and Der Rosenkavalier here, as well as Umberto Giordano’s verismo opera Andrea Chénier. Paris is a constant in the touring activities of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. It returns here Sept. 21 to perform Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor with Yefim Bronfman, as well as the prelude to Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, with Elsa Dreisig taking the vocal part.


Photo credit: By Coldcreation - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33037925

Programm
European tour: London

September 1953 saw the first guest performance of the Bavarian State Opera after World War II: Arabella, staged by Rudolf Hartmann, was performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden on September 15, together with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, the Bayerischer Staatsopernchor and the Bayerisches Staatsballett under the musical direction of Rudolf Kempe. Also part of the guest appearance were performances of Strauss’ operas Die Liebe der Danaeand Capriccio.

As part of the 2023 European tour, two concerts – on September 18 and 19 – will take place at the Barbican Centre in London. The first of the two concerts will feature music by Richard Strauss again, 70 years after the aforementioned guest performance: namely, his Alpine Symphony, the composer’s last symphonic poem, which programmatically refers to the Bavarian foothills of the Alps in its impressive depiction of the ascent and descent of a mountain hike through a gigantic orchestral apparatus.


Photo credit: Bavarian State Opera Archive

Programm
European Tour: Berlin

On September 11, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester will perform in Berlin and, among other compositions, will let Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto be heard. This composer has a special relationship with today’s German capital. In 1923, his Three Orchestral Pieces were premiered here, and the world premiere of his opera Wozzeck followed in 1925 under Erich Kleiber, then general music director of the Berlin State Opera. The extreme challenges of this score necessitated 137 rehearsals leading up to the premiere. But the city also represents a crucial setting in the biography of Richard Strauss, whose Alpine Symphony will be heard at the Berlin concert: After Strauss saw no possibility of being hired as a general music director in his hometown of Munich, he went to the Berlin Hofoper in 1898. The composer later recalled that he “never had any reason to regret this relationship with Berlin; actually experienced only joy, found much sympathy and hospitality.” He remained in the city for more than two decades, and it was under his direction that the premiere of the Alpine Symphony took place here in 1915 – the Dresden Royal Court Orchestra (today’s Staatskapelle) played.


Photo credit: F. E. C. Leuckart Verlag 1915

Programm
European Tour: Bucharest
https://www.festivalenescu.ro, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71850005

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On September 13, the European Tour will take the Bayerisches Staatsorchester to Bucharest for the George Enescu Festival. Artistic director of this festival, once founded in honor of probably the most important Romanian composer, was Vladimir Jurowski until he took up his post in Munich. The Munich General Music Director has thus already conducted numerous concerts in this huge concert hall with over 4,000 seats before he now returns here as a guest with his Bayerisches Staatsorchester.


Photo credit: https://www.festivalenescu.ro, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71850005

Programm
European Tour: Hamburg
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This is not the first visit of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester to Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. Back in 2018, then General Music Director Kirill Petrenko conducted a program of music by Johannes Brahms and Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky. The city of Hamburg has repeatedly been a point of reference for former heads of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in the past: for example, Kent Nagano, who had previously been General Music Director at the Bavarian State Opera until 2013, moved to the Hamburg State Opera in 2015 in the same position. Wolfgang Sawallisch, on the other hand, came from Hamburg to Munich in the opposite direction – before he was to leave his mark on the Bayerisches Staatsorchester for two decades from 1971, he was chief conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra for ten years. And Bruno Walter was also engaged as Gustav Mahler’s assistant in Hamburg – namely at the opera there – before moving to Vienna and finally becoming General Music Director of the Royal Court Opera in Munich in 1913.


Photo credit: Bruno Walter. Photograph by W(enzel) Weis (1858-1930), Vienna, Landstraßer Hauptstraße 67 - Andrea1903, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4503614

Programm
European Tour: Lucerne
https://www.richard-wagner-museum.ch/geschichte/landhaus-tribschen/

Photo credit: By Josef Lehmkuhl – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3599177

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The Culture and Congress Center in Lucerne is the second stop of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester on its European Tour. On September 8, the orchestra will perform Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 and Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, as well as the prelude to Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde. It takes about half an hour to walk from the KKL to the Tribschen country house, which Wagner lived in between 1866 and 1872. After the premiere of Tristan and Isolde in Munich, Wagner and his wife Cosima finally moved here, to the shores of Lake Lucerne, where the composer completed his operas Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Siegfried.



https://www.richard-wagner-museum.ch/geschichte/landhaus-tribschen/

Photo credit: By Josef Lehmkuhl – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3599177

