The Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester ''(Frankfurt Opera House and Museum's Orchestra)'' is the resident

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, c ...

of the Oper Frankfurt. Its somewhat peculiar name is derived from the series of "

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Concerts", organized by the

Frankfurter Museumsgesellschaft The Frankfurter Museums-Gesellschaft is a cultural association in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany, which is responsible for the Frankfurt museum concerts. It manages the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, which is both the municipal orchestra o ...

since 1808. The orchestra is ranked as an "A-list" ensemble under the German TVK regulations. Its music director and principal conductor is

Sebastian Weigle Sebastian Weigle (born 1961, in East Berlin) is a German conductor and horn player. He is currently ''Generalmusikdirektor'' of the Oper Frankfurt and principal conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. Biography Weigle is a nephew of ...

History and repertory

With a history spanning more than 200 years, the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester is one of Germany's oldest symphonic ensembles. It was founded in the late 18th century as the orchestra of the Oper Frankfurt, Frankfurt's municipal opera. In addition to playing in the opera house, the orchestra maintains a series of 10 subscription programs per season (each played twice, on Sundays 11 a.m. and Mondays 8 p.m. CET, respectively), performed at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, a former opera house converted into a concert hall. The orchestra has attracted leading conductors and musicians since its founding. Composer-violinist Louis Spohr was the second principal conductor (1817–1819) of the Museumsorchester; his successors included

Clemens Krauss Clemens Heinrich Krauss (31 March 189316 May 1954) was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss and Richard Wagner. Krauss was born in Vienna to Clementine Krauss, the ...

William Steinberg William Steinberg (Cologne, August 1, 1899New York City, May 16, 1978) was a German-American conductor. Biography Steinberg was born Hans Wilhelm Steinberg in Cologne, Germany. He displayed early talent as a violinist, pianist, and composer, ...

, Franz Konwitschny,

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...

Christoph von Dohnányi Christoph von Dohnányi (; born 8 September 1929) is a German conducting, conductor. Biography Youth and World War II Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to Hans von Dohnanyi, a German jurist of Hungarian ancestry, and Christine von Dohnanyi ...

, and Michael Gielen. Other notable conductors and composers who led the orchestra have included

Gustav 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 ...

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 ...

, Arthur Nikisch, Hans Pfitzner, Willem Mengelberg, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Knappertsbusch, Hermann Abendroth, Bruno Walter, and George Szell. The orchestra has played the premieres of several operas. Richard Strauss' large-scale tone-poems ''

Ein Heldenleben ''Ein Heldenleben'' (''A Hero's Life''), Op. 40, is a tone poem by Richard Strauss. The work was completed in 1898. It was his eighth work in the genre, and exceeded any of its predecessors in its orchestral demands. Generally agreed to be aut ...

'' and '' Also sprach Zarathustra'' were both premiered by the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester. Many leading soloists have appeared with the orchestra, beginning with

Johannes 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 wit ...

and Clara Schumann in the 19th century. From 1915 to 1923, composer-violist

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...

served as concertmaster of the Opern- and Museumsorchester. Its repertoire includes major operatic and symphonic works from

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

to contemporary music. In the 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 seasons, the Museumsorchester was voted one of the three top German opera orchestras in the country, selected by the leading operatic magazines in Germany. For the 2007/2008 season, the noted German periodical ''

Die Deutsche Bühne ''Die Deutsche Bühne'' is the oldest German theatre magazine and reports on the fields of acting, music theatre and dance. It first appeared under this title in 1909. The publisher is the Deutscher Bühnenverein. The editorial team consists of ...

'' voted the Oper Frankfurt the best opera house in Germany. Finally, in 2009, the respected music-industry magazine ''

Opernwelt ''Opernwelt'' (''Opera World'') is a monthly German magazine for opera, operetta and ballet. It includes news about current performances, portraits of composers and performers, articles about opera houses, performance spaces, and contemporary and ...

