Wiener Singverein
Encyclopedia
The Vienna Singverein is the concert choir
of the Vienna Musikverein
with around 230 members. It is regularly requested by top orchestras and conductors for large and varied projects.
oratorio Alexander's Feast
(Timotheus) was performed in the Winter Riding School
of the Vienna Imperial Palace, an event, which led to the founding of the Society of Music Friends in Vienna
(Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien). The first choral activities of the Musikverein go back to the initiative of Antonio Salieri
, for example, taking part in the First Performance of Beethoven
's Missa Solemnis
and the Symphony No. 9
in 1824.
The choir was founded in its present form in 1858. The first choir master was Johann von Herbeck until his transfer to the Vienna Court Opera. The Singverein has been substantially involved in many first performances from Schubert
’s musical play Die Verschworenen (The Conspirators), Johannes Brahms
’ A German Requiem
, Anton Bruckner
’s Te deum
, Gustav Mahler
's Symphonie No. 8
and Franz Schmidt
’s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln up to composers of the second post war period, like Christian Muthspiel
, Arvo Pärt
, Wolfram Wagner and Otto Zykan
.
Since its foundation the Singverein has been partner of important conductors, among them Franz Schalk
, Wilhelm Furtwängler
, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Karl Böhm
and Leonard Bernstein
. From 1947 to 1989 Herbert von Karajan
defined the profile of the choir and made it known world wide through recordings, concert film productions on laser disc.
Concert tours took the choir to Australia, Japan and the USA; further concerts among others were in Israel, Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Pisa, Rome, and Zurich. In 1959 a performance of the Bruckner Te Deum took place in the Vatican
, as well as in 1985 a performance of the Mozart Coronation Mass during the High Mass with Pope John Paul II
in St. Peter's Basilica
under Karajan.
, Reinhold Schmid and Helmut Froschauer. Since 1991 Johannes Prinz has been the choir master engaged by the Vienna Musikverein.
, Bertrand de Billy
, Michael Boder, Andrey Boreyko
, Pierre Boulez
, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly
, Myung-whun Chung
, Christoph von Dohnányi
, Gustavo Dudamel
, Christoph Eschenbach
, Vladimir Fedosejev, Ádám Fischer
, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
, Daniele Gatti
, Valery Gergiev
, Leopold Hager
, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
, Martin Haselböck
, Kristjan Järvi
, Mariss Jansons
, Ton Koopman
, Markus Landerer, Fabio Luisi
, Lorin Maazel
, Sir Charles Mackerras
, Wayne Marshall
, Zubin Mehta
, Cornelius Meister
, Ingo Metzmacher
, Riccardo Muti
, Andrés Orozco-Estrada
, Eiji Oue
, Seiji Ozawa
, Krzysztof Penderecki
, Georges Prêtre
, Simon Rattle
, Wolfgang Sawallisch
, Tugan Sokhiev
, Christian Thielemann
, Marcello Viotti
, Bruno Weil
and Franz Welser-Möst
.
The Vienna orchestras regularly working with the Singverein are the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, The Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
as well as the Lower Austrian Tonkünstler Orchestra
. Among the orchestras outwith Vienna are the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin
, the Bavarian State Orchestra
, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
, the Philharmonia Orchestra
London, L’Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France and the Orchestre National de France
, the Austrian-Hungarian Haydnphilharmonie, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Radio, the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House.
in the Musikverein and in the Konzerthaus
singing the Berlioz Requiem. The final Jubilee Concerts took place in Amsterdam with the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest under Mariss Jansons, four performances of the Requiem op. 89 by Antonín Dvořák. Finally a Leonard-Bernstein-Concert and then a High Mass with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn in St Stephan’s Cathedral with a performance of Beethoven’s Mass in C.
