Leipzig V - Gewandhaus/Opera

I was fortunate to be in Leipzig when both the opera and the Gewandhaus Orchestra were in town and had concerts. I attended two Gewandhaus Orchestra performances and one opera performance.

As I write this, the orchestra has departed and is on a US tour. If you get a chance to go, don't miss it. (Patricia, they're at Carnegie Hall the end of February.) The Gewandhaus is the oldest public orchestra in the world. Leipzig has a wonderfully long connection with the arts, and they really do appreciate the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Starting with Mendelssohn, they have had some of the most distinguished conductors in the world. I have heard of all of the following, except for the Nazi/Communist years, the four between Bruno Walter and Kurt Masur. Here is the list:

1835 - 1847 -- Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

1848-1854 -- Julius Rietz (I haven't heard of him)

1860-1895 -- Carl Reinecke

1895-1922 -- Arthur Nikisch

1922-1928 -- Wilhelm Furtwangler

1929-1033-- Bruno Walter

1934-1945--Hermann Abendroth

1946-1949--Herbert Albert

1949-1962--Franz Konwitschny

1964-1968--Vaclav Neumann

1970-1996--Kurt Masur ----keep this name in mind in the Nikolai Church post.

1998-2005--Herbert Blomstedt

2005-present--Ricardo Chailly

This is an impressive list of conductors.

When Mendelssohn was negotiating for the job he made it clear he intended to be in charge of the orchestra and conduct with baton and "lead." Prior to his time, conductors shared leadership with the musicians, and after Mendelssohn was hired he conducted with his baton and directed the performance. He was the first "modern" conductor. In Monteverdi's time, "conductors" stood off stage and more or less "beat" time with a cane -- they were definitely a less public part of the production than today.

The program for the Gewandhaus performance on Friday night was:

Beethoven, Leonora Overture No 3

Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto (Nikolj Znaider)

Dvorak, Symphone No. 9 -- From the New World.

The program for Saturday night was the same, except substitute

Brahms Symphony No. 2 for the Dvorak.

Leipzigers really love their Gewandhaus -- both nights Znaider played as encore a Bach unaccompanied partita, which was very beautifully played, and chosen to not elicit another encore; and after the symphonies the orchestra encored with another Beethoven overture, Egmont, I think.

Sunday night at the opera was Prokofiev, Love For Three Oranges. All I can say is it got me inside the opera building to check it out. Prokofiev thought operas should not be a series of arias separated by mundane stalling -- he thought he could tell a story without arias. Indeed he could, but so could Wagner, and much as I do not admire Wagner, at least there are some moments in Wagner operas we like to listen to, albeit few and far between. For Drei Orangen, once you get past the march, "they ain't nothin" as we say in the south.

In the Gewandhaus, at the very front, is a hugh pipe organ. Inscribed over it are words of Seneca the Younger: res severa verum gaudium, which more or less mean "true joy is serious business." Pretty much sums up my trip to Leipzig.