'' voted the Opern- und Museumsorchester ''Orchestra of the Year'' among all the German opera- and theatre orchestras, an honour the orchestra shares with the

Bayerisches Staatsorchester The Bavarian State Orchestra (german: Bayerisches Staatsorchester, italic=no) is the orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany. It has given its own series of concerts, the , since 1811. Profile On 9 December 2011, this ensemble c ...

; in both 2010 and 2011 the orchestra was again named "Orchestra of the Year".

Music Directors and Principal Conductors

* 1817 – 1819: Louis Spohr * 1821 – 1848: Carl Guhr * 1848 – 1860: Franz Messer * 1860 – 1891: Carl Müller * 1880 – 1892:

Felix Otto Dessoff Felix Otto Dessoff (14 January 1835 – 28 October 1892) was a German conductor and composer. Biography Dessoff was born to a Jewish family in Leipzig; his father was a cloth merchant. His musical talent was recognized by Franz Liszt, who then ...

* 1893 – 1924:

Ludwig Rottenberg Ludwig Rottenberg (11 October 1865 – 6 May 1932) was an Austrian/German composer and conductor. Biography Rottenberg came from a German-speaking Jewish family in Czernowitz, the then-capital of Bukovina, which at the time was part of the Aust ...

* 1924 – 1929:

* 1929 – 1933:

Hans Wilhelm Steinberg William Steinberg (Cologne, August 1, 1899New York City, May 16, 1978) was a German-American conductor. Biography Steinberg was born Hans Wilhelm Steinberg in Cologne, Germany. He displayed early talent as a violinist, pianist, and composer, ...

(aka:

) * 1933 – 1934: Bertil Wetzelsberger * 1935 – 1936:

Karl Maria Zwißler Karl Maria Zwißler (12 August 1900 – 15 September 1984) was a German conductor, and academic. He was for decades the Generalmusikdirektor and Intendant of the Staatstheater Mainz. He taught conducting at the music universities of Stuttgart an ...

* 1937 – 1938:

Georg Ludwig Jochum Georg Ludwig Jochum (sometimes hyphenated as Georg-Ludwig Jochum) (10 December 1909 – 1 November 1970) was a German conductor and younger brother of better-known conductor Eugen Jochum. He was born in Babenhausen near Augsburg, Germany. After ...

* 1938 – 1944: Franz Konwitschny * 1945 – 1951:

Bruno Vondenhoff Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters * Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologn ...

* 1952 – 1961:

* 1961 – 1966:

Lovro von Matačić Lovro von Matačić (14 February 1899 – 4 January 1985) was a Croatian conductor and composer. Early life Lovro von Matačić was born in Sušak to a family that was granted a noble title in the early 17th century. Growing up, he was always s ...

* 1966 – 1968:

Theodore Bloomfield Theodore Robert Bloomfield (June 14, 1923 – April 1, 1998) was an American conductor. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, he studied music at Oberlin College in Ohio and conducting with Edgar Schenkman for two years on a fellowship at the Juill ...

* 1968 – 1977:

* 1977 – 1987: Michael Gielen * 1987 – 1991:

Gary Bertini Gary Bertini ( he, גארי ברתיני, May 1, 1927 – March 17, 2005) was one of the most important Israeli musicians and conductors. In 1978 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Music. Biography Gary Bertini was born ''Shloyme Golergant'' in ...

* 1991 – 1992:

Hans Drewanz Hans Drewanz (2 December 1929 – 22 June 2021) was a German conductor and academic teacher. He was the Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of Darmstadt for more than three decades, shaping musical life in the town especially at the Staatstheater Darmstad ...

* 1992 – 1997: Sylvain Cambreling * 1997 – 1999:

Klauspeter Seibel Klauspeter Seibel (7 May 1936 in Offenbach am Main – 8 January 2011 in Hamburg) was a German conductor. Trained at the Nuremberg Conservatory and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, he was principal conductor of the Nuremberg Symp ...

* 1999 – 2008: Paolo Carignani * 2008 –

Orchestra Members (2009–2010 season)

Source: Violins I Ingo de Haas , Dimiter Ivanov , Gesine Kalbhenn-Rzepka , Karin Boerries , Andreas Martin , Vladislav Brunner , Susanne Callenberg-Bissinger , Arvi Rebassoo , Sergio Katz , Hartmut Krause , Basma Abdel-Rahim , Kristin Reisbach , Karen von Trotha , Dorothee Plum , Christine Schwarzmayr , Freya Ritts-Kirby , Juliane Strienz , Almut Frenzel-Riehl , Jefimija Brajovic , Gisela Müller , Beatrice Kohllöffel , Tamara Okolowska , Nemanja Bugarcic Violins II Guntrun Hausmann , Sebastian Deutscher , Sabine Scheffel , Olga Yukhananova , Lutz ter Voert , Theo Herrmann , Antonin Svoboda , Kyong Sil Kim , Wolfgang Schmidt , Doris Drehwald , Lin Ye , Susanna Laubstein , Donata Wilken , Frank Plieninger , Nobuko Yamaguchi , Regine Schmitt , Marina Sarkysian , Alexandra Wiedner Violas Thomas Rössel , Philipp Nickel , Wiebke Heidemeier , Ludwig Hampe , Martin Lauer , Dieter Mock , Philipp Hufnagel , Robert Majoros , Miyuki Saito , Jean-Marc Vogt , Mathias Bild , Fred Günther , Ulla Hirsch , Susanne Hefele Violoncellos Daniel-Robert Graf , Rüdiger Clauß , Sabine Krams , Kaamel Salah-Eldin , Johannes Oesterlee , Philipp Bosbach , Horst Schönwälder , Louise Giedraitis , Corinna Schmitz , Florian Fischer , Roland Horn Doubles Basses Ichiro Noda , Bruno Suys , Hedwig Matros-Büsing , Akihiro Adachi , Choul-Won Pyun , Ulrich Goltz , Matthias Kuckuk , Philipp Enger , Heinrich Lademann , Hans Uhlmann Flutes Paul Dahme , Sarah Louvion , Anne-Cathérine Heinzmann , Rolf Bissinger , Almuth Turré , Rüdiger Jacobsen Oboes Nick Deutsch , Giorgi Gvantseladze , Márta Malomvölgyi , Dorothea Gömmel , Oliver Gutsch Clarinets Johannes Gmeinder , Jens Bischof , Diemut Schneider-Tetzlaff , Julia Hollenberg , Matthias Höfer Bassoons Karl Ventulett , Heiko Dechert , Richard Morschel , Eberhard Beer , Stephan Köhr French Horns Sibylle Mahni-Haas , Mahir Kalmik , Fabian Borchers , Casey Rippon , Thomas Bernstein , Silke Schurack , Dirk Delorette , Detlef Holzhauser Trumpets Wolfgang Basch , David Tasa , Markus Bebek , Wolfgang Guggenberger , Dominik Ring Trombones Reinhard Nietert , Tim Raschke , Hartmut Friedrich , Manfred Keller , Rainer Hoffmann Tuba/Cimbasso József Juhász-Aba Timpani Tobias Kästle , Ulrich Weber Percussion Jürgen Friedel , Nicole Hartig , Michael Dietz Harps Françoise Friedrich , Barbara Mayr

Books

* Paul Bartholomäi: ''Das Frankfurter Museums-Orchester – zwei Jahrhunderte Musik für Frankfurt'', Edition Peters, Frankfurt am Main 2002, (in German)

References

External links

Homepage of the Frankfurt am Main City Opera

Frankfurter Museumsgesellschaft (German)

Alte Oper Frankfurt (German)
{{Authority control 18th-century establishments in the Holy Roman Empire German symphony orchestras Museums in popular culture Music in Frankfurt Tourist attractions in Frankfurt