March Highlights
- In March there were 135 concerts, of which there were 25 piano, 19 orchestral, 16 chamber, 9 violin, and 33 voice recitals. There were 16 choral concerts, more than usual because of Easter on March 31. During Holy Week there were performances of both Mendelssohn oratorios and both Bach Passions. There were four Bach cantatas on the Philharmonic Choir’s last concert of the season (March 4th). A special “monster” performance of Mendelssohn’s Paulus with about 300 performers was held in the Zoological Garten’s Exhibition Hall as a benefit for the victims of the shipwreck in February (26th).
- Singing Societies: Besides the Philharmonic Choir, Berlin choral organizations performing in March included the Singakademie, which did two performances of the St. Matthew Passion, the St. Ursula Frauen Chor (3rd), the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtnis Kirche Chor (6th), the Rykestrasse Synagogenchor (10th), the Caecilia-Melodia Männergesangverein (11th) the Erck’schen Männergesangverein (12th), the Lehrer-Gesangverein (14th), and the Berliner Liedertafel (7th, 19th).
- Premieres: March 11: The premiere of Hans Pfitzner’s incidental music to Käthchen von Heilbronn was not a success. On the same Philharmonic concert, Eugène Ysaÿe played two violin concertos by Saint-Saëns (A major and b minor).
- Christian Sinding’s Symphony No. 2 in D major, which was on the Königliche Kapelle’s concert on the 22nd, was also a disappointment. Sinding has written much, much better music that this, wrote E.E. Taubert in Die Musik.
- Gregor Fitelberg put on a concert of all new music by young composers from Warsaw on the 21st, which included his own Symphony in One Movement, op. 20 and his “Tondichtung nach Gorki,” “Das Lied vom Falken,” Op. 18, and Szymanowski’s Symphonic Fragment, Op. 15.
- More violinists: Henri Marteau was also in town and premiered a violin concerto by Lauber with the New Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Fritz Steinbach (4th).
- The sixteen-year-old student of Marteau, Florizel von Reuter, gave two concerts in March and four more in April (!). On one of the concerts he also conducted his own tone poem “Attila.”
- Alexander Sebald (1869-1934), a Hungarian violinist, accomplished the feat of playing all 24 Paganini Caprices on the 26th.
- Pianists: Alfred Reisenauer (2nd) and Eugen d’Albert (15th) played the Brahms Handel Variations, while the Brahms Paganini Variations were on the programs of Ignaz Friedman (11th) and Leopold Godowsky (15th). More pianistic excess: on the evening of March 15 there were 5 pianists simultaneously giving concerts (Leopold Godowsky, Therese Slottko, Felicitas Reifmann, Alberto Jonas, and Eugen d’Albert).
- Grand Dames: March 22: The pianist Teresa Carreño (1853-1917) gave a single recital this year in Berlin, with pieces by Edward MacDowell and Smetana. Her performance was marveled at as youthful and stylish, and as technically powerful as ever. She had made her debut with the Philharmonic in 1889, and gave her last performance there on March 24, 1916, when she played a concert of three concertos: the Tchaikovsky b minor, Chopin e minor and Liszt E-flat.
- March 25: The 59-year-old Lilli Lehmann sang Isolde’s” Liebestod” and Constanze’s “Marter aller Artern” at the Philharmonic’s benefit concert.
April highlights
April was the final, frantic month of the winter concert season: the subscription series of the orchestral, choral, and chamber groups mostly concluded in March. In April traveling groups, special events, and concerts put on by individuals continued, but even these dried up by May. This concert calendar, which squeezed nearly a thousand concerts into six or seven months, was not standard in Europe. In April there were 77 concerts, almost half the number of the previous month.