Programm
European Tour: Merano

On September 7, the first concert of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester’s 2023 European Tour will take place in Merano. The Munich composer, house god of the Bavarian State Opera and former Munich Court Kapellmeister Richard Strauss had a great affinity for this place, and so he described the area in a letter to his biographer Willi Schuh as a “blessed realm”. As a lover of Italy, Strauss visited Merano repeatedly and worked during his stays there, among other things, on his opera Die Liebe der Danae – a draft text included for the opera Capriccio, which premiered in Munich, is also dated “Merano 13 May 40”. Incidentally, on its European Tour, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester is spending the night in Innsbruck, where it already made a guest appearance in 1931 together with Richard Strauss at the Strauss Festival.



Photo credit: Archiv Musikalische Akademie

Meet the Musicians
Wolfram Sirotek, Horn

Wolfram Sirotek’s favorite composers are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Wagner. His favorite conductor is Carlos Kleiber, and if he were an opera character, he would choose his namesake Wolfram from Tannhäuser. For him, the worst opera he has had to play was Lear. He likes to spend his vacations in Tuscany.



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Thomas März (drums)

Thomas März already had the wish to become a musician at the age of 4. His favorite conductor is Zubin Mehta, under whose direction a concert took place in the Suntory Hall Tokyo, which was very special for Thomas März. The 3rd symphony of Gustav Mahler was played. Together with Verdi, Strauss and Puccini, Mahler is one of his favorites among the composers. He likes to spend his free time with his family and in the garden.


Photo credit: Thomas März

BSOrec
Andrea Chénier
https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/shop?item=696

Blu-ray: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/shop?item=697


Photo credit: EVISCO

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The Revolutionary Tribunal has sentenced Andrea Chénier to death, and no one can avert his fate. Shortly before the execution, Chénier is visited by his lover Maddalena, who has decided to die at the poet’s side. “Our death is the triumph of love,” the lovers promise each other in their last words.

The French Revolution, demanded by the people at the beginning, turns out to be a machine of terror after 1789: spies of the regime pursue the citizens, show trials serve as a deterrent, and the guillotine ensures the execution of sentences. Although the wanted Chénier could flee Paris, he decides against it. He wants to know who is hiding behind the letters that are secretly delivered to him. Here, in the shadow of the reign of terror, love triumphs: Chénier and Maddalena find each other, swear eternal love and are faithful to each other until their last breath together.

Director Philipp Stölzl made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera with his production of Umberto Giordano’s verismo opera. Munich’s dream couple Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros appeared in the title role and as Maddalena, Marco Armiliato conducted the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Now the successful production is being released on Blu-ray and DVD on the company’s own label.



DVD: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/shop?item=696

Blu-ray: https://tickets.staatstheater.bayern/bso.webshop/webticket/shop?item=697


Photo credit: EVISCO

Programm
Semele
this interview, dramaturge Christopher Warmuth and director Claus Guth talk about the new production of George Frideric Handel’s opera Semele.


Photo credit: Karolina Wojtas

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In this interview, dramaturge Christopher Warmuth and director Claus Guth talk about the new production of George Frideric Handel’s opera Semele.


Photo credit: Karolina Wojtas

Programm
Festival Baroque Concert (Dall’Abacos Travel)
https://pqpbach.ars.blog.br/category/dallabaco/, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=119231902

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On July 3, the Festival Baroque Concert will take place in the Alte Pinakothek. Thomas Dunford conducts an ensemble of six musicians and the soprano Ana Maria Labin. The composer Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco, who lends his name to this concert, was engaged as a chamber musician at the Munich court for a year beginning in 1704. However, the War of the Spanish Succession made regular employment of musicians difficult here as well, and Dall’Abaco had to look for work in other cities. Later, Dall’Abaco returned to Munich and even took the role of concertmaster. After Pietro Torri’s death in 1737, Dall’Abaco was not appointed court kapellmeister as he had hoped, but filled his posts for a few more years, finally dying in Munich in 1742. The Festival Baroque Concert will feature his Sonata in G major, op. 6, No. 5, and compositions by contemporaries who are better known today, namely Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel.


Photo credit: https://pqpbach.ars.blog.br/category/dallabaco/, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=119231902

Programm
Festival Concert Attacca

On July 2, ATTACCA, the youth orchestra of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, will perform at the Prinzregententheater, supported by the horn players of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester Johannes Dengler, Franz Draxinger, Maximilian Hochwimmer and Rainer Schmitz. Allan Bergius leads this concert with Robert Schumann’s Concerto for Four Horns and Orchestra, Richard Strauss’ Symphony No. 1, and a world premiere by composer Oriol Cruixent: Penta Infinitum, a Concerto for Five Percussions and Symphonic Orchestra.

