Harpenist Gaël Gandino introduces herself and talks about the 2017 Asia Tour.

Watch full video here. 

Percussionist Thomas März introduces himself and talks about the 2017 Asia Tour.

Watch full video here.

In this video the viola players Wiebke Heidemeier und Clemens Gordon introduce themselves and talk about the 2017 Asia Tour.

Watch full video here.

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

The boundary between dream and reality increasingly dissolves as Paul, mourning his dead wife Marie, meets the dancer Marietta. With her looks so similar to Marie’s, Marietta becomes the object of the projection of Paul’s erotic desires. His grief has the traits of a ritual: The carefully composed strands of his dead wife’s hair are guarded like a relic. Following a nerve-racking “vision” with cathartic effect, Paul is finally reeled back to reality. He can leave the Belgian city of Bruges as the place of his death cult. The original title of the piece, “Triumph des Lebens” (Triumph of Life), is symbolic of the main character’s personal development.

Just a few weeks before the immensely successful world premiere of Die tote Stadt, none other than Giacomo Puccini himself described Erich Wolfgang Korngold, only 23 at the time, as the “greatest hope of new German music”. Because of their melodic urgency, arias such as “Glück, das mir verblieb” (Marietta’s Lute Song) and “Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen” (Pierrot’s Song) have found a home among the concert repertoires of numerous opera singers and radiate far beyond the fame of Die tote Stadt.

The premiere of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt at the Bavarian State Opera in autumn 2019 was praised by press and audience alike. Experience the Bayerisches Staatsorchester under Kirill Petrenko as well as Marlis Petersen (Marie / Marietta) and Jonas Kaufmann (Paul) in the main roles of this intensive and stirring production by Simon Stone on DVD or Blu-ray. Winner of the Gramophone Music Awards in the categories Opera and Recordings of the Year:

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Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Since May 2021, the Bayerische Staatsoper has been documenting its excellence, versatility and tradition with a new in-house label: Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings.

Discover selected opera productions and concert recordings as well as important archive recordings on CD or DVD/BD under the new label of the Bavarian State Opera: BSOrec. Productions from the children’s and youth program KIND & CO as well as chamber music editions, which are intended to provide a platform for first-class ensembles of the Bavarian State Orchestra, complete the label’s range.

Shortly after it was founded, the label was also able to look forward to special awards, for example at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2022: Kirill Petrenko and the Bayerisches Staatsorchester won the award in the category orchestral recordings with their recording of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, Hans Abrahamsen’s The Snow Queenwas honored in the Contemporary category, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt received two awards: the Opera category and the coveted award “Recording of the Year”. Most recently, our in-house label won the “Video: Opera” category at the 2023 International Classical Music Awards with the release The Snow Queen, directed by Kirill Petrenko.

More about the label and previous releases:https://www.staatsoper.de/recordings

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Hornist Milena Viotti introduces herself and talks about the 2017 Asia Tour.

Watch full video here.

Although Orlando di Lasso was the most famous offspring of his family, he was not the only composer and musician closely connected with the history of the Munich court orchestra. Because after his son Ferdinand I di Lasso, his son Ferdinand II di Lasso was also court music director in Munich: probably between 1616 and 1629 Ferdinand II conducted the orchestra of Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria. A letter dated July 24, 1613 shows how intensively Maximilian I himself dealt with cultural policy. It shows that the Duke had sent Ferdinand II to Rome so that he could study there. Maximilian I was closely informed about the progress of Orlando di Lasso’s grandson, and so he wrote to Rome:

“From your letter of the 6th I have learned what progress Ferdinando Lasso is making in music there, and that he is now able to return and render services as soon as he will have stayed in Rome for three more months to write allegro compositions in a modern style, having hitherto engaged in serious ones. I can therefore tell you that I am content to leave him there for the three months mentioned, so that he can try to perfect himself as much as possible, not only in composing, but also in practicing and putting together concerts for two, three or more choirs. Then let him come back here.”