Signs of the end of an era
Several chamber music concerts commemorated the tenth anniversary of the death of Brahms. One of these, on March 28th, turned out to be the last concert of the Piano Trio of Heinrich Barth, Emanuel Wirth, and Robert Hausmann. This group’s subscription concerts had begun in 1878, almost thirty years earlier. Wirth had been out for most of 1906 and the beginning of 1907 while undergoing two eye operations, but was able to return for this last concert.1Wirth retired from the Hochschule in 1910. Their program included the Brahms C major Piano Trio, op. 87, which the Trio had been the first to perform in Berlin in 1883.
![](https://i0.wp.com/sannapederson.oucreate.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/muhlfeld-and-hausmann.jpg?resize=391%2C500)
Richard Mühlfeld, who had just two months to live, was supposed to be the soloist for the Clarinet Quintet and Clarinet Trio on this concert. He is pictured here with Robert Hausmann; in 1891 they were part of the premiere of both works.
The final concert of the season by the Joachim Quartet (6th) also turned out to be their last. Joachim died in August, and both Hausmann and Halir died of heart attacks in the next two years, while still in their fifties.
- April 3 and 9: The singer-actor Ludwig Wüllner gave concerts with his accompanist Coenraad Bos, but on these occasions he played violin. The first commemorated Brahms’s death with the three Violin Sonatas. The multi-talented son of the conductor Franz Wüllner performed violin sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, and his father on the second concert.
- April 12 and 14: Edvard Grieg conducted the Philharmonic in two concerts of his music. The soloists were Ellen Gulbranson, Rosa Bertens, and pianist Halfdan Cleve.It was the last time he would visit Berlin; he died in September.
- April 20: Pietro Mascagni, a favorite of the Kaiser, conducted the Philharmonic, with a program of his own music and Beethoven’s Fifth.
- April 29 and 30: the 25th anniversary concerts of the Philharmonic featured the “three B’s”: on the first there was a Bach cantata, the Brahms German Requiem, and the Beethoven “Emperor” Piano Concerto. The second had Arthur Nikisch conducting Brahms’s First and Beethoven’s Ninth as a single concert.
Performer | Date | Instrument | Composer | Critics' Comments | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Phil. Trio | 01 March | Chamber | V. Abend | Philharmonie | |
Else Gipser | 01 March | Piano | Reger | hard dry and lifeless | BP 14.1.1904 |
Betty Tennenbaum | 01 March | Violin | Bach E major, Bruch Scottish Fantasy, Vieuxtemps (d minor) | not yet mature, called “Flumenbaum” in Signale; Phil orch | Beethovensaal |
Lilli Lehmann | 01 March | Voice | Schubert, Schumann | Philharmonie | |
Sydney Biden | 01 March | Voice | 2nd; Courier feature; from Missouri, based in Chicago | Singakademie; on a NYPhil concert 2/27/1910; BP 22.12.1910; BP 1916 | |
Gerhard Gschjederup | 02 March | Composer | Richard Sahla, cond. Elsa Schjelderup; Positive impression (BBZ) | Singakademie | |
Alfred Reisenauer | 02 March | Piano | Brahms, Bach, Liszt, Handel var., Beethoven | 4th and last of series | Bechstein |
Florizel von Reuter | 02 March | Violin | Tchaikovsky | Mozartsaal orch., Marteau’s student he is very promising, he also conducted his own tone poem Atala | Mozartsaal |