Programm
1st Festival Chamber Concert (Review – Outlook)

On June 28, the Festival Chamber Concerts will kick off at the Cuvilliés Theatre. After OPERcussion – the percussion ensemble of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester – already released their CD recording “Original Grooves” on the in-house record label Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings this year, they are now thrilling audiences with a program of contemporary compositions. In addition to an original composition by Claudio Estay González – a percussionist from this ensemble – and an older commissioned composition for the ensemble by the composer Oriol Cruixent, the program also includes the world premiere of a commissioned composition: Moritz Eggert’s Die Geschichte des Schlagwerks in der Oper: 1700-2023 for 5 percussionists.

Meet the Musicians
Éva Lilla Fröschl, Horn

For Éva Lilla Fröschl, the best part of her job are the performances. From her seat in the orchestra pit, you can see a bit of the stage, and for most performances she would also pay to be there. Instead, she gets paid to play – what could be better? She would have loved to perform the opera Eugene Onegin with singer Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who died in 2017. If she could compete in any Olympic discipline, she would have the best chance of winning a gold medal in cleaning up.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Programm
Hamlet
following text, learn more about director of the Hamlet production Neil Armfield’s take on his staging of Brett Dean’s composition, as well as Armfield’s fundamental engagement with the Hamlet material, which dates back to his school days.



Bildnachweis: Wilfried Hösl

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In the following text, learn more about director of the Hamlet production Neil Armfield’s take on his staging of Brett Dean’s composition, as well as Armfield’s fundamental engagement with the Hamlet material, which dates back to his school days.



Bildnachweis: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Susanne von Hayn, bassoon

Susanne von Hayn already knew at the age of 6 that she wanted to become a musician. However, at that time she did not know how she could get into the orchestra with the recorder. If she hadn’t chosen music, she probably would have studied medicine, but she can’t say what would have become of her then. A concert in the Olympic Stadium or a concert in BMW’s wind tunnel were very special to her.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Chefs
Johann Caspar Aiblinger

Johann Caspar Aiblinger was born in Wasserburg am Inn on February 23, 1779, and received his education at the Benedictine Abbey at Tegernsee and at the Jesuit Gymnasium in Munich. At Landshut University he studied philosophy and theology before going to Italy, where he worked as a composer and music teacher in Vicenza and Venice. In 1819 he became Kapellmeister of La Scala in Milan and in the same year moved to Munich as director of the Italian Opera, after whose dissolution in 1825 Aiblinger was given the post of Vice-Kapellmeister. From 1826 to 1864 he was finally engaged in Munich as Hofkapellmeister. He composed sacred music, numerous works for choir, but also operas and ballets. Aiblinger died in Munich on May 6, 1867.



Bildnachweis: Johann Kaspar Aiblinger, Photolithographie um 1850, Museum Wasserburg a. Inn, Inv. Nr. 2259a

BSOrec
Munich Opera Horns: Voyager
Click here to buy the CD


Photo credit: EVISCO

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This year, in which the Bayerisches Staatorchester celebrates 500 years since its inception, the Munich Opera Horns have put together a very special birthday present, their album Voyager. The title is particularly apt. Since the horn symbolises the music of the German Romantic and Postromantic eras, it’s firstly a journey into the past. Let’s not forget that the Bayerisches Staatsorchester has always had renowned hornists in its ranks; I’d just like to mention one of them by name: Franz Strauss, Richard Strauss’s father, principal horn during the earliest Bayreuth Festivals and so esteemed that even Richard Wagner, never quick to extol anyone’s virtues, said of him, “When he plays, one can forgive him anything.” The Munich Opera Horns continue the long and wonderful tradition of performing compositions for their instrument as well as interpretations of repertoire classics. However, they are also firmly rooted in the present, showcasing new pieces composed especially for them. Alongside their magnificent performances in the Nationaltheater, the Munich Opera Horns have been playing together for fifteen years. Their aim is always to demonstrate, through their sublime musicianship, how both radiance and tenderness can be teased out of their instruments. We should really call them the Munich Opera Wunderhorns! The recording you’re listening to is ample proof.