The Season 2009/2010 began with a concert tour to Japan, where Haydn’s The Creation and Brahms’ Requiem were performed in the Izumi-Hall in Osaka
. In honour of his 80th birthday, Nikolaus Harnoncourt again conducted the Singverein in a performance of Schmidt’s Book with Seven Seals. On the occasion of his 85th birthday, Pierre Boulez conducted concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Singverein; including the Song of the Night (Symphony Nr 3, op. 27) by Karol Szymanowski
and Symphonie de psaumes by Stravinsky as well as the Glagolitic Mass (Glagolská mse) by Janáček. Further, for the first time the Singverein was brought in by Christian Thielemann to perform the Ninth Symphony in the complete cycle of the Beethoven symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic. The Singverein also took part in the Vienna Summer Night’s Concert, which the Philharmonic gave in the park of the Schönbrunn Palace
and was broadcast live on Austrian Radio and TV and internationally on 3Sat, singing the Moon Chorus from Otto Nicolai’s Merry Wives of Windsor. After two performances of Arthur Honegger
’s Jeanne d’Arc au bucher, in Vienna and In the Linz Bruckner House – with the RSO under Bertrand de Billy, Johanna Wokalek, Peter Matic, Herbert Lippert and the Vienna Boys’ Choir – the Singverein made a guest appearance with this work in the Felsenreitschule at the Salzburg Festival
. It was de Billy’s last concert as principal conductor of the RSO, Fanny Ardant
played Jeanne. Later in August, the Singverein performed Mendelssohn’s Cantata, The First Walpurgis Night (MWV D3) at the Grafenegg Music Festival
.
To celebrate the centenary of the first performance Mahler’s Symphony Nr. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand), in which the Singverein took part in September 1910, the choir, along with the Philharmonic Choir Munich and the Tölzer Boys’ Choir
, was invited to the Gasteig Philharmonie
to give two performances under the direction of Christian Thielemann in October 2010.
In the year 2011, concerts with works by Olivier Messiaen
, Schostakovitsch and Mahler under Ingo Metzmacher, Bruckner’s E minor Mass and choral works by Peter Planyavsky under Johannes Prinz and for the first time under Cornelius Meister and Gustavo Dudamel, works by Janáček and Mahler took place.
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
of the Vienna Musikverein
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien , was founded in 1812 by Joseph von Sonnleithner, general secretary of the Court Theatre, Vienna, Austria. Its official charter, drafted in 1814, states that the purpose of the Society was to promote music in all its facets...
with around 230 members. It is regularly requested by top orchestras and conductors for large and varied projects.
History
In 1812 the HandelGeorge Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
oratorio Alexander's Feast
Alexander's Feast (Handel)
Alexander's Feast is an ode with music by George Frideric Handel set to a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton. Hamilton adapted his libretto from John Dryden's ode Alexander's Feast, or the Power of Music which had been written to celebrate Saint Cecilia's Day...
(Timotheus) was performed in the Winter Riding School
Spanish Riding School
The Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria, is a traditional riding school for Lipizzan horses, which perform in the Winter Riding School in the Hofburg...
of the Vienna Imperial Palace, an event, which led to the founding of the Society of Music Friends in Vienna
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien , was founded in 1812 by Joseph von Sonnleithner, general secretary of the Court Theatre, Vienna, Austria. Its official charter, drafted in 1814, states that the purpose of the Society was to promote music in all its facets...
(Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien). The first choral activities of the Musikverein go back to the initiative of Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri was a Venetian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy....
, for example, taking part in the First Performance of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Missa Solemnis
Missa Solemnis (Beethoven)
The Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123 was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1819-1823. It was first performed on April 7, 1824 in St. Petersburg, under the auspices of Beethoven's patron Prince Nikolai Galitzin; an incomplete performance was given in Vienna on 7 May 1824, when the Kyrie,...
and the Symphony No. 9
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
in 1824.
The choir was founded in its present form in 1858. The first choir master was Johann von Herbeck until his transfer to the Vienna Court Opera. The Singverein has been substantially involved in many first performances from Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
’s musical play Die Verschworenen (The Conspirators), Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
’ A German Requiem
Ein deutsches Requiem
A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and a soprano and a baritone soloist, composed between 1865 and 1868. It comprises seven movements, which together last 65 to 80 minutes, making this work Brahms's longest...
, Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
’s Te deum
Te Deum (Bruckner)
The Te Deum in C major WAB 45 by Anton Bruckner is a setting of the early Christian Te Deum hymn text for chorus, soloists and orchestra, and organ ad libitum...
, Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Symphonie No. 8
Symphony No. 8 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire. Because it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces it is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand", although the work is often performed with fewer than a...
and Franz Schmidt
Franz Schmidt
Franz Schmidt was an Austrian composer, cellist and pianist of Hungarian descent and origin.- Life :Schmidt was born in Pozsony , in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . His father was half Hungarian and his mother entirely Hungarian...
’s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln up to composers of the second post war period, like Christian Muthspiel
Christian Muthspiel
Christian Muthspiel is an Austrian composer, trombonist, and pianist most associated with jazz.He started with the piano at six and began study of the trombone at 11. From 1987 to 1988 he had a scholarship to study in Banff, Alberta. He also does new classical music.His brother is guitarist...
, Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
, Wolfram Wagner and Otto Zykan
Otto Zykan
Otto Matthäus Zykan was an Austrian composer and pianist.He studied at the Vienna Music Academy, where his teachers included Karl Schiske , Bruno Seidlhofer and Josef Dichler...
.
Since its foundation the Singverein has been partner of important conductors, among them Franz Schalk
Franz Schalk
Franz Schalk was an Austrian conductor. From 1918 to 1929 he was director of the Vienna State Opera, a post he held jointly with Richard Strauss from 1919 to 1924. Later, Schalk was involved in the establishment of the Salzburg Festival.-Biography:Schalk was born in Vienna, Austria, where he later...
, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...
, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Karl Böhm
Karl Böhm
Karl August Leopold Böhm was an Austrian conductor. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.- Education :...
and Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
. From 1947 to 1989 Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
defined the profile of the choir and made it known world wide through recordings, concert film productions on laser disc.
Concert tours took the choir to Australia, Japan and the USA; further concerts among others were in Israel, Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Pisa, Rome, and Zurich. In 1959 a performance of the Bruckner Te Deum took place in the Vatican
Apostolic Palace
The Apostolic Palace is the official residence of the Pope, which is located in Vatican City. It is also known as the Sacred Palace, the Papal Palace and the Palace of the Vatican...
, as well as in 1985 a performance of the Mozart Coronation Mass during the High Mass with Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
in St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
under Karajan.
Choir Masters
The first choir master Herbeck was followed by Johannes Brahms, then from mid-twentieth century Ferdinand GrossmannFerdinand Grossmann
Ferdinand Grossmann was an Austrian choral conductor, vocal teacher and composer .-Biography:He studied music in Linz. Some years later in Vienna he attended a class of conducting given by Felix Weingartner....
, Reinhold Schmid and Helmut Froschauer. Since 1991 Johannes Prinz has been the choir master engaged by the Vienna Musikverein.
Conductors and Orchestras
In recent times the choir has worked, among others, with Daniel BarenboimDaniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
, Bertrand de Billy
Bertrand de Billy
Bertrand de Billy is a French conductor.He was born in Paris.After his career as an instrumental musician, de Billy began his conducting career in Paris. He later moved to Germany and built up his career as an opera conductor. He was the general music director at the Anhaltisches Theater in...
, Michael Boder, Andrey Boreyko
Andrey Boreyko
Andrey Boreyko is a Russian conductor. At the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in Saint Petersburg, he studied conducting , graduating summa cum laude...
, Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly
Riccardo Chailly
Riccardo Chailly, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor. He started his career as an opera conductor and gradually extended his repertoire to encompass symphonic music.-Biography:...
, Myung-whun Chung
Myung-Whun Chung
Myung-whun Chung is a South Korean pianist and conductor.His sisters, violinist Kyung-wha Chung, and cellist Myung-wha Chung, and he at one time performed together as the Chung Trio. He was a joined second-prize winner in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Chung studied conducting at...
, Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi is a German conductor of Hungarian ancestry.- Youth and World War II :Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to jurist Hans von Dohnányi and Christine Bonhoeffer. His uncle on his mother's side was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian/ethicist...
, Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. He is currently the principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Gothenburg, Sweden, and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California...
, Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach , born February 20, 1940, Breslau, Germany is a German-born pianist and conductor. He currently holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.-Early...
, Vladimir Fedosejev, Ádám Fischer
Ádám Fischer
Ádám Fischer is a Hungarian conductor of Jewish family origin. He is the general music director of the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, with which he has recorded the complete Haydn symphonies for the Nimbus label, the first digital recording of the cycle...
, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos is a Spanish conductor and composer.Frühbeck studied violin, piano, and composition at the conservatories of Bilbao and Madrid...
, Daniele Gatti
Daniele Gatti
Daniele Gatti is an Italian conductor.Official website: He is currently Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, a role he assumed in September, 2008 , and also Chief Conductor of the Zurich Opera, a position he began in September, 2009; his contract is for three seasons, after which...
, Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.- Early life :Gergiev,...
, Leopold Hager
Leopold Hager
Leopold Hager is an Austrian conductor , known for his interpretations of works from the First Viennese School ....
, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...
, Martin Haselböck
Martin Haselböck
Martin Haselböck is the musical director of Musica Angelica in Santa Monica, California, and the musical director and founder of the Orchester Wiener Akademie. He is also a professor at the University of Vienna, where he teaches organ.-External links:...
, Kristjan Järvi
Kristjan Järvi
Kristjan Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor. Järvi is the younger son of Neeme Järvi, and the brother of conductor Paavo Järvi and flutist Maarika Järvi....
, Mariss Jansons
Mariss Jansons
Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons is a Latvian conductor, the son of conductor Arvīds Jansons. His mother, the singer Iraida Jansons, who was Jewish, gave birth to him in hiding in Riga, Latvia, after her father and brother were killed in the Riga Ghetto...
, Ton Koopman
Ton Koopman
Ton Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...
, Markus Landerer, Fabio Luisi
Fabio Luisi
Fabio Luisi is an Italian conductor. On September 6, 2011, he was named Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera....
, Lorin Maazel
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel is an American conductor, violinist and composer.- Early life :Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel , was...
, Sir Charles Mackerras
Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
, Wayne Marshall
Wayne Marshall
Wayne Marshall is a Black British pianist, organist and conductor.Marshall was educated at Chetham's School, Manchester and the Royal College of Music. He is a renowned interpreter of the works of George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington and other twentieth century American composers...
, Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
, Cornelius Meister
Cornelius Meister
Cornelius Meister is a German conductor and pianist. His father, Konrad Meister, is a pianist and professor of piano at the Musikhochschule Hannover. His mother is also a piano teacher...
, Ingo Metzmacher
Ingo Metzmacher
Ingo Metzmacher is a German conductor. He is the son of the cellist Rudolf Metzmacher. His musical education in piano, music theory and conducting was in Hanover, Salzburg and Cologne...
, Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.-Childhood and education:...
, Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Andrés Orozco-Estrada is a Colombian violinist and conductor.Andrés Orozco-Estrada was born in December 1977 in Medellín . After early studies of the violin he started taking conducting classes in 1992...
, Eiji Oue
Eiji Oue
is a Japanese conductor.Oue began his conducting studies with Hideo Saito of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. In 1978, Seiji Ozawa invited him to spend the summer studying at the Tanglewood Music Center. While there, he met Leonard Bernstein, who became a mentor. Oue won the Tanglewood...
, Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
, Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
, Georges Prêtre
Georges Prêtre
- Biography :He was born in Waziers , and attended the Douai Conservatory and then studied harmony under Maurice Duruflé and conducting under André Cluytens among others at the Conservatoire de Paris. Amongst his early musical interests were jazz and trumpet. After graduating, he conducted in a...
, Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for...
, Tugan Sokhiev
Tugan Sokhiev
Tugan Taymourazovitch Sokhiev is an Ossetian conductor.Sokhiev began piano studies at age 7. He began to conduct at age 17, inspired by Anatoly Briskin, the conductor of the North Ossetia State Philharmonic Orchestra. He subsequently attended the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and was a pupil of...
, Christian Thielemann
Christian Thielemann
-Career:Thielemann studied viola and piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and took private lessons in composition and conducting before becoming répétiteur aged 19 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Heinrich Hollreiser and working as Herbert von Karajan's assistant...
, Marcello Viotti
Marcello Viotti
Marcello Viotti was a Swiss classical music conductor, best known for opera.Viotti was born in Vallorbe, in the French-speaking region of Switzerland, to Italian parents. He studied cello, piano and singing at the Conservatory of Lausanne. Wolfgang Sawallisch was a mentor to Viotti and encouraged...
, Bruno Weil
Bruno Weil
Bruno Weil is a symphonic conductor. He is principal guest conductor of Tafelmusik, the period-instrument group based in Toronto, Music Director of the Carmel Bach Festival in California, and artistic director of the period-instrument festival "Klang und Raum" in Irsee, Bavaria...
and Franz Welser-Möst
Franz Welser-Möst
Franz Welser-Möst is an Austrian conductor who is currently the music director for the Cleveland Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera.- Biography :...
.
The Vienna orchestras regularly working with the Singverein are the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, The Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra is the orchestra of the Austrian national broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk . Founded in 1969 with the name of the ORF-Symphonieorchester , it is the only radio orchestra in the country...
as well as the Lower Austrian Tonkünstler Orchestra
Tonkünstler Orchestra
The Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna and St. Pölten, Lower Austria.-Origin of the name:The orchestra's name has its origins in the Tonkünstler-Sozietät, Wien, which was organizing concerts in the era of Haydn and Mozart...
. Among the orchestras outwith Vienna are the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin
Staatskapelle Berlin
The Staatskapelle Berlin is a German orchestra, the orchestra of the Berlin State Opera .The orchestra traces its roots to 1570, when Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg established an orchestra at his court...
, the Bavarian State Orchestra
Bavarian State Orchestra
The Bayerisches Staatsorchester is the orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera.- History :Founded in the times of Ludwig Senfl the orchestra, specializing in musica sacra, belonged to the finest ones in Europe already under Orlando di Lasso . In 1651 the Italian opera was introduced in Munich...
, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1988, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra...
Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the the oldest symphony orchestras in the world...
, the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
London, L’Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France and the Orchestre National de France
Orchestre National de France
The Orchestre national de France is a symphony orchestra run by Radio France. It has also been known as the Orchestre national de la Radiodiffusion française and Orchestre national de l'Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française .Since 1944, the orchestra has been based in the Théâtre...
, the Austrian-Hungarian Haydnphilharmonie, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Radio, the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House.
Jubilee 2008 and News
The Jubilee-Season 150 Years Vienna Singverein (2008) was celebrated by a concert tour to Moscow (Gala concert with the Missa Solemnis in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory), a ceremony and a joint concert with the Vienna SingakademieWiener Singakademie
As the first mixed choir in Vienna, the Wiener Singakademie was founded in 1858 with the idea to establish a "Singübungsanstalt" . From the beginning, its repertory has been shaped by two major interests: the fostering of the works of the traditional masters, and the inclusion of contemporary works...
in the Musikverein and in the Konzerthaus
Konzerthaus, Vienna
The Konzerthaus in Vienna was opened 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both tradition and innovative musical styles.In 1890 the first ideas for a Haus für Musikfeste came about...
singing the Berlioz Requiem. The final Jubilee Concerts took place in Amsterdam with the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest under Mariss Jansons, four performances of the Requiem op. 89 by Antonín Dvořák. Finally a Leonard-Bernstein-Concert and then a High Mass with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn in St Stephan’s Cathedral with a performance of Beethoven’s Mass in C.
