Concertgebouw
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The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb
acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
place it among the finest concert halls in the world, along with Boston's Symphony Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna. In celebration of the building's 125th anniversary,
Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...
bestowed the royal title "
Koninklijk or (, Dutch for 'royal') is an honorary title given to certain companies and non-profit organisations in the Netherlands and to a lesser extent Belgium, by the monarchs of each country. It was first introduced by Louis Bonaparte in 1807, then Ki ...
" upon the building on 11 April 2013, as she had on the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the " ...
upon its 100th in 1988.


History

The architect of the building was , who was inspired by the
Gewandhaus Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. History The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'') The f ...
in
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, built two years earlier (and destroyed in 1943). Construction began in 1883 in a pasture that was then outside the city, in Nieuwer-Amstel, a municipality that in 1964 became
Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages ...
. A total of 2,186 wooden piles, twelve to thirteen metres (40 to 43 ft) long, were emplaced in the soil. The Concertgebouw was completed in late 1886, however due to the difficulties with the municipality of Nieuwer-Amstel – filling in a small canal, paving the access roads and installing street lights – the grand opening of the building was delayed. The hall opened on 11 April 1888 with an inaugural concert, in which an orchestra of 120 musicians and a chorus of 500 singers participated, performing works of
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
,
Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...
,
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
, and
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
. The resident orchestra of the Concertgebouw is the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the " ...
(''Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest''), which gave its first concert in the hall on 3 November 1888, as the Concertgebouw Orchestra (''Concertgebouworkest''). For many decades from the 1950s to the present day the
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra (NedPhO; nl, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest) is a Dutch symphony orchestra based in Amsterdam. History The NedPhO was formed in 1985 from the merger of three orchestras: the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestr ...
(previously the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra) as well as the
Radio Filharmonisch Orkest The Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (''Radio Philharmonic Orchestra''; Dutch abbreviation RFO) is a Dutch radio orchestra, based in Hilversum. The RFO performs under the aegis of the ''Muziekcentrum van de Omroep'' (Broadcasting Music Centre; NMBC), an ...
also provide their regular concert series in the Concertgebouw. On 17 September 1969, British progressive
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
performed their ''
The Man and The Journey ''The Man and The Journey'' is a suite of music performed in concert by Pink Floyd during their 1969 tour. It consisted of several of their early songs, some unreleased songs, and material later included on ''More'' and '' Ummagumma''. The concert ...
'' show at Concertgebouw.Archived a
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and th
Wayback Machine
The show's climax was a rendition of " Celestial Voices" (renamed "The End of the Beginning") in which keyboardist
Rick Wright Richard William Wright (28 July 1943 – 15 September 2008) was an English musician who was a co-founder of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He played keyboards and sang, appearing on almost every Pink Floyd album and performing on a ...
played the hall's organ in place of his
Farfisa Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professiona ...
. The performance was released on CD as part of the band's 2016 box set, ''
The Early Years 1965–1972 ''The Early Years 1965–1972'' is a box set that details the early work of the English rock band Pink Floyd released on 11 November 2016. It was released by Pink Floyd Records with distribution held by Warner Music for the UK and Europe and So ...
'' in ''Volume 3: 1969 Dramatis/ation''. Today, some nine hundred concerts and other events per year take place in the Concertgebouw, for a public of over 700,000, making it one of the most-visited concert halls in the world. , the managing director of the Concertgebouw is Simon Reinink and the artistic director is Anneke Hogenstijn.