Serge Dorny General Director, Bayerische Staatsoper


Click here to buy the CD


Photo credit: EVISCO

Meet the Musicians
Paolo Taballione, Flute (Solo)

If you should ever look for Paolo Taballione at the opera, you are most likely to find him in the rehearsal room. His favorite instrument, apart from his own in the orchestra, is the guitar, and his favorite month is August. He prefers to spend his free time with his children.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Frank Bloedhorn, trumpet

Trumpet player Frank Bloedhorn introduces himself and talks about the 2017 Asia Tour.

Programm
Un:erhört II – 2nd chamber concert of the Hermann Levi Academy

The Hermann Levi Academy supports talented young musicians by giving them the opportunity to practice with the orchestra under professional conditions, discovering  opera literature with its specific requirements as well as symphonic music.

The Bayerisches Staatsorchester’s Hermann Levi Academy was originally founded in 2002 under the name “Orchestra Academy of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester”. Its task was to pass on the traditions of one of the oldest German orchestras to young musicians and consequently keep this particularly special sound and performance culture alive for subsequent generations. Since July 2021, the Orchestra Academy has included the “Hermann Levi Academy” title in its name to honour Hermann Levi’s importance in the world of music and in particular his forward-looking creativity at the National Theatre in Munich.

On June 12, the Hermann Levi Academy will perform a diverse program at the Alte Pinakothek. A Sonata da chiesa by the Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli and the Piano Quintet in B minor by Johannes Brahms will be heard, as will the Variations on the Song Greensleeves for double bass solo by Knut Guettler, who died ten years ago, and excerpts from the Sonata for Violoncello solo by György Sándor Ligeti.


Photo credit: Frank Bloedhorn

Meet the Musicians
Heike Steinbrecher, Oboe

When Heike Steinbrecher is not making music, she is busy with her young dog and enjoys the walks through forest and nature together. She would like to live in northern Greece and learn the local language to get to know the country and its people even better.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

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Franz Lachner
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4372774

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Franz Lachner was born in Rain am Lech on April 2, 1803, and after other stations in Munich, Vienna and Mannheim, he conducted opera performances, the concert series of the Musical Academy and church music as Court Kapellmeister from 1836 to 1868. Lachner’s appointment as Court Kapellmeister marked the beginning of the venerable series of Bavarian General Music Directors. Now it was no longer the concertmaster who was in charge, but a conductor with a baton leading an ever-growing ensemble. The orchestra included excellent virtuosos such as the clarinetist Heinrich Baermann, the horn player Franz Strauss and members of the Moralt family, who thrilled all of Europe on their travels as a string quartet. New instruments entered the orchestra, valves expanded the range of horns and trumpets, and the Munich solo flutist Theobald Böhm developed a new key system for woodwind instruments that is still in use today.


Photo credit: Franz Lachner. Lithograph by Andreas Staub. Public domain photograph, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4372774

Meet the Musicians
Moritz Winker Bassoon, (solo)

Moritz Winker would have become a pilot if he had taken a different career path. Now his favorite place at the opera is outside the orchestra pit with the stage manager: “What they do every night is just brilliant!”. The movie that always makes him laugh out loud is Welcome to the Sticks.



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Lesestücke
Felix Weingartner: Malawika

“To be modern means to admit that in a short time one will no longer be modern.” – This saying comes from the text Modernity, published in 1918, whose author Felix Weingartner spoke out against a linear development of music history that was constantly outdone by new forms and modes of expression. Thus, in his notes on his life, he sometimes self-deprecatingly referred to himself as a “Wagnerian” and a “Lisztian” and at another point proclaimed the paradoxical thrust “forward to Mozart!”. Weingartner, whose death anniversary was on May 7, 2022, the 80th time, completed 10 operas, 7 symphonies, several songs and chamber music and participated with numerous books and essays in the music-aesthetic as well as theoretical and performance-practical discourse of his time. His success was based on his activity as a conductor. In his letters to his “dearest friend,” as he usually addressed Weingartner, Gustav Mahler did not hold back with praise: “I know of no one to whom I would hand over my work with such confidence and joyful courage as to you.” Weingartner succeeded Mahler as opera director of the Vienna Court Opera, having previously been Kapellmeister of several opera houses as well as chief conductor of the Munich Kaim Orchestra – today’s Munich Philharmonic. During his 19-year association with the Vienna Philharmonic, Weingartner made a decisive contribution to its worldwide fame. As a subscription conductor, he led all concerts, including the first Beethoven cycle in 1918 and the first South American tour in the orchestra’s history in 1922. His opera Malawika, a “Comedy in Three Acts,” premiered at the Munich National Theatre on June 3, 1886, when the composer was just 23 years old. He wrote the libretto himself, based on a drama by the Indian poet Kalidasa.


