The Banatul Philharmonic () is a musical institution in

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Established in 1871, it now comprises a

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: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

, professional

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

and various chamber groups. The Banatul Philharmonic operates in the projection hall of the former Capitol cinema, built by the mayor's office in 1929, which was nationalized in 1956, so that in 2007 it would be taken over by the municipality of Timișoara, by a special law.

History

1871–1947

Before having a proper music society, like other cities in the country, in Timișoara there was the choral association ''Temeswarer Männergesangverein'', founded in 1845. It seems that it was the first music society in the city, but did not survive in the context of 1848–1849 events. It was re-established in 1858, and its activity is recorded as meritorious, contributing in various ways to the musical life of the city. The repertoire of this chorale included works of great popularity, belonging mainly to German

romantic music Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the ...

. At one point, the chorus and orchestra disbanded. Therefore, the musical landscape of the city increasingly felt the need to resume similar initiatives. As a result of this desideratum, eleven music-loving enthusiasts met on 21 October 1871 in Auguste Pummer's house, deciding to establish a men's choral society called "Timișoara Philharmonic Society" (). The minutes of the first meeting were written at the constituent meeting and a committee consisting of Auguste Pummer, Heinrich Weidt and Franz Wilhelm Speer was elected. On this occasion, the work ''Die Träne'' was sung, which later became the motto of the chorus. The inaugural concert took place on the stage of the Communal Theater on 8 December 1871 and was performed with the help of the Timișoara Opera Orchestra and some blowers from the 29th Infantry Regiment. The concert activity that followed was mainly focused (in the beginning) on ''

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

'' and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

. Performers in Timișoara during this period included pianists

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

and

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

; baritone ; cellist

David Popper David Popper (June 18, 1843 – August 7, 1913) was a Bohemian cellist and composer. Life Popper was born in Prague, and studied music at the Prague Conservatory. His family was Jewish. He studied the cello under Julius Goltermann (1825–187 ...

; and violinists

Leopold Auer Leopold von Auer (; June 7, 1845July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers. Early life and career Auer was born in ...

George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanians, Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, teacher and statesman. He is regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history. Biography En ...

Joseph Joachim Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian Violin, violinist, Conducting, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely ...

Jan Kubelík Jan Kubelík (5 July 18805 December 1940) was a Czech violinist and composer. Biography He was born in Michle (now part of Prague). His father, a gardener by occupation, was an amateur violinist. He taught his two sons the violin and after di ...

František Ondříček František Ondříček (29 April 1857 – 12 April 1922) was a Czech violinist and composer. He gave the first performance of the Violin Concerto by Antonín Dvořák, and his achievements were recognised by the rare award of honorary membe ...

Pablo de Sarasate Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (; 10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish violinist, composer and Conducting, conductor of the Romantic music, Romantic period. His best known work ...

and

Henryk Wieniawski Henryk Wieniawski (; 10 July 183531 March 1880) was a Polish virtuoso violinist, composer, and pedagogue, who is regarded amongst the most distinguished violinists in history. His younger brother Józef Wieniawski and nephew :pl:Adam Tadeusz Wien ...

. In 1947 the orchestra was renamed the Banatul State Philharmonic, and eventually simply the Banatul Philharmonic. The first symphonic concert took place on 8 June 1947 with Timișoara-born French conductor

Charles Bruck Charles Bruck (2 May 1911 – 16 July 1995) was a French- American conductor and teacher. Bruck was born in a Jewish family in Temesvár, Banat, then in the Kingdom of Hungary, part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, since 1920 Timișoara in Roma ...

and French pianist Monique de La Bruchollerie. The opening of the first season took place on 26 October 1947.

Conductors

Conductors of the Banatul Philharmonic have included George Pavel (1947), , , , Remus Georgescu, Paul Popescu and Peter Oschanitzky.

Gheorghe Costin Gheorghe Costin (born 1 May 1955 in Baia Mare) is a Romanian conductor and composer. A disciple of Constantin Bugeanu in Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovi� ...

and Radu Popa are the current permanent conductors. Guest conductors have included

Kurt Herbert Adler Kurt Herbert Adler (April 2, 1905 – February 9, 1988) was an Austrian– American conductor and opera house director. Biography Adler was born in Vienna, Austria, to a Jewish family; his mother, Ida Bauer, was one of the first patient ...

Roberto Benzi Roberto Benzi (born 1937) is a French conducting, conductor and former child actor. Early life Roberto Benzi was born on 12 December 1937 in Marseille, France."Benzi, Roberto (1937–...)" His parents discovered his musicality when he was very y ...