Philharmonisches Chor Hauptprobe | 03 March | Choral | |||
St. Ursula Frauen Chor | 03 March | Choral | |||
Phil Orch Pop Concert | 03 March | Pops | |||
Henri Marteau Hauptprobe | 03 March | Orch | Lauber (MS), Brahms, Beethoven | New Philharmonic orchestra, Steinbach conducting | Mozartsaal; BP 13.11.1890 |
Betsy Schot | 03 March | Voice | Secession Ku'Damm | BP 1.11.1897 | |
Jadwiga Cukier, piano Hermann Solomonoff, violin | 04 March | Chamber | Dvorak, Philipp Scharwenka | Eigenartiges | Bechstein |
Philharmonic Choir | 04 March | Choral | Bach | 4 Bach cantatas; Messchaert | |
4th New Philharmonic Orch. Concert Henri Marteau | 04 March | Orch | Brahms 4, Beethoven | Steinbach conducting Lauber concerto for violin for first time, in MS | Mozartsaal |
Emmy Rintelen voice and Lilli von Roy-Höhnen, piano | 05 March | Mixed | Kahn | singer much better than pianist | Singakademie |
Marta Behnke-Sellin and Sergei von Bortkiewicz | 05 March | Mixed | His own piano music op 3 and op 4 is eclectic | he has good technique, she was dilettantish, | BP 2.4.1906 |
Anton Foerster | 05 March | Piano | Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, Schubert | also april 13 (teaches at K-S) | |
Tina Lerner | 05 March | Piano | Handel, Rameau-Godowsky, Schumann, Chopin, Scriabin, Liszt | Galerie für alte u neue Kunst, Wilhelmstr. 45 very promising talent, 16 yrs old | |
Phil Orch Pop Concert | 05 March | Pops | |||
Florian Zajic and H. Grünfeld, da Motta | 06 March | Chamber | Brahms, Beethoven Trio op. 70 | Elena Gerhardt, Nikisch, Fridolin K. José Vianna da Motta, op. 25 | Gerhardt BP 7.4.1905 |
Kaiser Wilhelm Ged. Kirchen Chor | 06 March | Choral | |||
Frederic Lamond | 06 March | Piano | Beethoven | Mozartsaal | |
Greta Benser-Bruhn | 06 March | Piano | Oberlichtsaal you can’t be serious | ||
Jenny Behrens, blind pianist | 06 March | Piano | echt musikalisch | ||
Phil Orch Pop Concert | 06 March | Pops | |||
Julia Culp | 06 March | Voice | Wolf | 3rd concert | BP 22.1.1904 |
Alfred Steinmann orchestra Abend | 07 March | Mixed | no proof of a talent for conducting | Mozartsaal orch. | |
Gertrud Scheibel | 07 March | Piano | |||
Maximilian Ronis | 07 March | Violin | Bruch, Bach, Chopin | With Julius Wolfson, piano; Ronis said to be 16 these two are just reaching adulthood | Beethovensaal; BP 1.4.1910 |
Berliner Liedertafel | 07 March | Choral | Schubert, Hegar | Franz Wagner, cond., S. Dessoir | |
Johannes Messchaert | 07 March | Voice | Kahn | 3rd with Kahn at piano | Singakademie; BP 31.1.1893 |
Karl and Max Krämer | 08 March | Chamber | 10 and 12 yrs old, piano and violin | Oberlichtsaal | |
Marie Dubois | 08 March | Piano | (echt French, plays programs of old and new French music; Niemann) | Bechstein; BP 21.3.1908 | |
Henri Marteau | 08 March | Violin | Brahms, Dvorak | Benefit Dvorak concerto Mozartsaal orchestra | Mozartsaal |
Elisabeth Schumann | 08 March | Voice | 2nd | BP 16.10.1903; 7.3.1921 | |
Vereinigen K-W-G Kirchen Chores | 08 March | Mixed | Adalbert Gülzow played Hermann Goetz VC Otto Ehlers, piano | ||
VIII. K.K. Weingartner | 09 March | Mixed | Kaun | Drei einfache Stücke fur Streichorchester | |
Marcella Lindh | 9 Mar | 9 pm 2nd soiree | French songs | Galerie fur alte und neue Kunst: | |
Alfred Reisenauer | 09 March | Piano | Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt | Wanderer Fantasie | Beethovensaal |
Fritz Hirt | 09 March | Violin | Tchaikovsky, Bach, Paganini | good technique and beautiful tone, young geiger with Delly Friedland | Singakademie |
Martha Kempner-Hochstädt | 09 March | Voice | Melodrama | 3rd, Architetkten Haus | |
Paul Schmedes | 09 March | Voice | Schubert, Wolf, Strauss, Brahms | an intelligent tenor—what an exception to the rule | BP 28.3.1903; BP in 1915 |
Richard Strauss Abend | 09 March | Voice | Strauss | Pauline and Richard Mostly new or unpublished lieder now the ad is for Lula Mysz-Gmeiner | Mozartsaal |
Synagogenchores Rykestrasse | 10 March | Choral | Kaun | Alex. Weinbaum, cond. | Paula Weinbaum alto and Wittenberg, violin |
Phil Orch Pop Concert | 10 March | Pops | |||
Sven Scholander | 10 March | Voice | From Stockholm, sings, jokes, plays lute | Bechstein | |
Rose Kahn with Myrtle Elvyn | 11 Mar | Mixed | Deep soprano needs training, Myrtle only showed dexterity; she needs to figure out the difference between no expression and full of expression | ||
Caecilia-Melodia Männergesangverein | 11 March | Choral | With Annie Bremer | Beethovensaal | |
Philharmonic with Ysaye | 11 March | Orch | Saint-Saens | Pfitzner, Käthchen von Heilbronn music 2 concertos by SS a major and b minor | |
Ignaz Friedman | 11 March | Piano | Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt | Paganini variations (3rd) | |
Waldemar Meyer Quartet | 12 March | Chamber | Goldmark piano quintet | Leontine de Ahna and Richard Burmeister | |
Erck’schen Männergesangverein | 12 March | Choral | |||
Marix Loevensohn, cello, Ysaye cond. | 12 March | Mixed | Haydn, Schumann, Saint Saens | Temperamentvoll cellist, often too dry tone not secure in his technique, plenty of wrong notes, the very subjective performance is empfindungsvoll Ysaye is underappreciated as a conductor | |
Phil Orch Pop Concert | 12 March | Pops | |||
Alwin Hahn | 12 March | Voice | benefit for the Berlin catastrophe | ||
Berta Bloch-Jahr | 12 March | Voice | Franz, Gernsheim, Jensen, Rubinstein | Bechstein | |
Phil Orch Pop Concert | 13 March | Pops | |||
Florizel von Reuter | 13 March | Violin | Brahms, Bruch Scottish fantasy | 3rd, Mozart Orchestra not up to the Brahms yet | |
Elisabeth Gerasch | 13 March | Voice | Schubert, Brahms | was originally 6 feb did not do much to make one interested, not a pleasant voice | |
Helene Staegemann | 13 March | Voice | 2nd, Bruno Hinze-Reinhold, piano | ||
Rosa Olitzka | 13 March | Voice | Handel, Bach, etc. | her voice is still strong, interesting program | BP 6.12.1889 |
Lehrer-Gesangverein | 14 March | Choral | Paula Stebel, piano, Felix Schmidt | Schmidt BP 5.5.1882 | |
Verein für klassische Kirchenmusik | 14 March | Choral | Bargiel Violin Sonata by Elgers | Conducted by Professor Thiel Dora Moran, Paul Elgers, Martin Grabert, Jos. Fitzen | Palestrina was good but the others were not classical church music |
Elite concert | 14 March | Mixed | Schubert, Reger, Wolf, Brahms | Lula Mysz Gmeiner, with D’Albert, Scheidemantel; Last | |
Emerich Stefaniai | 14 March | Piano | Liszt B minor, Brahms F minor, Schumann Fantasy | 2nd | Accompanying Burmester 1911 (DM) |
Susanne Dessoir | 14 March | Voice | popular Volksliederabend | Bruno HInze-Reinhold | |
Wina Berlin | March 14 | Piano | Beethoven Emperor, Saint-Saens | with Phil. Orch. Memory lapse in Chopin nocturne | 14.3. |
Alberto Jonas | 15 Mar 07 | Piano | Raff, Grieg, Liszt | At Hochschule charity concert with Joan Manén | BP 6.11.1891 |
Berliner Damen-Vokalquartett | 15 March | Mixed | |||
Eugen d’Albert V. | 15 March | Piano | Brahms, Handel var., F m sonata, Sinding in Volkston op. 32 no. 4, Rubinstein, Tausig, Raff, Grieg, Raff | ||
Felicitas Reifmann | 15 March | Piano | Brahms, Chopin, Schubert | Phil orch.Herman Behr conducting (his BP debut) Brahms d minor, chopin e minor schubert unfinished her debut, Schnabel student | Should have waited longer to play the Brahms |
Leopold Godowsky | 15 March | Piano | Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin | “einziger popular Abend” op. 57, Paganini Var., all the Chopin preludes | |
Therese Slottko | 15 March | Piano | Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt | 2nd | BP 16.2. |
Carmela u.Grazia Carbone | 15 March | Voice | very well done, soprano and alto, Klara Krause, acc. | ||
Dessau Quartet | 16 March | Chamber | Schubert | Schubert Abend, Octet B-flat Trio with Reisenauer—he left the lid up and couldn’t hear the strings | |
Trio of sisters Pasmore | 16 March | Chamber | Brahms op. 8, Schumann Op. 88,Haydn G major Trio | susanne, mary violin, dorothy cello piano trio played by heart Brahms B major Trio, from San Francisco, now living here | Bechstein |
Louis Edger | 16 March | Piano | Beethoven c minor, d’Albert E major, Liszt, Spanish rhapsody | Too weich, only sees the foreground; but Courier loved him: American da Motta student d’Albert conducted his E major concerto, his debut | Beethovensaal; phil orch; |
Holländische Trio | 17 March | Chamber | Brahms, Mendelssohn | 5th and Letzte with Anna Wüllnersche Frauen-Chor | |
Popular Phil Concert | 17 March | Pops | Gesterkamp and Reitz soloists, Scharrer | ||
5th New Philharmonic Orchestra | 18 March | Mixed | Beethoven, Pastoral, Liszt, Tasso; Mozart arias and Liszt Lieder were the best (DM) | Stavenhagen cond., Erika Wedekind MC: didn’t go well | Ballet from Hasse Pyramus and Thisbe |
Ignaz Friedman and Konrad von Zamowski | 18 March | Mixed | Konrad Zawilowski baritone Wiener Oper | Bechstein | |
Nellie Curzon Smith | 18 March | Piano | Brahms, Handel var., f minor sonata | with Joachim assisting (he was still recovering in Vienna Klingler took over) | |
Else Schünemann | 18 March | Voice | Wolf, Brahms | not in good voice | |
Lydia Illya | 18 March | Voice | Beethovensaal | ||
Berliner Liedertafel | 19 March | Choral | Dessoir | ||
Arthur Egidi, organ | 19 March | Mixed | All Reger | Apostel Paulus Kirche; Anna Stephan, Fanny Opfer | Anna 31.3.1890; Arthur 4.12.1899 (organ) |
Philharmonic Popular Concert | 19 March | Pops | |||
Carlotta Stubenrauch | 19 March | Violin | Grieg, S-S, Tchaik, Liszt piano solos | Talented Bruno HInze-Reinhold | BP 10.11.1899 |
Dr James Simon, Alfred Wittenberg | 19 March | Violin | Schumann, Mozart, Grieg | BP 17.2.1913 | |
Lula Mysz-Gmeiner | 19 March | Voice | Schubert, Wolf, Reger, Brahms | BP 16.11.1896 | |
Marcella Lindh | 19 March | Voice | Franzosischer Abend Carl Stabernack, harmonium Erich J. Wolff piano | Galerie fur alte und neue Kunst: new place for concerts | |
Brahms Piano Quartets | 20 March | Chamber | Brahms | Felicia Dietrich-Kirchdorffer, Piano, Wietrowetz Q , Erna Schulz subbed for Gabriele and another guy played viola 3 piano quartets | Hochschule |
Halir Trio | 20 March | Chamber | Kahn, Volkmann, Beethoven | Robert Kahn Violin sonata in MS | Singakademie; Kahn BP in 1917 |
Ludwig Hess and Karl Friedberg | 20 March | Chamber | Schubert | 3rd | Beethovensaal |
Aurelia Cionca | 20 March | Piano | Chopin, Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt | Promising, extraordinarily secure, (Rumanian, student of Reisenauer; Niemann) | Bechstein |
Philharmonic Popular Concert | 20 March | Pops | |||
Mary Münchhoff | 20 March | Voice | has not attained the technique for the coloratura fach, needs work | BP 4.11.1899 | |
Alessandro Certani and Otto Klemperer | 21 March | Mixed | Porpora, Nardini, Veracini | first performance from old Italian manuscripts the orchestra was not free of problems these works are not going to awaken interest in old music biz | Mozartsaal; BP 24.2.1910 |
Gregor Fitelberg | 21 March | Mixed | His “Das Lied vom Falken” | composers from Warsaw phil orch | Beethovensaal; BP 30.3.1906 |
Marianne Heinemann | 21 March | Piano | d'Albert, Schumann, Beethoven, Chopin | good BBZ; shouldn’t be giving concerts yet DM | |
Ludwig Wüllner, popular Liederabend | 21 March | Voice | Strauss, Schillings, Wagner, Anna Cramer | Schillings hexenlied, his 7th concert of the season; Veen played violin obligato on Strauss Notturno | Philharmonie |
Joachim Quartet | 21 Mar | Chamber | 4th of 2nd cycle (?) | ||
9th Königliche Kapelle concert Sinding symphony | 22 March | Mixed | Sinding, Wagner, Prelude to Tristan Beethoven, 7th Symphony | did not make a good impression lacks contrast, he has written much, much better music EE Taubert | |
Robert Robitschek, cond. | 22 March | Mixed | Humperdinck, Shakespeare pieces, Philipp Scharwenka | phil orchestra Dvorak golden spinning wheel Robitscheck: the conductor is more interesting as a composer | Singakademie |
Teresa Carreño | 22 March | Piano | smetana, am seegestade mac dowell,chopin, mozart, Brahms op. 79 | Marvelous still youthful, stylish, technique is wonderful very big ovation | Philharmonie; BP 18.11.1889; BP 1916 |
Zickner & Zarembska | March 22 | Mixed | Pianist Wanda Z good, Elisabeth Z mediocre | Bechstein | |
Antonia Dolores | 22 March | Voice | is adored in Australia; voice is dry and sharp | ||
Klingler Quartet | 23 March | Chamber | Glazunov, Brahms, Mozart | their last concert of the series: brahms op 18 Mozart quintet E-flat James Bruce, cello: F. Rückward viola | Bechstein |
Melanie Michaelis | 23 March | Violin | Sinding, Reger | Vieuxtemps, Tartini with phil orch. Got stage fright and needs to work on her Tonbildung | Singakademie; BP 9.2.1906; |
Luise Geller-Wolter, 3rd | 23 March | Voice | Schubert, Wolf, Strauss | Behm | BP 4.3.1893 (1863-1934) |
Hauptprobe Philharmonisches Orchester | 24 March | Mixed | |||
Philharmonic Popular Concert | 24 March | Pops | ? | ||
Sven Scholander | 24 March | Voice | |||
Extra philharmonic concert | 25 March | Mixed | Liebestod, Mozart Constanze aria | Benefit for pension fund Lilli Lehmann | |
Günther Freudenberg | 25 March | Piano | Schumann op. 17, Taubert op. 68, Raff, Liszt, Chopin, Scarlatti, Weber | Mozartsaal | |
Gertrud Meisner | 25 March | Voice | with Alexander Heinemann; ok | ||
Lydia Illyna | 25 March | Voice | 2nd | ||
Paul Reimers | 25 March | Voice | |||
St John Passion | March 26 | Choral | G. Schumann: Singakademie | Clara Erler, Felix Senius, Messchaert, F Lederer Prina | Senius BP 11.12.1905; L-P BP 17.11.1926 |
popular Beethoven Abend | 26 March | Chamber | Beethoven, op. 70 “Geister” | Holländische Trio, Klara Erler, Anton SIstermanns, Leo Gollantin | Scottish and Irish songs |
Concert at Zoo Exhibition hall | 26 March | Mixed | Mendelssohn, Paulus | orch and chorus, soloists, 300 performers | Benefit for “Berlin” disaster |
Hugo del Carril | 26 March | Piano | Beethoven, Bach, Schumann, Liszt | Symphonic etudes, b minor sonata; Appasionata, Bach fugue | BP 21.11.1904 |
Alexander Sebald | 26 March | Violin | Paganini 24 caprices all of them for the first time accomplished successfully | 3rd | 1869-1934; Concertmaster of Königl. Kapelle 1904; C. Thomson student, Hungarian |
Hilde La Harpe | 26 March | Voice | vocal and recitative | ||
Mariannina l'Huiller | 27 March | Piano | Merrick B. Hildebrandt, violin | ||
Philharmonic Popular Concert | 27 March | Pops | |||
Hermann Gura | 27 March | Voice | Löwe Abend: 25th anniversary of the Löwe Verein | BP 27.11.1902 | |
Piano Trio | 28 March | Pops | with Joachim, Klingler, Halir, Mühlfeld (their last concert?) | ||
Elias | 29 March | Choral | Mendelssohn | neues Schauspielhaus mozart orchestra Heinemann, Werner Alberti | |
Paulus | 29 March | Choral | Mendelssohn | ||
St Matthew Passion | 29 March | Choral | Bach | Schumann; Also 28th; Tilly Koenen, Messchaert, Lederer-Prina | Phil Orch |
Good Friday concert | 29 March | Mixed | Mozart g minor piano quartet; Beethoven Septet | Chamber music of Mozart orch soloists; KM Paul Prill played piano on Mozart; Helene Staegemann | |
Paulus 2nd time | 30 March | Choral | Mendelssohn | ||
Xth Beethoven 9 | 30 March | Mixed | Thuille, Mozart, g minor symphony, Beethoven | 9th symphony Last Königliche Kapelle concert | Something more interest may be in store for us next season, but certainly nothing better (Taubert, FW is leaving) |
ok, so the next thing you need to look at is ticket prices in relation to income. In other words, how affordable would it have been for a middle class employee to go to a concert, say, once or twice a week? In the absence of sound reproduction equipment and the cost of buying recordings, could the average music lover have been able to get their fill of music without having to resort to their own instrument at home?
I have the sense that it was not that different from today. I read in a tourist guide that in 1901 Berlin, the price for a “cuvert”at a first class restaurant would be about 80 Pfennigs, while a Straßenbahn ticket was 10 pfennigs. Roughly speaking, the “popular” concerts were an average of 1 Mark. So if you went out to dinner once a week, you could just as well go to a concert, and maybe you could afford both.
How much did the middle class earn? A report from 1907 gave the average salary of a musician in the Hamburg opera orchestra as 150 M. a month, while in Frankfurt, it was 1938 M. a year. It gets complicated to work out how much that was in our terms. If you would consult the website “Measuring Worth” https://www.measuringworth.com, perhaps you could report back to me.
While I am working on your assignment, my other thought was how interesting the programming is. There seems to be an equal commitment to building/maintaining a canon as well as trying out new works. Is that the impression you are getting?
That’s a very difficult question. There was plenty of cultural despair. But yes, I do get the impression that many different kinds of new music got a healthy amount of performances, audiences, and reviews.