Photo Credit: Archiv Bayerische Staatsoper

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Joseph Hartmann Stuntz

Joseph Hartmann Stuntz was born in Arlesheim near Basel on July 23, 1793, and after receiving his first music lessons from his father, he composed a Te Deum for the Strasbourg Cathedral at the age of 14. He joined the Munich court orchestra in 1808 and studied with Peter von Winter, later also in Vienna with his teacher Antonio Salieri. From 1816 to 1818 Stuntz was Kapellmeister of the Italian Opera in Munich, and in the following years he composed several operas for the theaters in Venice, Milan and Turin. At the Teatro alla Scala, his opera La rappressaglia was so successful that he was awarded the title “maestro di cartello.” In 1823 Stuntz became Vice-Kapellmeister of the Munich Hofkapelle and in 1825 first Hofkapellmeister, succeeding Peter von Winter. As the “national composer and festive conductor” of Bavaria, Stuntz’s music was played at major inauguration ceremonies – for example, the opening of the Valhalla or the laying of the foundation stone of the Befreiungshalle and the unveiling of the Bavaria. He is also considered the founder of male choral singing in Munich. He died in Munich in 1859.


Photo credit: Etching by Joseph Hartmann Stuntz circa 1830. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Ausstellungskataloge, 38.

Programm
6th Chamber Concert 2022/23 (A Festival of Horns)

On May 14, the Munich Opera Horns will perform an eclectic program of music for horn from the last five centuries. Ludwig Senfl, with whose permanent appointment in 1523 by Duke Wilhelm IV in Munich the history of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester can be traced, is represented as well as his successor Orlando di Lasso. Original compositions for horn by Anton Reicha and perhaps the most famous horn player in the long tradition of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Franz Strauss, are performed alongside arrangements for the instrument – for example, the ballet music from Mozart’s opera Idomeneo.

Programm
6th Academy Concert 2022/23 (Jurowski)
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The program of the 6th Academy Concert, conducted by the General Music Director of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester Vladimir Jurowski, will open with an English rarity rarely heard on the continent, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis: a precious piece that blends memory and the present in an enchanting way – presented by the strings of the Staatsorchester. Later on, two soloists can be expected: Gerhard Oppitz takes the solo part in Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto, which Schumann originally composed for his wife Clara, who also played the piano part at the premiere. For Gustav Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, soprano Louise Alder joins the orchestra.


Photo creddit: Franz von Lenbach: Clara Schumann. https://androom.home.xs4all.nl/biography/a002056.htm

Meet the Musicians
Anna-Maija Hirvonen, 2nd violin

In her free time Anna-Maija Hirvonen is interested in philosophy, psychology, mysticism and spirituality. She especially enjoys vacationing in the Peruvian Amazon. There she has been able to make many discoveries concerning the greatest questions of humanity.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

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Peter von Winter
https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/de/artwork/ZKGPvAyxgA

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Peter von Winter was born in Mannheim on August 28, 1754, and began his career as a violinist in the court orchestra there, where he also played double bass in the meantime. During his participation in the orchestra, he became intensively acquainted with Italian and German opera before composing his own operas. In 1778 he moved to Munich when a large part of the Mannheim orchestra was called there. During a stay in Vienna, he studied for several months with Antonio Salieri, and in 1787 he was appointed vice kapellmeister of the Munich court orchestra, then kapellmeister in 1798, when he directed mainly church music and Italian opera. His own operas were celebrated at that time in Naples, Venice and Vienna, later also in London. Together with Emanuel Schikaneder, the librettist of The Magic Flute, Winter created a sequel to Mozart’s popular opera entitled The Labyrinth or The Struggle with the Elements. Mozart himself, however, referred to Winter as his “greatest enemy” in a letter to his father in 1781. Along with Carl Maria von Weber, Peter von Winter’s Singspiele were significant pioneering works in the field of German opera before Richard Wagner. In addition, in 1811 Winter, together with members of the Munich Hofkapelle, was involved in the founding of the Musikalische Akademie: the Munich Concert Association, which still exists today. Winter worked in Munich until his death in 1825.


Image credit: Johann Nepomuk Haller, The Composer and Kapellmeister Peter von Winter (1754-1825), 1825, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Neue Pinakothek Munich, URL: https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/de/artwork/ZKGPvAyxgA

Meet the Musicians
AIDA TRUMPET

Frank Bloedhorn, trumpeter of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, about the Aida trumpets, which are used in our new production Aida. Here you can find out why this instrument has such a special and long history.