Anatole Fistoulari Anatole Fistoulari (20 August 1907 – 21 August 1995) was one of the great British conductors of the 20th century.Obituary – Anatole Fistoulari. ''Opera'', October 1995, Vol.46 No.10, p1172. A child prodigy, he later conducted around Europe and ...

, Kiril Kondrashin,

Stanisław Wisłocki Stanisław Wisłocki (7 July 192131 May 1998) was a Polish conductor of classical music who performed and recorded with many internationally renowned orchestras, ensembles and virtuoso musicians and is highly regarded for his interpretations of ...

and .

Jean-François Antonioli Jean-François Antonioli (b. Lausanne, February 25, 1959) is a Switzerland, Swiss pianist, Conducting, conductor and piano pedagogue. Studied piano at Conservatoire de Lausanne and Conservatoire de Paris (with Pierre Sancan). Further studies incl ...

was Principal Guest Conductor from 1993 to 2002.

Guest soloists

Guest soloists with the orchestra have included pianists

Dimitri Bashkirov Dmitri Aleksandrovich Bashkirov (; November 1, 1931 – March 7, 2021) was a Russian pianist and academic teacher. Trained in his hometown Tbilisi and Moscow, he began an international career as a soloist when he won the Marguerite Long Piano Co ...

Julius Katchen Julius Katchen (August 15, 1926 – April 29, 1969) was an American concert pianist, possibly best known for his recordings of Johannes Brahms's solo piano works. Career Katchen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and debuted at age 10, play ...

and Rudolf Kehrer; violinists

Ivry Gitlis Ivry Gitlis (;‎ 25 August 1922 – 24 December 2020) was an Israeli virtuoso violinist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. He performed with the world's top orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmoni ...

Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer (; born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica. Life and career Gidon Kremer was born in Riga. His father was Jewish and had survived the Holocaust. His mother had ...

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...

Vladimir Spivakov Vladimir Teodorovich Spivakov (; born 12 September 1944) is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian conductor and violinist best known for his work with the Moscow Virtuosi chamber orchestra. Spivakov was born in Ufa. He was taught by Yuri Yankelevic ...

and Josef Suk; and cellists

Miloš Sádlo Miloš Sádlo (13 April 1912 – 14 October 2003), was a Czech cellist born in Prague. Life Born Miloš Bláha, later Miloš Zátvrzský after his step-father. He started his musical education by playing violin when he was 8 years old. At 15 he swi ...

and

Daniil Shafran Daniil Borisovich Shafran (, January 13, 1923February 7, 1997) was a Soviet Russian cellist. Biography Early years Daniil Shafran was born in Petrograd (later Leningrad, then Saint Petersburg) in 1923 to a Jewish family. Even from before his birt ...

. Other performers in Timișoara have included pianists

Annie Fischer Annie Fischer (July 5, 1914April 10, 1995) was a Hungarian classical pianist. Biography Fischer was born into a Jewish family in Budapest and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with Ernő Dohnányi and Arnold Székely. She began her c ...

Artur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein KBE OMRI (; 28 January 1887 – 20 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist."Ar ...

, Alexandra Vizman and

Carlo Zecchi Carlo Zecchi (8 July 190331 August 1984) was an Italian pianist, music teacher and Conductor (music), conductor. Zecchi was born in Rome. A pupil of F. Baiardi for piano and of L. Refice and A. Bustini for composition, he began his career as a co ...

; violinists

Bronisław Huberman Bronisław Huberman (19 December 1882 – 16 June 1947) was a Polish violinist. He was known for his individualistic interpretations and was praised for his tone color, expressiveness, and flexibility. The '' Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivariu ...

Fritz Kreisler Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962) was an Austrian-born American violinist and composer. One of the most noted violin masters of his day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing, with marked por ...

Jacques Thibaud Jacques Thibaud (; 27 September 18801 September 1953) was a French violinist. Biography Thibaud was born in Bordeaux and studied the violin with his father before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of thirteen. In 1896 he jointly won th ...

and

Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Early years Born in Liège, Ysaÿe began ...

; and cellists

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Gregor Piatigorsky Gregor Piatigorsky (, ''Grigoriy Pavlovich Pyatigorskiy''; August 6, 1976) was a Russian-born American cello, cellist. Biography Early life Gregor Piatigorsky was born in Dnipro, Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipro, Ukraine) into a Jewish family. As a c ...

. The orchestra has visited many European countries, including

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and the former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banatul Philharmonic of Timisoara Romanian orchestras Culture in Timișoara Musical groups established in 1871 1871 establishments in Austria-Hungary