The Vienna Philharmonic (in German: die Wiener Philharmoniker [pl ]) is an orchestra in Austria, regularly considered one of the finest in the world. [1] [2] [3] Its home base is the Musikverein. The members of the orchestra are chosen from the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. This process is a long one, with each musician having to prove his or her capability for a minimum of three years' playing for the Opera and Ballet. Once this is achieved the musician can then ask the Board of the Wiener Philharmoniker to consider an application for a position in the Vienna Philharmonic.

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History

The orchestra can trace its origins to 1842, when Otto Nicolai formed the Philharmonische Academie ; which was a fully independent orchestra and which took all its decisions by a democratic vote of all its members. These are principles the orchestra still holds today.

With Nicolai's departure in 1847, the orchestra nearly folded, and was not very active until 1860, when Karl Anton Eckert joined as conductor. He gave a series of four subscription concerts, and since then, the orchestra has given concerts continuously.

From 1875 to 1898 Hans Richter was principal conductor, except for the season 1882-1883 when he was in dispute with the orchestral committee. During Richter's tenure, the orchestra gave the premieres of the Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 3 of Johannes Brahms, and Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 .

Gustav Mahler held the post from 1898 to 1901, and under his baton the orchestra played abroad for the first time at the 1900 Paris World Exposition. Subsequent conductors were Felix Weingartner, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Clemens Krauss. thumb (1926) Since 1933, the orchestra has had no single principal conductor, but instead has a number of guest conductors. These have included a great many of the world's best known conductors, including Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Hans Knappertsbusch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Karl Böhm, John Barbirolli, Herbert von Karajan, Carlo Maria Giulini, Georg Solti, Erich Kleiber, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Carlos Kleiber, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Daniel Barenboim and Valery Gergiev. Three conductors however were particularly associated with the post-war era: Karajan and Böhm, who were made honorary conductors, and Bernstein, who was made an honorary member of the orchestra.

Each New Year's Day since January 1, 1941, the VPO has sponsored the Vienna New Year's Concerts, dedicated to the music of the Strauss family composers, and particularly that of Johann Strauss II.

Popularity

The Vienna Philharmonic was named as Europe's finest in a recent survey by seven leading trade publications, two radio stations and a daily newspaper. ^[4] Subscription ticket demand for the Vienna Philharmonic at their home, Musikverein, is currently listed on the orchestra's website as being on a waiting list. The waiting list for weekday concert subscriptions is six years and thirteen years for weekend subscriptions ^[5]. Casual tickets however, are available in small numbers and can be bought via links from the VPO website, to various ticket resellers. It is also possible to book package deals which include transport, hotel accommodation and meals and tickets to concerts.

The orchestra is so popular and famous, that it has been the motive of one of the world's most famous bullion coins: the Vienna Philharmonic coin. The coin is struck in pure gold, 999.9 fine (24 carats). It is issued every year, in four different face values, sizes and weights. It is used as an investment product, although it finishes almost always in the hands of collectors. According to the World Gold Council, this coin was the best selling gold coin in 1992, 1995 and 1996 world wide.

In 2006 Austrian Airlines was outfitted with a livery featuring the gold coin and logo of the Wiener Philharmoniker. ^[6] The long-range Airbus A340-300 aircraft was flown primarily between Vienna and Tokyo for approximately one year serving as promotional tool for the orchestra and the Philharmoniker, 24 karat gold coin issued by the Austrian Mint. ^[7]

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:

• The VPO uses the German-system clarinet. By comparison, the Boehm-system clarinet is favored in non-German speaking countries.
• Likewise, while the Heckel (German) bassoon is now the norm for most orchestras around the world, in the VPO the Heckel bassoon is played almost completely without vibrato.
• The rotary-valve trumpet is used, but this is also popular in other German and Austrian orchestras.
• Like its counterparts elsewhere in Austria, Germany and Russia, the VPO favors the F bass and BB-flat contrabass rotary-valve tuba, whereas the CC piston-valve tuba is preferred in most American and some British orchestras.
• The trombone has a somewhat smaller bore, but this is also true of the trombone used in many German orchestras.
• The timpani use natural goat hide instead of synthetic hide.
• The double-bass retains the traditional theater-placement in a row behind the brass. The VPO uses 4- as well as 5-string double basses, with the bow always being held underhand.
• The Viennese oboe is, along with the Vienna horn (see below), perhaps the most distinctive member of the VPO instrumentarium. It has a special bore, reed and fingering-system and is very different from the otherwise internationally used Conservatoire (French) oboe.
• The Vienna horn in F uses a Pumpenventil , roughly similar to a piston valve. Unlike the rotary valves used on most other orchestral horns, the Pumpenventil contributes to the liquid legato that is one of the trademarks of the Viennese school. The bore of the Vienna horn is also smaller than more modern horns--actually very close to that of the valveless natural horn. The Vienna horn has remained virtually unchanged since the mid-nineteenth century--as a result it is arguably well-suited to the Classical and Romantic repertoire at the core of the VPO's programming.
• The string section is unique in that the instruments belong to the orchestra, unlike other orchestras in which each string player uses their own instrument. Although not of a particular pedigree, the Vienna strings have been carefully chosen over the centuries and they are largely responsible for the orchestra's well-loved string sound. They are meticulously cared for and, in case one is worn beyond repair, the process of finding a replacement instrument is equally painstaking. The Oesterreichische Nationalbank currently loans four violins made by Antonio Stradivari to the VPO.

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 at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien.

Sexism and racism controversy

Although the orchestra is widely acknowledged as one of the world's finest, in the 1990s it came in for some criticism by feminist groups 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. Lelkes' retirement, another woman harpist Charlotte Balzereit eventually replaced her as the orchestra's only woman member. ^[8] Meanwhile the orchestra claims to have several female members.

In addition, no woman had conducted the orchestra before the Australian conductor Simone Young did in January 2005.

The conservative attitude of the orchestra was expressed by Professor Paul Fürst in the 1987 documentary A Woman Is a Risky Bet: Six Orchestra Conductors directed by Christina Olofson:

In addition there were claims that the orchestra in the past had not accepted members who were visibly members of ethnic minorities. In 2001 a violinist who was half-Asian became a member. ^[10]

Some people associated with the organisation have been criticised for saying that it is important to maintain the ethnic uniformity of the orchestra (i.e., white Europeans) in order to maintain high playing standards.

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

The first flautist in the Vienna Philharmonic said in a radio interview broadcast in 1996:

In 2003, an orchestra member said in a magazine interview:

Conductors

Subscription Conductors (1842-1933)

The Vienna Philharmonic has never had principal conductors. Each year they chose an artist to conduct all concerts of the respective season at Vienna's Musikverein. These conductors were called Abonnementdirigenten (subscription conductors ) as they were to conduct all the concerts included in the Philharmonic's subscription at the Musikverein. Some of these annual hirings were renewed for many years, others lasted only for a few years. At the same time the Vienna Philharmonic also worked with other conductors, e. g. at the Salzburg Festival, for recordings or special occasions. With the widening of the Philharmonic's activities the orchestra decided to abandon this system in 1933. From then on there were only guest conductors hired for each concert, both in Vienna and elsewhere.

Otto Nicolai (1842-1848) Karl Anton Eckert (1854-1857) Felix Dessoff (1860-1875) Hans Richter (1875-1882) Wilhelm Jahn (1882-1883) Hans Richter (1883-1898)

Gustav Mahler (1898-1901) Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr. (1901-1903) Felix Weingartner (1908-1927) Wilhelm Furtwängler (1927-1930) Clemens Krauss (1929-1933)

Guest Conductors (since 1933)

Selection of recordings

• Beethoven, Complete Piano Concertos (this cycle was recorded with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alfred Brendel, Maurizio Pollini and Krystian Zimerman.
• Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 conducted by Felix Weingartner, also conducted by Erich Kleiber
• Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 7 conducted by Carlos Kleiber
• Beethoven, Complete Symphonies conducted by Karl Böhm; this cycle was also recorded with Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle
• Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, also conducted by Valery Gergiev
• Borodin, Symphony No. 2 conducted by Rafael Kubelík
• Brahms, Symphony No. 2 conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler
• Brahms, Symphony No. 4 conducted by Carlos Kleiber
• Brahms, Complete Symphonies conducted by Leonard Bernstein; this cycle was also recorded with Carlo Maria Giulini and Karl Böhm
• Brahms, Complete Concertos, with Krystian Zimerman, piano, Gidon Kremer, violin and Mischa Maisky, cello, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. The Orchestra has also recorded the Brahms piano concertos with Maurizio Pollini, with Karl Böhm conducting in No. 1 and Claudio Abbado conducting in no. 2
• Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 conducted by Karl Böhm
• Bruckner, Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 and 9 conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini
• Dvorák, Symphonies nos. 7, 8 and 9, conducted by Lorin Maazel, recordings of nos. 8 & 9 were also made under Herbert von Karajan and Seiji Ozawa. The Orchestra has also recorded Nos. 7 & 9 with Rafael Kubelik
• Elgar, Enigma Variations conducted by Sir Georg Solti, also conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner
• Holst, The Planets, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
• Khachaturian, excerpts from Spartacus and Gayaneh conducted by Aram Khachaturian
• Mahler, The Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde ) with Kathleen Ferrier (contralto), conducted by Bruno Walter, also conducted by Leonard Bernstein with James King and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
• Mahler, Complete Symphonies (1-9 plus the Adagio of Symphony No. 10) conducted by Lorin Maazel
• Mahler, Symphony No. 2 conducted by Pierre Boulez
• Mahler, Symphony No. 3 conducted by Pierre Boulez
• Mahler, Symphony No. 5 conducted by Pierre Boulez, also recorded with Leonard Bernstein
• Mahler, Symphony No. 6 conducted by Pierre Boulez
• Mendelssohn: Symphonies and Overtures conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi
• Mozart, Symphonies Nos. 38, 39, 40, 41 conducted by Karl Böhm, also recorded with Leonard Bernstein & James Levine
• Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro conducted by Erich Kleiber
• Mozart, Don Giovanni conducted by Josef Krips
• Mozart, ''Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Sir Georg Solti; the orchestra has also recorded the opera under Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan and James Levine
• Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition, conducted by Valery Gergiev
• Orff: Carmina Burana, conducted by Andre Previn
• Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf, with Hermione Gingold, conducted by Karl Böhm
• Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade, conducted by Seiji Ozawa, also conducted by Andre Previn
• Schubert, Symphony No. 8 conducted by Carl Schuricht
• Schubert, Symphony No. 9 conducted by Josef Krips, also conducted by Sir Georg Solti
• Schubert, Complete Symphonies conducted by István Kertész
• Schumann: Complete Symphonies, Cello & Piano Concertos conducted by Leonard Bernstein with Mischa Maisky & Justus Frantz
• Sibelius: Symphonies nos. 1, 2, 5 and 7, conducted by Leonard Bernstein
• Smetana: Má vlast conducted by James Levine, also conducted by Rafael Kubelik
• Johann Strauss II and Strauss family, works recorded at the traditional New Year's Day concert conducted by Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Riccardo Muti etc. (See also: The New Year Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra)
• Stravinsky: The Firebird, conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi
• Tchaikovsky: Ballet Suites conducted by James Levine, also recorded with Herbert von Karajan
• Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 4-6 conducted by Valery Gergiev, also recorded with Herbert von Karajan
• Wagner, The Valkyrie , first act, conducted by Bruno Walter
• Wagner, The Valkyrie (complete), conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler
• Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen , conducted by Georg Solti, voted by Gramophone Magazine as the century's finest classical record.

Besides traditional recordings, the orchestra has also recorded samples for the Vienna Symphonic Library.

References

1. http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/language/en-us/dasprogramm/dienste/presse/pressemitteilungdetails
2. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97291390
3. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article5201584.ece
4. Vienna Philharmonic Named Europe's Finest Orchestra
5. As at 9th December 2008
6. The Wiener Philharmoniker-Airbus (High Resolution image)
7. Der "Wiener Philharmoniker-Airbus" ist startklar
8. Ursula Plaichinger Takes Leave of Absence
9. Analysing performance , page 248-249
10. Why Did the Vienna Philharmonic Fire Yasuto Sugiyama?
11. The Image of Purity
12. Vienna Philharmonic Flyer