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Paul Pietragrua
https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb00054636?page=6,7 Location: Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek -- Slg.Her 1725

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The violinist, Kapellmeister and composer Paul Grua was born in Mannheim on February 1, 1753 and received his musical training from his father Carlo Pietragrua, who as Kapellmeister at the Electoral Palatinate Court under the Electors Carl Philipp and Carl Theodor had been responsible for all areas of court music. Paul Pietragrua worked in the Mannheim court orchestra before being sent to study in Bologna and Parma in 1777. After the Mannheim court moved to Munich, Paul Pietragrua was appointed vice kapellmeister in 1779 before serving as Kapellmeister of vocal music at the Munich court from 1784. In 1780 Paul Pietragrua’s carnival opera Telemaco was premiered at the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich, after which the composer concentrated on church music. He held his post of Kapellmeister in Munich until his death in 1833, a total of nearly half a century.


Photo credit: https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb00054636?page=6,7 Location: Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek -- Slg.Her 1725

Meet the Musicians
Verena Kurz, 2nd violin

In her free time, Verena Kurz likes to go running or ride her road bike towards the mountains. For Verena Kurz, the best part of her job is experiencing everything live. The variety and spontaneity in the evening and the unbridled emotions on stage and in the pit are simply fun for her.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Meet the Musicians
Markus Kern, 2nd violin

Markus Kern likes boating in his spare time and his favorite musician is Jessy Norman. If he hadn’t become a musician, Markus Kern would be working for the criminal police today.


Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Chefs
Andrea Bernasconi
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Andrea Bernasconi was probably born in 1706 in Marseille and composed several operas before coming to Munich. He also worked in Venice at the Ospedale della Pietà as “maestro di capella”. In 1753 he was appointed vice kapellmeister at the Munich court by the Elector Maximilian III Joseph in Munich, to whom he also gave music lessons. After the death of the Hofkapellmeister Giovanni Porta, Bernasconi took over his position in 1755. Bernasconi’s operas were performed in numerous European cities, but most of them in Munich: for example, La clemenza di Tito in 1768, before Mozart was to compose an opera of the same name, or Agelmondo in 1760 and Demetrio in 1772. Bernasconi remained in office until his death in Munich in 1784.


Image credit: From Pietro Metastasio, Andrea Bernasconi – Demetrio. Location: Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek -- Bavar. 4015-4,1/4 http://www.mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10381988-6,

Chefs
Giovanni Porta
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13401583

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Giovanni Porta was born around 1675 in Venice, where he was a pupil of Francesco Gasparini, before working at the court of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in Rome between 1706 and 1710. Other places of activity were in Vicenza and Verona and at the Conservatorio della Pietà under Antonio Vivaldi. From 1716 he devoted himself mainly to the composition of operas and sacred works. From 1726 to 1737 he was “maestro di coro” at the Ospedale della Pietà as a colleague of Vivaldi. In 1737, after the death of Pietro Torri, he took over his position as Kapellmeister at the Munich court. Porta died in Munich in 1755.


 

Image credit: By Heinrich Eduard Winter - This image is from the Gallica Digital Library and is available under ID btv1b8423665z, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13401583

Chefs
Pietro Torri
https://www.amazon.de/Baviera-Neue-Hofkapelle-München/dp/B00011MK38


Photo creddit: Ars Produktion https://www.ars-produktion.de/Pietro_Torrica1650_1737_La_Baviera/topic/SACDs/shop_art_id/132/tpl/shop_article_detail

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The singer, composer and organist Pietro Torri was born around 1650 in Peschiera del Garda. He was organist and Kapellmeister at the court of the Margrave of Bayreuth, before serving as organist at the court of Elector Max Emanuel in Munich from 1689. When the latter was appointed governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Torri followed the Elector to Brussels in 1692, where he took up the post of “maître de chapelle” in the Brussels court orchestra and conducted the opera performances. After a change of power, Max Emanuel returned to Munich in 1701, where Torri served for the time being as chamber music director, since the office of court conductor was still held by Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Elector resided again in Brussels from 1704 to 1714, where Torri also followed him. Back in Munich, Torri held the title of court conductor in 1715 until he was finally appointed court conductor in 1732 after Bernabei’s death. Torri died in Munich in 1737. He left behind masses and other liturgical forms, oratorios, cantatas, and numerous operas, most of which were premiered in Munich.