Photo credit: Wenceslaus Hollar: Maximilian I. als Herrscher. University of Toronto Wenceslaus Hollar Digital Collection. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I._(Bayern)#/media/Datei:Wenceslas_Hollar_-_Compton_or_Carleton._Philosophia_universa_(State_4).jpg

More about Leonore Buff: https://www.sophie-drinker-institut.de/buff-leonore

Photo credit: Archive of the Musikalische Akademie

Today, the proportion of women in the Bayerisches Staatsorchester is over a third. That wasn’t always the case: in the photo from 1911, the only female member of the Musikalische Akademie can be seen in the first row, namely the harpist Leonore Kennerknecht-Buff. She was said to be related to Charlotte Kestner (born Buff), who went down in literary history as the historical role model of Lotte in Goethe’s epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. In 1892, Buff was accepted as a member of the Bayerisches Hoforchester, which later became the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Other orchestras took much longer to take this step: while the Berlin Philharmonic accepted the first woman as an orchestra member in 1982, the Vienna Philharmonic only followed suit in 1997.

More about women in orchestras: https://www.kulturrat.de/themen/frauen-in-kultur-medien/beitraege-publikationen/gendersrecht-in-berufsorchestern/

More about Leonore Buff: https://www.sophie-drinker-institut.de/buff-leonore

Photo credit: Archive of the Musikalische Akademie

About the Hofbräuhaus in München: https://www.hofbraeuhaus.de/bierzeichen/

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

The Staatliches Hofbräuhaus brewery in Munich preserves the tradition of beer symbols, also known as beer marks: since the 19th century they have served as a calculating aid and have been part of almost every brewery for a long time; first made of brass, then aluminium, later made of plastic, in the post-war years after the Second World War also in the form of paper notes. Each brand has a specific value, for example “1 Maß light or dark” or “Good for 1 liter of beer”. In the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, beer tokens can be purchased that keep the value of a beer, even if the prices on the drinks menu go up. Now there is also a beer sign from the Hofbräuhaus in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester.

Worth knowing about the beer brand: https://www.historisches-unterfranken.uni-wuerzburg.de/db/biermarken/biermarken/aufsatz.php

About the Hofbräuhaus in München: https://www.hofbraeuhaus.de/bierzeichen/

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

On March 5th, Sergei Prokofiev’s opera War and Peace premiered at the National Theatre in a production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. The general music director Vladimir Jurowski conducted the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, the Bayerische Staatsoper Chorus and the additional choir of the Bayerische Staatsoper. The opera also requires a huge ensemble of singers to embody the numerous roles.

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

The son of Orlando di Lasso was born in Munich around 1562 and trained by his father in the court orchestra. In 1585 he was employed as Kapellmeister at the court in Hechingen, and in 1587 a collection of motets by Ferdinand I di Lasso was published, which was dedicated to his employer Eitel Friedrich IV von Hohenzollern-Hechingen. In 1589 he returned to Munich and worked as a tenor singer there and in Landshut before he succeeded Johannes de Fossa as Kapellmeister to Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria in 1602. In 1622 he initiated the publication of the collection Apparatus musicus with eight-part works by his father. In 1609 Ferdinand I di Lasso died in Munich. The Cantiones Quinque Vocum in the cover picture is an edition published in 1597 of previously unpublished motets by his father and Ferdinand I.

Photo credit: Lasso, Orlando di: Cantiones quinque vocum. Ab Orlando di Lasso et huius filio Ferdinando di Lasso. Compositae Typis iam primo subiectae et in lucem editae. Location: Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek -- 4 Mus.pr. 164. https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb00072000?page=2,3

Miriam Noa from the Munich City Museum and the two solo drummers from the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Pieter Roijen and Ernst-Wilhelm Hilgers, will be showing an instrument that was used in Munich premieres of Richard Wagner’s operas.

In this video, Claudio Estay informs about the Strohfiedel, a special xylophone that is still used during performances of Richard Strauss’ Salome by the Bayerisches Staatsorchester.

Photo credit: Archive Musikalische Akademiee

In her free time, Isolde Lehrmann likes to photograph still lifes and portraits.

