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Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

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The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (in German: Wiener Philharmoniker) is the principal orchestra in Austria and one of the finest in the world.

Its home base is the world-famous Musikverein. The members of the orchestra are chosen from the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.

Contents

History

The orchestra can trace its origins back to 1842, when Otto Nicolai formed what he called a "Philharmonic Academy"; it was an orchestra which was fully independent, and which took all its decisions by a democratic vote of all its members. These are principles the orchestra still holds today.

When Nicolai left Vienna in 1847, the orchestra almost folded, and it was not very active until 1860, when Carl Eckert joined as conductor. He gave a series of four subscription concerts, and since then, the orchestra has given concerts continuously.

The orchestra has attracted some very famous and acclaimed conductors.

From 1875 to 1882 Hans Richter was principal conductor, and the orchestra gave the premieres of Brahms' second and third symphonies.

Mahler held the post from 1898 to 1901, and under him the orchestra played abroad for the first time (in Paris). Subsequent conductors were Felix von Weingartner (1908–27), Wilhelm Furtwängler (1927–30) and Clemens Krauss (1930–33).

Since 1933, the orchestra has had no one principal conductor, but instead has a number of guest conductors. These have included almost a great number of the world's best known conductors, including Richard Strauss, Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, Georg Solti, Erich Kleiber, Carlos Kleiber, Leonard Bernstein, and Claudio Abbado.

Since New Year's Day 1941, the orchestra has given a concert dedicated to the music of the Strauss family, and especially Johann Strauss II: the Vienna New Year's Concert.

Sound and Instruments

The characteristic sound of the Vienna Philharmonic can be attributed in part to the use of instruments and playing-styles that are fundamentally different from those used by other major orchestras: These instruments and their characteristic tone-colors have been the subject of extensive scientific studies by the Associate Professor Magister Gregor Widholm of the Institute for Viennese Tone-Culture of the Academy for Music and Performing Arts.

Sexism and Racism Controversy

Although the orchestra is widely acknowledged as one of the world's finest, it has come in for some criticism because until 1997 it did not allow women to become full members of the orchestra (although some women performed with the orchestra, they were not full members). In 1997 the first woman, harpist Anna Lelkes, became a member after performing with the orchestra as a "non-member" for over twenty years: after Ms. Lekles' retirement Charlotte Balzereit, another woman harpist, eventually replaced her as the orchestra's only woman member [link]. Also, no woman has ever conducted the orchestra; however it was announced in November 2005 that Australian conductor Simone Young would be the first.

In addition the orchestra has historically not accepted members who are visibly members of ethnic minorities. In 2001 a violinist who was half-Asian became a member [link].

Some people associated with the organisation have been criticised for saying that it is important to maintain the ethnic uniformity of the orchestra (that is, white Europeans) in order to maintain high playing standards. The Jewish violinist Fritz Kreisler was turned down when he applied for a chair in the string section, and though Gustav Mahler converted from Judaism to Catholicism the year before he was appointed conductor, he only held the post for four seasons.

In 1970 Otto Strasser, the former chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic, wrote in his memoirs:

"I hold it for incorrect that today the applicants play behind a screen; an arrangement that was brought in after the Second World War in order to assure objective judgments. I continuously fought against it, especially after I became Chairman of the Philharmonic, because I am convinced that to the artist also belongs the person, that one must not only hear, but also see, in order to judge him in his entire personality. [...] Even a grotesque situation that played itself out after my retirement was not able to change the situation. An applicant qualified himself as the best, and as the screen was raised, there stood a Japanese before the stunned jury. He was, however, not engaged, because his face did not fit with the ‘Pizzicato-Polka’ of the New Year’s Concert." [link]
The first flautist in the Vienna Philharmonic said in a radio interview broadcast in 1996:
"From the beginning we have spoken of the special Viennese qualities, of the way music is made here. The way we make music here is not only a technical ability, but also something that has a lot to do with the soul. The soul does not let itself be separated from the cultural roots that we have here in central Europe. And it also doesn't allow itself to be separated from gender. So if one thinks that the world should function by quota regulations, then it is naturally irritating that we are a group of white skinned male musicians, that perform exclusively the music of white skinned male composers. It is a racist and sexist irritation. I believe one must put it that way. If one establishes superficial egalitarianism, one will lose something very significant. Therefore, I am convinced that it is worthwhile to accept this racist and sexist irritation, because something produced by a superficial understanding of human rights would not have the same standards." [link]
In 2003, an orchestra member said in a magazine interview:
“Three women are already too many. By the time we have twenty percent, the orchestra will be ruined. We have made a big mistaken [sic], and will bitterly regret it.”[link]
The orchestra has refused to use completely blind auditions, where musicians are judged from behind a screen so that their quality can be judged objectively without regard to sexist and racist prejudices. Most other major orchestras use blind auditions. [link]

Since the late 1990s there have been significant protests against the exclusionary mentality of the orchestra by both individuals and the International Alliance for Women in Music. [link]

Conductors

Principal Conductors

Guest Conductors

Selection of recordings

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
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