Building

The Main Hall (''Grote Zaal'') seats 1,974, and is 44 metres (144 ft) long, 28 metres (92 ft) wide, and 17 metres (56 ft) high. Its
reverberation time Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...
is 2.8 seconds without audience, 2.2 seconds with, making it ideal for the late Romantic repertoire such as
Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
. Although this characteristic makes it largely unsuited for amplified music, groups such as
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
,
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
and
The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
did perform there in the 1960s. In the Main Hall, there is a layer of dust in several places as removing this layer would impact the acoustics as they are now. A smaller, oval-shaped venue, the Recital Hall (''Kleine Zaal''), is located behind the Main Hall. The Recital Hall is 20 metres (66 ft) long and 15 metres (50 ft) wide. Its more intimate space is well-suited for
chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
and
Lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
er. The Recital Hall has 437 seats. In 1983, the Concertgebouw was found to be sinking into the damp Amsterdam earth, with several inch-wide cracks appearing in the walls, so the hall embarked on extensive fundraising for renovations. Its difficult emergency restoration started in 1985, during which the 2,186 rotting wooden pilings were replaced with concrete pillars. Dutch architect
Pi de Bruijn Pi de Bruijn (born 28 August 1942) is a Dutch architect from Losser, Overijssel, the Netherlands . He is a design principal at the Office de Architecten Cie., located in Amsterdam. History Bruijn graduated from the Delft University of Technology ...
designed a modern annex for a new entrance and a basement to replace cramped dressing and rehearsal space. Jacob Olie - Concertgebouw Amsterdam 10 november 1902.jpeg, Concertgebouw in 1902, by
Jacob Olie Jacob Olie (1834 – 1905) was a photographer from Amsterdam known for his scenes of everyday life there. Olie was born in Amsterdam and was trained as a carpenter and draughtsman.Jacob Olie (Jbz) in the RKD He became a teacher at the local sch ...
Exterieur VOORGEVEL, LINKER ZIJGEVEL - Amsterdam - 20288737 - RCE.jpg, East side before its restoration in 1985 Exterieur NIEUWE AANBOUW, OVERZICHT - Amsterdam - 20260226 - RCE.jpg, East side with the new entrance


Organ

The organ was built in 1890 by the organ builder Michael Maarschalkerweerd from
Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
, and was renovated in the years 1990 to 1993 by the organ builder
Flentrop Flentrop is a Dutch company based in Zaandam that builds and restores organs. History It was established in 1903 by Hendrik Wicher Flentrop (1866 -1950) from Koog aan de Zaan. Hendrik, originally a house painter by trade, was an organist at the ...
. It has 60 registers on three divisions and
pedal A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to: Computers and other equipment * Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse * In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control p ...
. * Couplers: II/I (also as Suboktavkoppel), III/I, III/II, I/P, II/P, III/P


Names of composers in the Main Hall

In the Main Hall, the surnames of the following 46 composers are displayed on the balcony ledges and on the walls:


In popular culture

The Concertgebouw is mentioned, along with
Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
, the
Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...
, and the Rainbow Theatre, in the song "
Rock Show Rock Show may refer to: * "Venus and Mars/Rock Show", a 1975 song by Paul McCartney & Wings * ''Rockshow'', a 1980 concert film by Paul McCartney & Wings * "Rock Show", a song by Run–D.M.C. from their 2001 album, ''Crown Royal'' * "The Rock Show ...
" from the 1975
Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
album '' Venus and Mars''. Belgian singer mentions the Concertgebouw in his song .
Erroll Garner Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad "Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first rec ...
recorded the live album ''The Amsterdam Concert'' in the venue in November 1964.


See also

*
History of Amsterdam Amsterdam has a long and eventful history. The origins of the city lie in the 12th century, when fishermen living along the banks of the River Amstel built a bridge across the waterway near the IJ, which at the time was a large saltwater inl ...
*
List of concert halls A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that may ...
*
List of tourist attractions in Amsterdam Amsterdam, one of Europe's capitals, has many attractions for visitors. The city's most famous sight is the 17th-century canals of Amsterdam (in nl, grachtengordel), located in the heart of Amsterdam, have been added to the UNESCO World Heritag ...


References


External links

* *
Archive of the Concertgebouw
at the Amsterdam City Archives * {{Authority control 1888 establishments in the Netherlands Amsterdam-Zuid Concert halls in Amsterdam Music venues completed in 1888 Rijksmonuments in Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra