HR Sendesaal, formerly Großer Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks (English: Large broadcasting hall of the Hessischer Rundfunk) is a music hall and former television studio based in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Germany. The hall is part of the

Broadcasting House Dornbusch Broadcasting House Dornbusch ("''Funkhaus am Dornbusch''") is headquarters and main broadcasting facility of the German public broadcaster for the state of Hessen, Hessischer Rundfunk. History The site and the building were originally intended ...

, the former headquarters of the German public broadcaster

Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting, public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ...

(HR).

History

Construction of the music hall began when the

foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over time ...

was laid on 28 February 1953, and was ready for use on 30 September 1954. The building was designed by the architect Gerhard Weber. The hall has 840 seats and was built to house the broadcaster's own radio orchestra,

Frankfurt Radio Symphony The Frankfurt Radio Symphony (german: hr-Sinfonieorchester) is the radio orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, the public broadcasting network of the German state of Hesse. From 1929 to 1950 it was named ''Frankfurter Rundfunk-Symphonie-Orchester''. F ...

and was the workplace of the orchestra until 1987–1988, when the hall was completely rebuilt and changed its name to HR Sendesaal. The version of ''

Mixtur ''Mixtur'', for orchestra, 4 sine-wave generators, and 4 ring modulators, is an orchestral composition by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, written in 1964, and is Nr. 16 in his catalogue of works. It exists in three versions: the ...

'' for reduced orchestra was premiered here, as part of the

Darmstädter Ferienkurse Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Cou ...

on 23 August 1967 by the Ensemble Hudba Dneska conducted by

Ladislav Kupkovič Ladislav Kupkovič (17 March 1936 – 15 June 2016) was a Slovak composer and conductor . Life Kupkovič was born in Bratislava, and studied violin and conducting there, first at the conservatory, then at the Academy of Performing Arts. He ...

, to whom this version is dedicated. Although the hall was mainly built for radio, television broadcasts were also produced from there in the early years. In 1957, it played host to the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. The hall was also used for lectures and debates. In 1968, a debate was held on the German ( Emergency Acts), which were introduced the same year. The concert hall was built with technically modern equipment and is tailored for radio and sound productions rather than TV productions. Walls and ceilings are equipped with 60,000 sound-absorbing round wooden boards, these were installed to provide the best possible acoustics for radio. Today, the hall is used for concerts and radio recordings in all genres.

References

External links

*
"Großer Sendesaal im Hessischen Rundfunk"
Film Commission Hessen (in German)

{{Eurovision Song Contest Hessischer Rundfunk Radio in Germany Television in Germany Buildings and structures in Frankfurt Concert halls in Germany Music in Frankfurt Mass media in Frankfurt Buildings and structures completed in 1954 Music venues completed in 1954 Tourist attractions in Frankfurt

History

See also

References

External links