Photo credits: Wilfried Hösl

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

On February 22, 2010, The Tragedy of the Devil by Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös was premiered with a libretto by Albert Ostermaier in the National Theatre. Eötvös himself conducted the Bavarian State Orchestra. The Ukrainian artist couple Ilya and Emilia Kabakov designed the stage and Balázs Kovalik directed. Find out more about the work and the staging of that time in a contribution with Eötvös, Kovalik, Ostermaier and the Lucifer singer of the premiere Georg Nigl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MylAsq5_dy0

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Johannes de Fossa’s date and place of birth are unknown. Up until his entry into the Munich court orchestra in 1569, de Fossa’s biography is documented incompletely. He probably comes from a Dutch family of musicians, in which his name appeared several times. In a copy he made himself, de Fossa referred to the composer Johannes Castileti – also known as Jean Guyot – as his teacher. De Fossa was probably Castileti’s pupil in the 1540s and 1550s in Liège. In 1569, de Fossa was finally appointed Vice Kapellmeister of the Munich court orchestra and held this office until Orlando di Lasso’s death in 1594. After di Lasso’s death, di Fossa took over his position as Munich court music director, although the official appointment did not take place until 1597. His merits were honored by de Fossa’s elevation to the imperial nobility. He died in Munich at Pentecost 1603, having had to resign from office a year earlier due to health problems.

Photo credit: Fossa, Johannes de: 7 Sacred songs – BSB Mus.ms. 2757. Location: Munich, Bavarian State Library Mus.ms. 2757. https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb00079000?page=6

Photo credit: Archive of the Musikalische Akademie

Great rejoicing after the 4th Academy Concert for the Bayerische Staatsorchester, its former general music director Zubin Mehta, the violinist Vilde Frang and the composer Minas Borboudakis.

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

On January 8th, the anniversary year of the Bayerische Staatsorchester got off to a brilliant start with a concert in the Nationaltheater. General music director Vladimir Jurowski conducted. The invited guests included Ilse Aigner, President of the State Parliament, and Markus Blume, Bavarian Minister of State for Science and Art, who both gave speeches.

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Photo credit: © EVISCO

Unique in its kind, OPERcussion, the virtuoso percussion quintet, brings the art of percussion from the depths of the orchestra pit to the front row, realizing a new model of artistic creation while respecting history and championing innovation.

When we study the history of the Bayerische Staatsoper, we learn that the first timpanist with a contract began in 1600 in what was then the Court Orchestra. In more than 400 years of musical tradition, the greatest composers and conductors in history have influenced the members of this traditional orchestra and promoted chamber music activities. The members of the percussion group have not escaped this call and since 2008 have been organized in the formation OPERcussion. Thomas März, Pieter Roijen, Maxime Pidoux, Carlos Vera Larrucea and Claudio Estay bring to the ensemble their virtuosity, their knowledge, the traditions of their countries of origin and their peculiarities. This international ensemble has distinguished itself in the world of percussion and in the music scene in general for the innovation and diversity of its programs, which include collaborations and commissions with contemporary composer:s, as well as arrangements of music not originally written for percussion, from the eras: Baroque, Classical and Impressionist to the interpretation of Latin American music with grandiose improvisational ideas.

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Photo credit: © EVISCO

Here the former General Music Director Zubin Mehta rehearses together with the violinist Vilde Frang and the Bayerische Staatsorchester for the 4th Academy Concert. The composer of the specially commissioned world premiere, Minas Borboudakis, was also present.

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Carl Orff’s opera Der Mond was premiered on February 5th, 1939 at the Bavarian State Opera under the musical direction of Clemens Krauss in a production by Rudolf Hartmann. The composer wrote the libretto himself and in doing so took over literal text passages from the fairy tale of the same name by the Brothers Grimm. Orff’s description of this “small world theater” is based on the three scenes of heaven, earth, underworld and the view of a little boy on it. Orff thought about his opera as “a thoughtful parable of the futility of human efforts to disturb the world order and at the same time a parable of being safe in this world order”. The composer himself described the music as his “farewell to romanticism”. Critics were enthusiastic, for example the musicologist Fred Hamel: “So you encounter a creation that has been desired for the opera stage for a long time […] It’s great how Orff’s music also fully expresses this power here the elementary means of rhythm and song form […] With this economy of means, Orff’s melodic invention is so powerful, his rhythmic imagination so inexhaustible, that they evoke a sheer abundance of changing impressions of pictorial power.”

