Das Gewandhaus und der Mendebrunnen in Leipzig bei Nacht

Gewandhaus is a

concert hall 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 ...

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 ...

, the home of the

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...

. 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 first concert hall was constructed in 1781 by architect

Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe (26 September 1746 – 13 July 1816) was a German architect and etcher who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. Dauthe was born in Leipzig and educated by Adam Friedrich Oeser. In his hometown, where he had been ...

inside the ''Gewandhaus'', a building used by cloth (garment) merchants. Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 (The

Emperor Concerto The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, known as the Emperor Concerto in English-speaking countries, is a concerto composed by Ludwig van Beethoven for piano and orchestra. Beethoven composed the concerto in 1809 under salary in Vienna, ...

) premiered here in 1811.

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

is particularly associated with the first Gewandhaus, of which he was director from 1835. Other well-known works which premiered at the Altes Gewandhaus include: *

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

Great Symphony The Symphony No. 9 in C major, 944, known as the ''Great'' (first published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1849 as "Symphonie / C Dur / für großes Orchester", listed as Symphony No. 8 in the ''New Schubert Edition''), is the final symphony com ...

(21 March 1839, posth.) *

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

Spring Symphony The Spring Symphony is a choral symphony by Benjamin Britten, his Opus 44. It is dedicated to Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was premiered in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, on Thursday 14 July 1949 (not 9 July which is ...

(31 March 1841) * Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony (3 March 1842) *

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, is his last concerto. Well received at its premiere, it has remained among the most prominent and highly-regarded violin concertos. It holds a central place in the violin repertoire and ha ...

(13 March 1845) *

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 ...

's overture to ''

The Mastersingers of Nuremberg ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

'' (2 June 1862; the full opera was not performed until 1868) *

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

' '' A German Requiem'' (first full performance, 18 February 1869) * Brahms Violin Concerto (1 January 1879) The Altes Gewandhaus was used for concerts until 1884, sporadically between then until 1886. Despite several expansions, it eventually became too small to accommodate the burgeoning number of concertgoers from Germany's newly emergent middle class. Thus between 1893 and 1896 it was repurposed, partially demolished, and refitted to form an annexe of the

Städtisches Kaufhaus The Städtisches Kaufhaus in Leipzig, designed by Rayher, Korber and Müller, was constructed from 1894 to 1901. Site history prior to Städtisches Kaufhaus This piece of land and architectural monument reflects 500 years of Leipzig's inner ci ...

The second Gewandhaus

The second Gewandhaus was designed by

Martin Gropius Martin Carl Philipp Gropius (11 August 1824, Berlin – 13 December 1880) was a German architect.Wirth, Irmgard (1966).Gropius, Martin Carl Philipp. In: ''Neue Deutsche Biographie''. Band 7. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. . p. 132-133 retriev ...

. It opened on 11 December 1884, and had a main concert hall and a chamber music hall. During this era the Gewandhaus was directed by some of the most renowned conductors of the day, such as

Arthur Nikisch Arthur Nikisch (12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London, Leipzig and—most importantly—Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter of the music of Br ...

Wilhelm Furtwängler Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...

and

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the Un ...

. It was severely damaged in the firebombing of Leipzig in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

during two separate raids on 4 December 1943 and 20 February 1944. Despite initial plans for rebuilding, the

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

government deemed the ruins too structurally unsound, and they were demolished on 29 March 1968. The site was used as a carpark for several decades, until the Humanities faculty of

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

was opened on the grounds in 2002.

The third Gewandhaus

The third and current Gewandhaus on

Augustusplatz The Augustusplatz is a square located at the east end of the city centre of Leipzig, borough Leipzig-Mitte. It is the city's largest square and one of the largest (and, prior to almost all its buildings being destroyed in bombing in the Second Wor ...

and the eastern part of the inner city ring road opened on 8 October 1981, two hundred years after the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra moved into the original hall. The foundation stone was laid by conductor

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Or ...

on 8 November 1977. The architect was

Rudolf Skoda Felix Rudolf Skoda (26 September 1931 – 2 April 2015) was a German architect and academic teacher. He was chief architect for the Neue Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Life Born in Leipzig, Skoda was the son of the painter and graphic artist Felix S ...

, who like his predecessor Dauthe was also a native of Leipzig. The design of the hall carefully took into consideration its precedents' reputation for excellent

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 ...

. During construction, the hall was even filled up several times with soldiers of the East German

Nationale Volksarmee The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the ...

to test its sound quality at full capacity. During the

Autumn of Nations The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

in 1989, the Gewandhaus became a platform for political dissent against the Communist authorities, as Masur opened up the hall for public discussion on the future and reform of the GDR (the so-called "Gewandhaus Talks"). Today's Gewandhaus has a seating capacity of 1900, and features a Schuke concert organ with 6,845 pipes.

Gallery

File:Leipzig Gewandhaus 1781.jpg, First Gewandhaus (1781). Watercolour by

, with some lines from the opera ''

Ali Baba "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who hear ...

'' by

Luigi Cherubini Luigi Cherubini ( ; ; 8 or 14 SeptemberWillis, in Sadie (Ed.), p. 833 1760 – 15 March 1842) was an Italian Classical and Romantic composer. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the gre ...

, presented to

Henriette Grabau-Bünau Eleonore ''Henriette'' Magdalena Grabau-Bünau, also Henriette Grabau or Henriette Bünau, (29 March 1805 – 28 November 1852) was a German operatic alto and mezzo-soprano. For twelve years she was the main singer at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and fr ...

, principal singer of the Gewandhaus, to mark Mendelssohn's inaugural concert there on 4 October 1835. File:Neues Gewandhaus 1884.jpg, Bond for the funding of the second Gewandhaus in Leipzig, issued 1 July 1884 by

Giesecke+Devrient Giesecke may refer to: People: * Heinz-Eberhard Giesecke (1913–1991), German historian *Karl Ludwig Giesecke FRSE (1761–1833), German actor, librettist, polar explorer and mineralogist * Markus Giesecke (born 1979), German futsal player from Re ...

.Manfred Dennecke: Deutsche Wirtschafts- und Finanzgeschichte, pp 148; File:Leipzig Konzerthaus ca 1910.jpg, Second Gewandhaus (c. 1910), built to replace the first, which was renovated and repurposed. Severely damaged in two separate air raids on 4 December 1943 and 20 February 1944 during the

bombing of Leipzig in World War II During World War II, Leipzig was repeatedly attacked by British as well as American air raids. The most severe attack was launched by the Royal Air Force in the early hours of 4 December 1943 and claimed more than 1,800 lives. Large parts of the ...

. Ruins demolished in 1968. File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S1108-028, Leipzig, Gewandhaus, Grundsteinlegung.jpg,

lays the foundation stone of the current Gewandhaus, 8 November 1977. Behind him is East German Minister for Culture Hans-Joachim Hoffmann.

References

Sources

Leo Beranek Leo Leroy Beranek (September 15, 1914 – October 10, 2016) was an American acoustics expert, former MIT professor, and a founder and former president of Bolt, Beranek and Newman (now BBN Technologies). He authored ''Acoustics'', considered a cl ...

, ''Concert Halls and Opera Houses: Musics, Acoustics, and Architecture'', Springer, 2004, page 280. .

External links

History of the Gewandhaus
from the official site {{Authority control Concert halls in Germany Buildings and structures in Leipzig Buildings and structures completed in 1981 Tourist attractions in Leipzig 1981 establishments in East Germany Music venues completed in 1781 Music venues completed in 1884 Music venues completed in 1981