The Season 2009/2010 began with a concert tour to Japan, where Haydn’s The Creation and Brahms’ Requiem were performed in the Izumi-Hall in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
. In honour of his 80th birthday, Nikolaus Harnoncourt again conducted the Singverein in a performance of Schmidt’s Book with Seven Seals. On the occasion of his 85th birthday, Pierre Boulez conducted concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Singverein; including the Song of the Night (Symphony Nr 3, op. 27) by Karol Szymanowski
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
and Symphonie de psaumes by Stravinsky as well as the Glagolitic Mass (Glagolská mse) by Janáček. Further, for the first time the Singverein was brought in by Christian Thielemann to perform the Ninth Symphony in the complete cycle of the Beethoven symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic. The Singverein also took part in the Vienna Summer Night’s Concert, which the Philharmonic gave in the park of the Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna...
and was broadcast live on Austrian Radio and TV and internationally on 3Sat, singing the Moon Chorus from Otto Nicolai’s Merry Wives of Windsor. After two performances of Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
’s Jeanne d’Arc au bucher, in Vienna and In the Linz Bruckner House – with the RSO under Bertrand de Billy, Johanna Wokalek, Peter Matic, Herbert Lippert and the Vienna Boys’ Choir – the Singverein made a guest appearance with this work in the Felsenreitschule at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
. It was de Billy’s last concert as principal conductor of the RSO, Fanny Ardant
Fanny Ardant
Fanny Marguerite Judith Ardant is a French actress. She has appeared in more than fifty motion pictures since 1976. Ardant won the César Award for Best Actress in 1997 for her performance in Pédale douce.-Early life:...
played Jeanne. Later in August, the Singverein performed Mendelssohn’s Cantata, The First Walpurgis Night (MWV D3) at the Grafenegg Music Festival
Grafenegg Music Festival
The Grafenegg Music Festival is a new major international Austrian festival for classical music close to Vienna. The annual festival takes place on the grounds of Grafenegg Castle...
.
To celebrate the centenary of the first performance Mahler’s Symphony Nr. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand), in which the Singverein took part in September 1910, the choir, along with the Philharmonic Choir Munich and the Tölzer Boys’ Choir
Tölzer Knabenchor
The Tölzer Knabenchor is a boys' choir with roots in the Bavarian town of Bad Tölz.The choir group is still led by director and singing master Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, who founded the choir in 1956 when he was only nineteen years old. The founder was once a student of Carl Orff's and worked with him...
, was invited to the Gasteig Philharmonie
Gasteig
Gasteig is a cultural center in Munich, opened in 1985, which hosts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The Richard Strauss Conservatory, the Volkshochschule, and the municipal library are all located in the Gasteig...
to give two performances under the direction of Christian Thielemann in October 2010.
In the year 2011, concerts with works by Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
, Schostakovitsch and Mahler under Ingo Metzmacher, Bruckner’s E minor Mass and choral works by Peter Planyavsky under Johannes Prinz and for the first time under Cornelius Meister and Gustavo Dudamel, works by Janáček and Mahler took place.
Recent Recordings (CD or DVD)
- Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
Symphonie Nr. 9 – Ode an die Freude (Vienna Philharmonic – Christian ThielemannChristian Thielemann-Career:Thielemann studied viola and piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and took private lessons in composition and conducting before becoming répétiteur aged 19 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Heinrich Hollreiser and working as Herbert von Karajan's assistant...
) - Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
Ein deutsches RequiemEin deutsches RequiemA German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and a soprano and a baritone soloist, composed between 1865 and 1868. It comprises seven movements, which together last 65 to 80 minutes, making this work Brahms's longest...
(Cleveland Orchestra – F. Welser-Möst) - Antonin DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
Requiem (Royal Concertgebouw OrchestraRoyal Concertgebouw OrchestraThe Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1988, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra...
– Mariss JansonsMariss JansonsMariss Ivars Georgs Jansons is a Latvian conductor, the son of conductor Arvīds Jansons. His mother, the singer Iraida Jansons, who was Jewish, gave birth to him in hiding in Riga, Latvia, after her father and brother were killed in the Riga Ghetto...
) - Gustav MahlerGustav MahlerGustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
Symphonie Nr. 2 – Auferstehung (Vienna Philharmonic – Gilbert KaplanGilbert KaplanGilbert Edmund Kaplan is an American businessman, former journalist and amateur conductor.He founded the magazine Institutional Investor in 1965. He was publisher of the magazine until 1990, and editor-in-chief for three more years, although he sold it in 1984 for $72 million...
) - Gustav Mahler Symphonie Nr. 2 – Auferstehung (Vienna Philharmonic – Pierre BoulezPierre BoulezPierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
) - Gustav Mahler Symphonie Nr. 3 (Bavarian State OrchestraBavarian State OrchestraThe Bayerisches Staatsorchester is the orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera.- History :Founded in the times of Ludwig Senfl the orchestra, specializing in musica sacra, belonged to the finest ones in Europe already under Orlando di Lasso . In 1651 the Italian opera was introduced in Munich...
– Zubin MehtaZubin MehtaZubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
) - Gustav Mahler Symphonie Nr. 3 (Vienna Philharmonic – Pierre Boulez)
- Otto Nicolai Mondchor aus Die lustigen Weiber von WindsorThe Merry Wives of Windsor (opera)The Merry Wives of Windsor is an opera in three acts by Otto Nicolai to a German libretto by Hermann Salomon Mosenthal, based on the play The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare....
(Schönbrunn PalaceSchönbrunn PalaceSchönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna...
2010, Vienna Philharmonic – F. Welser-Möst) - Robert SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
ManfredManfredManfred is a dramatic poem written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Romantic closet drama...
– Schauspielmusik (Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich – Bruno WeilBruno WeilBruno Weil is a symphonic conductor. He is principal guest conductor of Tafelmusik, the period-instrument group based in Toronto, Music Director of the Carmel Bach Festival in California, and artistic director of the period-instrument festival "Klang und Raum" in Irsee, Bavaria...
) - Franz SchmidtFranz SchmidtFranz Schmidt was an Austrian composer, cellist and pianist of Hungarian descent and origin.- Life :Schmidt was born in Pozsony , in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . His father was half Hungarian and his mother entirely Hungarian...
Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (Vienna Philharmonic – Nikolaus HarnoncourtNikolaus HarnoncourtNikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...
) - Franz Schmidt Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich – Kristjan JärviKristjan JärviKristjan Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor. Järvi is the younger son of Neeme Järvi, and the brother of conductor Paavo Järvi and flutist Maarika Järvi....
) - Karol SzymanowskiKarol SzymanowskiKarol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
Symphonie Nr. 3 – Lied der Nacht (Vienna Philharmonic – Pierre Boulez) - Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
Tristan und Isolde – Duett-Szenen (Vienna Radio Symphony OrchestraVienna Radio Symphony OrchestraThe Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra is the orchestra of the Austrian national broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk . Founded in 1969 with the name of the ORF-Symphonieorchester , it is the only radio orchestra in the country...
– Bertrand de BillyBertrand de BillyBertrand de Billy is a French conductor.He was born in Paris.After his career as an instrumental musician, de Billy began his conducting career in Paris. He later moved to Germany and built up his career as an opera conductor. He was the general music director at the Anhaltisches Theater in...
)
Literature
- August Böhm: Geschichte des Singvereines der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien. Wien 1908.
- Gottfried Möser (edit., Text: Desiree Hornek / Chronik: Rudolf Toncourt): Festschrift 125 Jahre Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien (1858–1983). Viennna 1983.
- Gottfried Möser: Der Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien; seine Geschichte mit besonderer Darstellung der Jahre 1933 bis 2000. Vienna 2003.
- Gottfried Möser: Das Chorwesen in Wien in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Thesis Vienna 2004.
- Joachim Reiber: Wiener Singverein – Menschen Stimmen Götterfunken (2007) *http://www.residenzverlag.at/?m=30&o=2&id_program=24&id_title=1073