Photo credit: Hanns Holdt

Among his childhood heroes there were sporting heroes such as Karl Allgöwer (his direct free-kick goals – awesome!), Lothar Matthäus and Boris Becker and of course also violinist-musical ones like Henryk Szeryng, David Oistrach and especially Gidon Kremer. The best hall in which David Schultheiss has played so far is the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He also has a special memory of a concert in the aforementioned Suntory Hall: David Schultheiss has never experienced such a tense and expectant silence from the audience between the applause for the conductor and the first sound of the concert.

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

In addition to Munich, Christian Loferer feels very comfortable in Sydney and San Francisco. He has busked in Edinburgh before, and if he could make any activity an Olympic event, time telling would give him the best chance of winning a medal.

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Her childhood heroes are The Three Investigators: She heard Paganini for the first time in these radio plays and then absolutely wanted to play it. A special concert for Julia Pfister was the concert with Kirill Petrenko as part of the 2016 European tour at La Scala in Milan. Everyone was in the flow and the atmosphere was unforgettable!

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

For Barbara Burgdorf, the best thing about her job is the beauty it offers for the soul, for herself and for others. If she hadn’t become a musician, she would probably have been a biologist.

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

His favorite book is Trials and Tribulations by Theodor Fontane and Carlos Kleiber is his favorite conductor. Florian Gmelin would have loved to work with him one day.

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Johannes Dengler decided at the age of 10 that he wanted to be a musician after realizing that he couldn’t become an astronaut due to travel sickness. His best medicine for stage fright is practice, practice, practice …

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

On January 29th, the Munich audience celebrated the new production Dido and Aeneas … Expectation and its protagonists: the conductor Andrew Manze, the production team around the director Krzysztof Warlikowski and the singer ensemble (Ausrine Stundyte, Günter Papendell, Victoria Randem, Rinat Shaham, Key’mon W. Murrah, Elmira Karakhanova).

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Photo credit: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, Signatur Slg.Her 811

On January 29, 1781, Mozart’s “Dramma per musica in tre atti” premiered in Munich’s Hoftheater, today’s Cuvilliéstheater. The libretto is based on the tragédie lyrique of the same name by Antoine Danchet with music by André Campra and was written by the Salzburg chaplain Giambattista Varesco. Five years later, a version revised by Mozart was performed in Vienna.

In 1775 Mozart’s La finta giardiniera was premiered in Munich, and in 1780 the composer was commissioned by Karl Theodor, the Elector of Bavaria, to create an opera for Munich as the highlight of the carnival season. Mozart attended the rehearsals of both operas. Idomeneo was not finished until he was there, and so Mozart was able to take special account of the vocal possibilities of the singers. A correspondence between Mozart and his father Leopold provides information about the background to the creation of Idomeneo, in which the function of scenes and arias is also discussed.

Mozart Letters and Documents – Online Edition:
https://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/briefe/doclist.php

Photo credit: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, Signatur Slg.Her 811

Ludwig Daser was born in Munich around 1526 and joined the Munich court orchestra as a young man, where he probably received his musical training under Wolfgang Fynnckl and Andree Zauner, perhaps also under Ludwig Senfl. Like Andree Zauner, Daser studied at the University of Ingolstadt and from 1552 was active as court conductor of the Munich court orchestra. In 1563 Daser finally resigned from his position in Munich, and in 1572 he became Kapellmeister at the Württemberg ducal court in Stuttgart, where he worked until his death in 1589. Daser was a prolific composer of masses, motets and sacred songs, much admired by his contemporaries. Recently he has again become the focus of musicology, and so the publication of the extensive book Ludwig Daser (1526–1589) – Grenzgänger Zwischen den Traditionen by Daniel Glowotz is in preparation.

Photo credit: Daser, Ludwig: 9 Masses – BSB Mus.ms. 18. Location:
München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek -- Mus.ms. 18. https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb00079115?page=6,7

The first version of Engelbert Humperdinck’s fairy tale opera was premiered on January 23, 1897 in Munich’s Hoftheater under the musical direction of Hugo Röhr. After the success of Hänsel und Gretel four years earlier, the composer was looking for a text for a comic opera with a popular touch, which was ultimately provided by Elsa Agnes Bernstein, daughter of Humperdinck’s Munich friend Heinrich Porges.

