Since the 18th century Berlin has been an influential musical center in Germany and Europe. First as an important trading city in the Hanseatic League, then as the capital of the electorate of Brandenburg and the Prussian Kingdom, later on as one of the biggest cities in Germany it fostered an influential music culture that remains vital until today. Berlin can be regarded as the breeding ground for the powerful choir movement that played such an important role in the broad socialization of music in Germany during the 19th century.
History
1700–1900
When in 1701
Frederick III declared himself Frederick I, "
King in Prussia
King ''in'' Prussia (German: ''König in Preußen'') was a title used by the Prussian kings (also in personal union Electors of Brandenburg) from 1701 to 1772. Subsequently, they used the title King ''of'' Prussia (''König von Preußen'').
Th ...
", Berlin became a royal residence and subsequently attained more musical prestige. Under his successor
Frederick William I (1713–1740), musical life in Berlin lost part of its splendor, due to his focus on the military strengthening of Prussia. At that time the court orchestra was abandoned and music events at the court played only a decorative role.
When in 1740,
Frederick II came to power, musical life at the court flourished again. Many 18th-century writers have termed his reign the "Golden Age" for music making in Berlin. Although statements like this have to be regarded with care for their obvious intention to glorify the person of the ruler, Frederick's reign was indeed a fruitful time for music making in Berlin. Already at Rheinsberg, where Frederick lived when he was still the crown prince, he had assembled a formidable group of musicians who were to form the core of his Kapelle in Berlin. Among these followers were
Carl Heinrich Carl Heinrich (1880 New York City – 1955) was an American entomologist.
Life
He studied Greek and drama at the University of Chicago, he moved to Washington D.C., in 1902, where he worked in business. In 1908, he went to New York to study musi ...
and
Johann Gottlieb Graun Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702/1703 – 28 October 1771) was a German Baroque/Classical era composer and violinist, born in Wahrenbrück. His brother Carl Heinrich was a singer and also a composer, and is the better known of the two.
Johann Gottlieb ...
,
Franz Franz may refer to:
People
* Franz (given name)
* Franz (surname)
Places
* Franz (crater), a lunar crater
* Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada
* Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see ...
and Johann Benda,
Christoph Schaffrath
Christoph Schaffrath (1709 in Hohnstein 7 February 1763 in Berlin) was a German musician and composer of the late Baroque to Classical transition era.
Career
Schaffrath was born in Hohnstein. He applied to be organist at the Sophienkirche ...
, and
Johann Gottlieb Janitsch
Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (19 June 1708 – 1762) was a German Baroque composer who wrote in the galant style, transitional between the Baroque and Classical periods.
Life
Janitsch was born in Schweidnitz, Silesia (today Świdnica, Poland) ...
. Once installed as the
King in Prussia
King ''in'' Prussia (German: ''König in Preußen'') was a title used by the Prussian kings (also in personal union Electors of Brandenburg) from 1701 to 1772. Subsequently, they used the title King ''of'' Prussia (''König von Preußen'').
Th ...
, Frederick's Kapelle became quickly one of the most admired orchestras in Europe. Frederick who was an accomplished flautist and composer employed Europe's foremost flautist,
Johann Joachim Quantz
Johann Joachim Quantz (; 30 January 1697 – 12 July 1773) was a German composer, flutist and flute maker of the late Baroque period. Much of his professional career was spent in the court of Frederick the Great. Quantz composed hundreds of flute ...
in 1741. His Kappelle, headed by C. H. Graun, could also boast of
C. P. E. Bach
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...
, son of Johann Sebastian Bach, who joined the orchestra as harpsichordist in 1740, and of
Johann Friedrich Agricola
Johann Friedrich Agricola (4 January 1720 – 2 December 1774) was a German composer, organist, singer, pedagogue, and writer on music. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Flavio Anicio Olibrio.
Biography
Agricola was born in Dobitschen, Thu ...
as the official court composer. By 1750 around 50 musicians were in Frederick's employment.
The principal occasions at which music was played at the court included the daily soirées in which Frederick used to play the flute, and the concerts in the residence of the King's mother,
Sophia Dorothea of Hanover
Sophia Dorothea of Hanover ( – 28 June 1757) was Queen in Prussia and Electress of Brandenburg during the reign of her husband, King Frederick William I, from 25 February 1713 to 31 May 1740. She was the daughter of King George I o ...
at which Frederick's Kapelle had to perform as well. In addition to these regular events, the Kapelle also had to perform in the opera performances during
Lent
Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...
. Other important venues for music making at the Hohenzollern court were the residences of
Prince Henry of Prussia and
Margrave Frederick Henry.
Frederick, an ardent opera enthusiast, was determined to turn Berlin into an international center for opera, one that could compete with the splendid opera house in Dresden. To this end, Frederick commissioned two opera stages from his architect
George Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff. The first in the King's residence, the ''
Berliner Stadtschloß'', the second as a completely new opera house, located ''
Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden (, "under the linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. Running from the City Palace to Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the linden (lime in England and Ireland, not re ...
'', the main artery of Berlin which featured all of the representational buildings of the time. The stage in the ''Stadtschloß'' was inaugurated with a performance of Graun's ''Rodelinda'' on December 13, 1741. The construction of the new opera house started in 1741 and although not fully completed yet the first performance took place on December 7, 1742 with Graun's ''Cleopatra e Cesare''. In preparation of the two premieres, Frederick sent Graun to Italy and France in order to recruit singers and dancers respectively. The ''
Königliche Opernhaus'', as the new opera house was called, remained the main opera house of Berlin throughout the century and the repertoire given there consisted mainly of Italian
opera seria
''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abo ...
.
1900–2015
From the end of World War II Berlin was divided. A western sector, controlled by Britain, France, the United States, controlled eventually, in 1949, was within territory under the control of a new West German state, the
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
. The eastern section, under the control of Soviet Union's occupying force, went under the control of a new east German state, the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
. The city's long-standing concert music institutions were in the two sections. In the West was the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
; in the East was the
Konzerthausorchester Berlin
The Konzerthausorchester Berlin is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra is resident at the Konzerthaus Berlin, designed by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The building was destroyed during World War II, and was rebuil ...
or Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (East Berlin), as well as the
Staatskapelle Berlin
The Staatskapelle Berlin () is a German orchestra and the resident orchestra of the Berlin State Opera, Unter den Linden. The orchestra is one of the oldest in the world. Until the fall of the German Empire in 1918 the orchestra's name was ''Kö ...
, the orchestra associated with the
Berlin State Opera
The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...
, which resided in the eastern sector of Berlin.
The SO36 in Kreuzberg originally focused largely on
punk music, but today has become a popular venue for many dances and parties. SOUND, located from 1971 to 1988 in Tiergarten and today in Charlottenburg, gained notoriety in the late 1970s for its popularity with heroin users and other drug addicts as described in
Christiane F.
Christiane Vera Felscherinow (born 20 May 1962) is a German actress and musician who is best known for her contribution to the 1978 autobiographical book ''Christiane F.'' (original title: ), and the film and television miniseries based on the ...
's book ''Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo''.
With a "
New Europe" emerging at the end of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the rock band
U2 chose Berlin, in the centre of the reuniting continent, as a source of inspiration for a more European musical aesthetic. They recorded at
Hansa Studios
Hansa Tonstudio is a recording studio located in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Germany. The studio, famous for its Meistersaal recording hall, is situated approximately 150 metres from the former Berlin Wall, giving rise to its former nickna ...
in
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
, near the recently opened
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
. Several acclaimed records were made at Hansa, including two from
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
's "Berlin Trilogy" with Eno, and
Iggy Pop
James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...
's ''
The Idiot
''The Idiot'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Идиот, Idiót) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–69.
The title is an ...
''. U2 arrived on 3 October 1990 on the last flight into
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
on the eve of
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
.
Music industries
Industries that do business in the creative arts and entertainment are an important and sizable sector of the economy of Berlin. The creative arts sector comprises music, film, advertising, architecture, art, design, fashion,
performing arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
, publishing, TV, radio, and video games. Around 22,600 creative enterprises, predominantly SMEs, generated over 18,6 billion Euro in total revenue. Berlin's creative industries have contributed an estimated 20% of Berlin's gross domestic product in 2005.
Berlin is home to many international and regional television and radio stations. The public broadcaster
RBB has its headquarters in Berlin as well as the commercial broadcasters
MTV Europe
MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network.
Initially, MTV serve ...
,
VIVA
Viva may refer to:
Companies and organisations
* Viva (network operator), a Dominican mobile network operator
* Viva Air, a Spanish airline taken over by flag carrier Iberia
* Viva Air Dominicana
* VIVA Bahrain, a telecommunication company
* ...
, and
N24. German international public broadcaster
Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...
has its TV production unit in Berlin, and most national German broadcasters have a studio in the city. American radio programming from
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
is also broadcast on the FM dial.
Personalities
Many important musical figures have worked in Berlin, among them composers like
Johann Joachim Quantz
Johann Joachim Quantz (; 30 January 1697 – 12 July 1773) was a German composer, flutist and flute maker of the late Baroque period. Much of his professional career was spent in the court of Frederick the Great. Quantz composed hundreds of flute ...
,
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...
, the Graun brothers,
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (22 November 17101 July 1784), the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, was a German composer and performer. Despite his acknowledged genius as an organist, improviser and composer ...
,
Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch
Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch (1736–1800) was a German composer and harpsichordist. Born in Zerbst, he was the son of the composer Johann Friedrich Fasch. He was initially taught by his father.
In 1756 he began service at the court of Frede ...
,
Johann Friedrich Reichardt
Johann Friedrich Reichardt (25 November 1752 – 27 June 1814) was a German composer, writer and music critic.
Early life
Reichardt was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, to lutenist and ''Stadtmusiker'' Johann Reichardt (1720–1780). Johann Fr ...
,
Carl Friedrich Zelter
Carl Friedrich Zelter (11 December 1758 15 May 1832)Grove/Fuller-Datei:Carl-Friedrich-Zelter.jpegMaitland, 1910. The Zelter entry takes up parts of pages 593-595 of Volume V. was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music. Working in his ...
,
Friedrich Heinrich Himmel,
Vincenzo Righini
Vincenzo Maria Righini (22 January 1756 – 19 August 1812) was an Italian composer, singer and kapellmeister.
Life and career
Righini was born in Bologna and studied singing and composition with Padre Martini in his home town. Initially ...
,
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
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 ...
,
Spontini
Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini (14 November 177424 January 1851) was an Italian opera composer and conductor from the classical era.
Biography
Born in Maiolati, Papal State (now Maiolati Spontini, Province of Ancona), he spent most of his ...
,
Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le d ...
,
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
,
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
to name just a few. Moreover, Berlin was recognized as the center for music theory and criticism in the 18th century with leading figures like
Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg
Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (21 November 1718 – 22 May 1795) was a German music critic, music theorist and composer. He was friendly and active with many figures of the Enlightenment of the 18th century.
Life
Little is known of Marpurg's ear ...
,
Johann Philipp Kirnberger
Johann Philipp Kirnberger (also ''Kernberg''; 24 April 1721, Saalfeld – 27 July 1783, Berlin) was a musician, composer (primarily of fugues), and music theorist. He was a student of Johann Sebastian Bach.
According to Ingeborg Allihn, Kirnberg ...
, Quantz, and C. P. E. Bach whose treatises were being read all over Europe. Later on, writers like Reichardt,
E. T. A. Hoffmann,
Ludwig Rellstab
Heinrich Friedrich Ludwig Rellstab (13 April 179927 November 1860) was a German poet and music critic. He was born and died in Berlin. He was the son of the music publisher and composer Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab. An able pianist, he publi ...
, and
A. B. Marx contributed to what can arguably be called the origins of German Music Feuilleton, whilst
Adolf Martin Schlesinger
Adolf Martin Schlesinger (4 October 1769 – 11 October 1838) was a German music publisher whose firm became one of the most influential in Berlin in the early nineteenth century.
Career
Schlesinger was Jewish, and was born Aaron Moses Schlesing ...
founded one of the leading German music publishing houses.
File:Marlene dietrich monitor 1958.JPG, Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
File:Duitse zangeres Hildegard Knef maakt TV opnamen Hildegard Knef met microfoon, Bestanddeelnr 254-8442.jpg, Hildegard Knef
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (; 28 December 19251 February 2002) was a German actress, voice actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.
Early years
Hildegard Knef was born ...
File:Katja Ebstein (Duitsland), Bestanddeelnr 923-3700.jpg, Katja Ebstein
Katja Ebstein (born Karin Witkiewicz; 9 March 1945) is a German singer. She was born in Girlachsdorf (now Gniewków, Poland). She achieved success with songs such as "Theater" and "Es war einmal ein Jäger". She was married to , who wrote many of ...
File:NINA HAGEN 1981.jpg, Nina Hagen
Catharina "Nina" Hagen (; born 11 March 1955) is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rose to prominence during the Punk subculture, punk and New wave music, new wave movements in the late 1970s a ...
Opera houses
![Komische Oper Berlin interior Oct 2007 Bühne](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Komische_Oper_Berlin_interior_Oct_2007_B%C3%BChne.jpg)
Berlin has three major
opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets.
While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...
s: the
Deutsche Oper
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet.
Since 2004, the De ...
, the
Berlin State Opera
The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...
, and the
Komische Oper
The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal tra ...
. The Berlin State Opera on
Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden (, "under the linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. Running from the City Palace to Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the linden (lime in England and Ireland, not re ...
is the oldest; it opened in 1742. Its current musical director is
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...
. During the Cold War division it was in
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
. The Komische Oper, which has traditionally specialized in
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
s, is located not far from the State Opera just off Unter den Linden; it was also in East Berlin. It originally opened in 1892 as a theater and has been operating under its current name since 1947. The Deutsche Oper opened in 1912 in Charlottenburg. During the division of the city from 1961 to 1989 it was the only major opera house in West Berlin.
Musical theatres
The
Theater des Westens
The Theater des Westens (Theatre of the West) is one of the most famous theatres for musicals and operettas in Berlin, Germany, located at 10–12 in Charlottenburg. It was founded in 1895 for plays. The present house was opened in 1896 and dedi ...
is Berlin's major venue for performances of
musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...
.
Orchestras
There are several
symphony orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...
s in Berlin:
* The
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world. It is housed in the
Philharmonie near
Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz (, ''Potsdam Square'') is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament Building), and close to the southeast corne ...
on a street named after the orchestra's longest-serving conductor,
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
. The principal conductor from 2002 to 2018 was
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...
; starting 2019 the new conductor will be
Kirill Petrenko
Kirill Garrievich Petrenko (russian: Кирилл Гарриевич Петренко, Latin script: ; born 11 February 1972) is a Russian-Austrian conductor. He is chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Early life
Petrenko was born in Omsk ...
.
* The
Konzerthausorchester Berlin
The Konzerthausorchester Berlin is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra is resident at the Konzerthaus Berlin, designed by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The building was destroyed during World War II, and was rebuil ...
, founded in 1952 as the orchestra for East Berlin (since the Philharmonic was based in West Berlin) and called the "Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester" until 2006, when it adopted the name of its home hall, the Konzerthaus on
Gendarmenmarkt
The Gendarmenmarkt ( en, Gut Market) is a square in Berlin and the site of an architectural ensemble including the Berlin concert hall and the French and German Churches. In the centre of the square stands a monumental statue of poet Fri ...
. Its current principal conductor is
Iván Fischer
Iván Fischer (born 20 January 1951) is a Hungarian conductor and composer.
Born in Budapest into a musical family of Jewish heritage, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest. His older brother, Ádám Fis ...
.
* The
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (''Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie. The orchestra has also ...
, founded in 1923 and the oldest active radio orchestra in Germany. It enjoyed in its early years a reputation for contemporary music: Hindemith, Honegger, Milhaud, Prokofiev, Strauss, Schoenberg and Stravinsky all guest-conducted. After the 1949 division of Germany it was supervised by the Rundfunk der DDR. Since 2002, the chief conductor has been
Marek Janowski
Marek Janowski (born 18 February 1939 in Warsaw) is a Polish-born German conductor. He is currently chief conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic.
Childhood
Janowski grew up in Wuppertal, near Cologne, after his mother traveled there at the st ...
.
* The
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German broadcast orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra performs its concerts principally in the Philharmonie Berlin. The orchestra is administratively based at the ''Rundfunk Berlin-Branden ...
, founded in 1946 by American occupation forces as the "RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester" (RIAS being the acronym for "Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor"/"Radio In the American Sector"). It was renamed the "Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin" in 1956 and took on its present name in 1993. The orchestra's first principal conductor was
Ferenc Fricsay
Ferenc Fricsay (; 9 August 1914 – 20 February 1963) was a Hungarian conductor. From 1960 until his death, he was an Austrian citizen.
Biography
Fricsay was born in Budapest in 1914 and studied music under Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, E ...
;
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He ...
,
Riccardo Chailly and
Kent Nagano
Kent George Nagano GOQ, MSM (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and was Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 20 ...
have since served.
* The
Staatskapelle Berlin
The Staatskapelle Berlin () is a German orchestra and the resident orchestra of the Berlin State Opera, Unter den Linden. The orchestra is one of the oldest in the world. Until the fall of the German Empire in 1918 the orchestra's name was ''Kö ...
, i.e., the pit orchestra of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (see above), whose music director is
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...
.
* The
Berliner Symphoniker The Berliner Symphoniker (''Berlin Symphony Orchestra'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin, Germany.
History
The orchestra began its performing activity on 1 September 1967 as ''Symphonisches Orchester Berlin'', under the auspices of t ...
(not to be confused with the former Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester), whose chief conductor since 1997 has been
Lior Shambadal.
Choirs
The city's many choral ensembles include the professional Rundfunkchor Berlin, the
Sing-Akademie zu Berlin
The Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, also known as the Berliner Singakademie, is a musical (originally choral) society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th-century ...
, the
Berliner Singakademie, the Philharmonischer Chor Berlin, and the
RIAS Kammerchor
The RIAS Kammerchor (RIAS Chamber Choir) is a German choir based in Berlin, Germany. It receives support from the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH Berlin ("Berlin Radio Orchestra and Choirs"), a limited-liability company owned by the public bro ...
.
Festivals
![Lollapalooza 2015-12](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Lollapalooza_2015-12.jpg)
*
Berlin Festival
Berlin Festival was an annual two-day outdoor rock/electronic music event that took place every September in Berlin.http://www.berlinfestival.de/ Berlin Festival It was first organized in 2005, and over time its audience grew to about 20,000 vi ...
*
Fete de la Musique
*
JazzFest Berlin
JazzFest Berlin (also known as the Berlin Jazz Festival) is a jazz festival in Berlin, Germany. Originally called the "Berliner Jazztage" (''Berlin Jazz Days''), it was founded in 1964 in West Berlin by the Berliner Festspiele. Venues included B ...
*
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
Berlin
Clubs and nightlife
Berlin's nightlife is one of the most diverse and vibrant of its kind in Europe.
The music club, Linientreu, near the
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, but mostly just known as Gedächtniskirche ) is a Protestant church affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia, a regi ...
, has been in business in the late 1980s and 1990s. Throughout the 1990s, people in their twenties from many countries, made Berlin's club scene the premier nightlife destination in the world. After the
fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...
in 1989, many historic buildings in Mitte, the former city center of East Berlin, were illegally occupied and re-built by young squatters and became a fertile ground for underground and
counterculture
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
gatherings.
Mitte and surrounding boroughs were home to many nightclubs, including
Kunst Haus Tacheles
The Kunsthaus Tacheles (English: ''Art House Tacheles'') was an art center in Berlin, Germany, a large () building and sculpture park on Oranienburger Straße, in the sub-neighborhood of Spandauer Vorstadt in the Mitte district. Huge, colorful ...
, Cookies,
Tresor, WMF,
Ufo
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
,
E-Werk,
KitKatClub
The KitKatClub is a nightclub in Berlin, opened in March 1994 by Austrian pornographic filmmaker Simon Thaur and his life partner Kirsten Krüger.
Overview
The KitKatClub is known for its sexually uninhibited parties. Guests are allowed to e ...
and
Berghain
Berghain () is a nightclub in Berlin, Germany. It is named after its location near the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain in Berlin, and is a short walk from Berlin Ostbahnhof main line railway station. . Berlin is notable for the length of its parties. Clubs are not required to close at a fixed time on the weekends, and many parties last well into the morning, or all weekend.
Berghain
Berghain () is a nightclub in Berlin, Germany. It is named after its location near the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain in Berlin, and is a short walk from Berlin Ostbahnhof main line railway station. features the Panorama Bar, so named because the bar opens its shades at daybreak, allowing party-goer's a panorama view of Berlin after dancing through the night.
See also
*
Culture of Berlin
*
Weimar Culture
Weimar culture was the emergence of the arts and sciences that happened in Germany during the Weimar Republic, the latter during that part of the interwar period between Germany's defeat in World War I in 1918 and Hitler's rise to power in 193 ...
*
List of songs about Berlin
This list of songs about Berlin is an addition to the main article Music in Berlin and contains any songs about or involving the city of Berlin, the capital of Germany.
Sorting is after the year of publication (in brackets).
Up to 1945
* Dr ...
References
{{reflist
Bibliography
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*
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Archiv für Musikwissenschaft
The ''Archiv für Musikwissenschaft'' is a quarterly German-English-speaking trade magazine devoted to music history and historical musicology, which publishes articles by well-known academics and young scholars.
It was founded in 1918 as the su ...
'' 50, no. 3 (1993): 201-16.
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* Kretzschmar, Hermann. Festschrift Zur Feier Des Hundertjährigen Bestehens Des Staatlichen Akademischen Instituts Für Kirchenmusik in Berlin: 1822–1922. Berlin, 1922.
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The (Goethe Society), not to be confused with the Goethe-Institut, is a literary and scientific organisation to explore the literary work of the German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It was founded in Weimar, where he lived, in 1885 ...
; 44. Bd. Weimar: Verlag der Goethe-Gesellschaft, 1931.
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'' 33 (1980): 37-45.
*
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