There exists a CD recording of selected works by Torri by Christoph Hammer and the Neue Hofkapelle Munich: https://www.amazon.de/Baviera-Neue-Hofkapelle-München/dp/B00011MK38


Photo creddit: Ars Produktion https://www.ars-produktion.de/Pietro_Torrica1650_1737_La_Baviera/topic/SACDs/shop_art_id/132/tpl/shop_article_detail

BSOrec
The Moon Bear
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The picture book by Rolf Fänger and Ulrike Möltgen tells of friendship, owning, sharing and letting go. The music spans from well-known repertoire of opera history to works by the contemporary composer Richard Whilds. At the same time, the world of opera is opened up to the youngest audience members through a touching story. The dramaturge of the Bavarian State Opera, Malte Krasting, created the concept based on the children’s book Der kleine Mondbär (“The Little Moon Bear”) together with Catherine Leiter, who has been responsible for the Kind & Co section since the 2021/22 season. On April 28, Der Mondbär was now released as a radio play with music for children.


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Programm
A tuba seldom comes alone

The Bayerisches Staatsorchester is celebrating its five-hundredth birthday this year, and Munich is joining in – not only with numerous concerts and events at the National Theatre, but also with festivals throughout the city. A very special instrument is coming to KulturBunt Neuperlach, namely the tuba: it is the deepest of all brass instruments. In the orchestra pit, it is usually found hidden next to the timpani, and tuba players are used to playing their part all alone in the orchestra. The three tuba players of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester – Stefan Ambrosius, Steffen Schmid and Simon Unseld – now want to change this fact. They are stepping out of the orchestra pit and want to play together. To this end, they have joined forces and will present a colorful program with music of all kinds – from baroque to jazz. Look forward to varied music with coffee and cake in the context of a guest café special of Kulturraum München e.V. and get to know the tuba better.



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


 

Programm
5th Chamber Concert 2022/23 (The Munich Clarinet Olympus)

The 5th Chamber Concert focuses on Heinrich Joseph Baermann, extraordinary clarinet virtuoso of his time, who inspired composers such as Giacomo Meyerbeer, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Carl Maria von Weber to write compositions for the clarinet. Baermann was born in Potsdam in 1784 and was educated there and in Berlin before serving as a military musician during the fighting between Napoleon and Prussia. In 1807, Baermann was accepted as first clarinetist in the Munich court orchestra, where he served until 1834. Baermann was in demand internationally and gave concerts in many European cities before his death in Munich in 1847.

All of the works on the program are related to Baermann: Meyerbeer’s 2nd Clarinet Quintet, for example, was considered lost since World War II until a score copy of it was discovered in Baermann’s estate. During a visit of Heinrich Baermann together with his son Carl to Mendelssohn during a concert tour in Berlin, Mendelssohn composed the Concert Piece No. 1 while Baermann was cooking. And Baermann was also friends with Carl Maria von Weber – the two performed concerts together, and Weber dedicated his clarinet compositions to Baermann.



Photo credit: Print, author unknown, 1829, Munich City Museum, Portrait Collection; Inv: G M IV/873, Public Domain Mark.01


 

Chefs
Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_BERNABEI.jpg


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The son of Ercole Bernabeis was born in Rome in 1649 and received his musical training from his father, who he succeeded as kapellmeister at San Luigi dei Francesi in 1672. He was ordained a priest before moving to Munich, where he was appointed vice kapellmeister in 1677 and, after his father’s death in 1687, his position as Munich hofkapellmeister. Giuseppe Antonio stopped composing operas for Munich as early as 1690 and was able to concentrate entirely on court church music when court music director Pietro Torri took over the composition of operas and chamber music. In 1704 the court orchestra was temporarily dissolved when Bavaria was occupied by Austria, and in 1708 Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei was dismissed. In 1715 the Elector returned to Munich, and Bernabei was able to devote himself again to conducting church music as hofkapellmeister in Munich until his death in 1732.


Photo credit: Unknown painter 1700 – Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei. Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, Bologna, Italy. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_BERNABEI.jpg


 