In the years that followed, this melodrama version found its way onto the opera stages of Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Riga, London, Dublin and New York, but disappeared from the repertoire after 1902. The composer revised his melodrama into the through-composed version of the opera known today, for which the text was thoroughly reduced and simplified. Finally, in 1910, this second version was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Photo credit: Archiv Bayerische Staatsoper / Hof-Atelier Elvira München

Verena-Maria Fitz likes to take a vacation in South Africa because her husband was born and raised there, and in South Tyrol. May is her favorite month because it is fresh and colorful and summer is still ahead.

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Andree Zauner was the successor of Wolfgang Fynnckl and conducted the court orchestra from 1550 to 1552. Zauner originally came from Landshut and was enrolled at the University of Ingolstadt from 1525, where he mainly studied the writings of Johannes de Muris, who as a late medieval intellectual with music theory busy and decisively promoted music notation. Accordingly, Zauner used the academic title “Maister” (magister), which is rare for a musician. He remained with the court orchestra as a singer after resigning and even received a grace payment until his death in 1577.

Photo credit: Coat of arms of the University of Ingolstadt 1580. Illustration from: Schrot, Martin: Wappenbuch Des Heiligen Römischen Reichs, und allgemainer Christenheit in Europa, München, 1580 (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Res/2 Herald. 46).

On January 20, 2023, OPERcussion performed in the Muffathalle and presented their new CD “Original Grooves”.

Little is known about Ludwig Senfl’s successor: only Wolfgang Fynnckl’s name and office are known. After Senfl stopped his work at the Munich court orchestra in 1543 and before 1551, Fynnckl must have continued the work of his predecessor and thus the Munich court music. During Fynnckl’s tenure, two new instrumentalists were hired: Sebastian Hurlacher (-> tile on this website “appointment lapel of trombonist Sebastian Hurlacher”) and Bastian Behaim.

Photo credit: Biographisch-bibliographisches Quellen-Lexikon der Musiker und Musikgelehrten der christlichen Zeitrechnung bis zur Mitte des neunzehnten Jahrhundert. Bd. 4. Quelle: gallica.bnf.fr. Provenienz: Bibliothèque nationale de France.

On January 14th, 1823, the National Theater burned. Although the accident happened during a packed evening performance, nobody was hurt. Warm brewing water from the surrounding breweries was used to extinguish the fire, since the water used by the fire brigade froze in the syringes. The building could not be saved from the flames, but was reopened two years later.

Photo credit: Münchner Stadtmuseum, collection of graphics / paintings P-1134
Artist: unknown; Wolfgang Pulfer (repro)

Photo creddit: Wilfried Hösl

Franz Strauss (1822-1905) was not only the father of the composer Richard Strauss, but also one of the most renowned horn players of his time, who worked in the Royal Bavarian Court Orchestra, today’s Bavarian State Orchestra, and had a significant influence on its sound. The two horn players Milena Viotti and Johannes Dengler provide insights into the special features of the instrument once played by Franz Strauss.

500 – what a number! Five hundred years ago, the history of the ensemble began, which today, as the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, is one of the most respected opera and concert orchestras in the world and can be justifiably proud of this unique history. The orchestra’s early days are associated with names such as Ludwig Senfl and Orlando di Lasso as artistic directors, and there has never been a lack of important personalities since then. Collaborations with the greatest composers of their time – such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss – as well as with the great conductors of the past and present (the list of names is too long to mention here) have decisively shaped the orchestra and made it one of the best in the world. Not only the result but also the reason for this quality is the diversity of its activities: in opera, in ballet, in symphonic repertoire, in the cosmos of chamber music, in its commitment to musical education and outreach. This last point is represented in particular by the commitment of the Hermann-Levi-Akademie, the talent factory for the future not only of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester but of orchestral music in general. The founding of the first concert series for the Munich bourgeoisie in 1811, the Musikalische Akademie, which is still alive today, speaks of the orchestra’s deep connection with the city of Munich and its citizens, which has not dried up even after more than two hundred years. In the festival year 2023, we want to further deepen this connection with many proven and new formats. I congratulate the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, which I am honoured to preside over as chief conductor, and look forward to a musically rich 500th anniversary.

