Page 15 - BBC Music (January 2020)

The full score
City great: the Musikverein c1870; (right) its director Brahms, 1872
as the Musikverein. Founded in 1812,
originally for amateurs, the society
became Vienna’s most influential
musical organisation, associated with
major composers including Beethoven,
Schubert and Mendelssohn. As well as
putting on concerts, the Musikverein
founded a conservatory and set up
historical archives. In 1851 the society’s
orchestral branch turned professional
and in 1858 the Singverein was founded
for exceptional amateur choral singers.
As the Gesellscha! grew in stature,
demands for a bigger concert hall grew.
Those demands were met from
1858 when, following an Imperial
decree in 1857, Vienna’s old city walls
were demolished. The elegant new
Ringstrasse was built and land was
freed up for a concert hall, funded by a
mix of private philanthropy and state
support. The Danish architect Theophil
Hansen won the design competition,
his Classical vision for the Musikverein
drawing on his time working in Greece.
The Grosser Saal boasts 58 caryatids
(female statues), modelled on those
of the Erectheion on the Acropolis
in Athens, and the ceiling frescoes
depict Apollo and the Muses. There
is a lot of gold: seemingly every statue
and decoration is gilded – but it also
sounds good. It’s been suggested
that sound bouncing o" the many
irregular surfaces, combined with the
hall’s classic shoebox shape, create the
Musikverein’s glorious, warm acoustic.
Not long a!er the main hall opened,
so too did the 600-seat Kleiner
Musikvereinssal, renamed the Brahms-
Saal in 1937 a!er the composer, who
became director of the Gesellscha!
in 1872. That November Brahms
directed a concert that introduced the
Musikverein’s new organ, followed
five days later by the venue’s first
organ recital, including improvisations
by Bruckner.
Over the ensuing decades, with the
Vienna Philharmonic resident at the
new hall, the Musikverein witnessed
countless premieres, including
One critic felt that the hall’s
architecture embodied
Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony
Brahms’s Second (1877) and Third
(1883) symphonies, and Bruckner’s
Third (1877), although only 25 listeners
were le! in the auditorium by the time
Bruckner’s epic work had ended. In
1912, Mahler’s Ninth, which incidentally
quotes Strauss’s Freuet Euch des Lebens,
was given a posthumous premiere.
Fast forward to 31 December 1939, and
waltzes and polkas by Johann Strauss II
took centre stage in a New Year’s Concert
conducted by Clemens Krauss, the first
of what is today a much-loved annual
event, watched on TV by millions. But
by then war had broken out, and this
was no mere display of lightness and
jollity – it was, in fact, a fundraiser
for the Nazis’ Winter War Relief. The
Musikverein and Vienna Philharmonic
had entered a dark period.
Steel span:
the Brooklyn
Bridge in 1870
Also in January 1870
2nd: Building work begins on the Brooklyn
Bridge over the East River, connecting
the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and
Manhattan. The brainchild of John Augustus
Roebling, its design incorporates roadways,
railtracks and elevated promenades.
Completed 14 years later, it is the world’s first
ever steel-wire suspension bridge.
22nd: The Field newspaper announces that
on 19 February ‘A match between the leading
representatives of the Scotch and English
sections will be played at The Oval under
the auspices of the [Football] Association’.
The first ever international football match,
the game doesn’t in fact take place until 5
March, when it finishes in a 1-1 draw.
25th: The annual Concordia Ball at Vienna’s
Sofienbad-Saal sees premieres of works
by three brothers from the Strauss family:
Johann’s Von der Börse polka, Josef’s
Nilfluten waltz and Eduard’s Stempelfrei
polka. The Der Wanderer newspaper reports
the next day that all three works ‘were
honoured with great applause and will
definitely be presented often and gladly in
the rich repertoire of Strauss dance music’.
26th: The Italian composer, pianist and
violinist Cesare Pugni dies in St Petersburg,
aged 67. Though he did compose a number
of operas and symphonies, he is best known
for his ballets including include Ondine
(1843), La Esmaralda (1844) and Konyok
gorbunyok (1864).
26th: Lord Clarendon, the British Foreign
Secretary, receives a letter from his French
counterpart, Count Daru, recommending he
negotiates a mutual disarmament between
France and Prussia. Daru’s request stems
from his country’s concern at Prussia’s desire
for German unification – something that
would impact on its own borders.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 17