Chefs
Johann Caspar Kerll

Kerll was born in 1627 in Adorf (today in the Vogtland district of Saxony) as the son of an organ builder, where he took up his first position as organist at St. Michael’s Church. He probably converted to Roman Catholicism in Vienna in the 1640s and went to Rome around 1648/49 to study with the composer Giacomo Carissimi. After the appointment of his brother Leopold Wilhelm as governor of the Netherlands by Emperor Ferdinand III. Johann Caspar became court organist in the Brussels residence. In 1655 the Brussels court was dissolved, and Kerll was appointed to the Munich court opera, where he was initially provisional vice-kapellmeister, then vice-kapellmeister and after the death of Giovanni Giacomo Porro finally in 1656 hofkapellmeister. Kerll took over the musical direction of the services, the chamber and table music as well as the court opera. Several of his operas were premiered in Munich. He resigned his post in 1673, probably as a result of intrigues by Italian musicians. In 1674 Kerll went to Vienna with his family, where he received a pension granted by the emperor and from 1677 worked as the court’s first organist. Nevertheless, he repeatedly visited Munich, for example in 1688 when the Munich engraver Carl Gustav Amling made the only known portrait of the composer. In 1692 Kerll gave up his post in Vienna to go to Munich, where he died on February 13, 1693 and was buried in the crypt of the Augustinian monastery on Kaufingerstrasse. During his lifetime, Kerll was considered the best-known German composer of operas and church music, and his works were performed internationally. He was equally famous as an organ improviser.


Photo credit: Engraving, Carl Gustav Amling, around 1680, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München, Inventar-Nr. 122532 D


 

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Ercole Bernabei
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46619527


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Ercole Bernabei was born in 1622 in Caprarola, 57 kilometers northwest of Rome. In Rome he was from 1653 organist at San Luigi dei Francesi, from 1665 for two years conductor at the Lateran Basilica and from 1667 head of the chapel San Luigi dei Francesi. In 1672 he took up the position of Kapellmeister at St. Peter’s Church, which he gave up when he was called to Munich by the Bavarian Elector Ferdinand Maria. He was hofkapellmeister here from 1774 until his death in 1687. His works include numerous motets, cantatas and madrigals as well as several lost stage works that he wrote for Munich, possibly in the opera seria genre. In Munich, Bernabei was also commissioned by Elector Max Emanuel to train students from Bavarian monasteries and monasteries in composition.


Photo credit: By Heinrich Eduard Winter – This image comes from the Gallica Digital Library and is available under the ID btv1b8415785d, in the public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46619527


 

Programm
5th Academy Concert 2022/23 (Jindra)

The 5th Academy Concert is dedicated to one of the so-called house gods of the Bavarian State Opera: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He probably composed his Concerto for Flute and Harp in April 1778 in Paris as a commission for the flute-playing Comte de Guines and his daughter, who played the harp. The work has not been performed at the Musikalische Akademie since 1906; at that time with Leonore Kennerknecht-Buff on the harp (see tile “Women in the Orchestra”). In the same month, Mozart wrote to his father about the composition of a “sinfonie concertante”, the original score of which is said to have been lost. The Sinfonia Concertante for winds has long been thought to be an arrangement of the lost piece, but some scholars now doubt that Mozart was the author of this work.

In Prague, Mozart composed the aria “Bella mia fiamma” for the singer Josepha Duschek while he was there in November 1787 to prepare for the premiere of Don Giovanni. Just two months later, the composer himself conducted the premiere of his Symphony No. 38, nicknamed the “Prague Symphony”, on January 19, 1787 in Prague. The conductor of the 5th Academy Concert Robert Jindra himself comes from Prague, where he studied opera singing and conducting at the conservatory, and now holds the position of music director of the National Theater.


Photo credit: Prague around 1800 (anonymous etching)


Meet the Musicians
Anja Fabricius, cello

For Anja Fabricius, the best thing about her job is the fact that she is allowed to create, and a special concert moment for her was the last Academy concert with Zubin Mehta. Everything about it was urgent. Anja Fabricius’ book recommendation is The German Lesson by Siegfried Lenz. Her childhood heroine is also from a book: Momo.



Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl


Chefs
Giovanni Giacomo Porro
http://collections.rmg.co.uk, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=230541


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Giovanni Giacomo Porro was born in Lugano around 1590 and worked, among other things, as organist for the Duke of Savoy Carlo Emanuele, as Kapellmeister at the Roman San Lorenzo in Damaso and as a substitute for the organ virtuoso Girolamo Frescobaldi at the Cappella Giulia. In 1635 he was appointed Kapellmeister to the court of Maximilian I in Munich. From there he made several trips to Italy to recruit Italian musicians for the Munich court orchestra. Porro used to be in regular contact with Galileo Galilei, by whom he set poems to music. Although no opera performance has survived under Porro’s direction, there are indications of him as a potential co-founder of the music-theatrical tradition in Munich. He worked here until his death in 1656. Almost all of his compositions, which were mostly of a sacred nature but also included madrigals and ballets, have been lost, according to a posthumous list of more than 1100 compositions.


Photo credit: By Domenico Tintoretto – http://collections.rmg.co.uk, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=230541


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