Vladimir Jurovsky
General Music Director of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester since 2021

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Photo creddits: Archiv der Musikalischen Akademie

Photo Credit: Archiv der Musikalischen Akademie

Photo Credits: Archiv der Musikalischen Akademie

What distinguishes the Bayerisches Staatsorchester especially in my opinion? For me, it is the mixture of dark, warm sound, transparent texture, individual timbre and a distinct common identity that has been continuously built up and developed over five centuries, strongly influenced by the great composers and artists associated with this house. This combination of klang and personality, which has been constantly renewed, though the flexibility, technical capacity and energy of each new generation is unique, and in the best sense a counter phenomenon to certain trends emerging from our information age.

In its 500-year history, this great ensemble has shared the priceless gift of humanism with the world, and thus it will continue to be relevant in the future. Thank you, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, and happy birthday!

Kent Nagano
General Music Director 2006–2013

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

The seven years I was privileged to spend with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester as its principal conductor are but a breath in the light of its long history. But for me, these seven years as Bavarian Music Director have been an unspeakably happy time. I hope that together we have been able to leave some traces that will outlast our own work. As the Bayerisches Staatsorchester has undertaken so many new things in the five hundredth year of its existence, this event becomes less a retrospective of a glorious past than an outlook on a far-reaching and radiant future. I wish this wonderful orchestra that with all my heart – and I am very happy that we will meet again in its anniversary year.

Kirill Petrenko
General Music Director 2013–2021
Honorary Conductor of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

With Orlando di Lasso, Duke Albrecht V engaged what is probably the most important musician of his time. From 1562/63 he was the court music director, taking over the management of the table and chamber music as well as the musical arrangement of the services. The Duke enjoys close contact with his musicians and spends a lot of money on them. The Bavarian court is looking for the best singers and instrumentalists throughout Europe. At the wedding of the heir to the throne Wilhelm V in 1568, visitors raved about the artistic interplay and varied repertoire of the court orchestra.

Photo credit: Deutsch, Bildnis des Orlando di Lasso, 1580, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, URL: https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/de/artwork/ma4d3KgGrO

With most of the orchestras I conduct these days, I am half the age of these bodies. Fortunately, I can’t say that about the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. So I wish my colleagues and all their predecessors nothing but the best on their 500th birthday! My eight years with this great ensemble have been a highlight of my career, and I can’t tell you how many wonderful memories I have in both symphony and opera: our European tour with the Mahler Three; the Bruckner Eight; the trip to Kashmir and Mumbai; the Don Carlo production with Jürgen Rose; as well as the two Ring productions I was privileged to conduct, will remain forever in my heart.

Great musicians were and are gathered in the Bayerisches Staatsorchester to whom I tip my hat in admiration. I can only end these words of homage this way: Ladies and gentlemen of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, I love and adore each and every one of you all and cannot wait to make music with you again. In deep friendship and admiration

Zubin Mehta
General Music Director 1998–2006
Honorary Conductor of the Bavarian State Orchestra

Photo credit: Wilfried Hösl

Photo creddit: Archiv der Musikalischen Akademie

Location: München, Staatliche Münzsammlung

Born in Basel or Zurich around 1490, Ludwig Senfl was probably active as a choirboy in Maximilian I’s chapel during his childhood. Presumably he completed his studies at the University of Vienna as part of an imperial scholarship as well as training as a clergyman. Senfl worked in the imperial chapel until 1520, and in 1523 he was given a permanent position by Duke Wilhelm IV in Munich, where he lived until his death in 1523. His extensive oeuvre includes sacred and secular compositions, such as masses, a large number of cycles of props, motets and songs. He maintained contacts with humanistic and Protestant circles and corresponded with Martin Luther, among others, to whom he also regularly sent compositions. Luther wrote to Senfl from Veste Coburg in 1530: “Love [of music] has also given me hope that my letter will not pose any danger to you … I really praise your Dukes of Bavaria, even if they are not in the least inclined towards me, and respect them above others for the way they promote and nurture music.”
Senfl’s immense esteem as a composer endured well after his death, as evidenced by the wide distribution and number of transmissions of his works. Since 2015, musicologists have been working on the New Senfl Edition, a new complete edition of all of Senfl’s compositions.

Hier finden Sie weiterführende Informationen zu Ludwig Senfl

Location: München, Staatliche Münzsammlung