Boston Symphony Orchestra memorabilia

After meeting the cost of the orchestra and formulating the management policy for the orchestra, Higginson hired George henschel as its first conductor and gathered 68 musicians as its earliest members, most of whom were German. The band's first performance season after its establishment included 20 formal concerts on Saturday night and 20 public rehearsals on the previous Friday afternoon, although the practice of public rehearsals was soon abolished. 18811kloc-0/October 22nd, Boston Symphony Orchestra's first public concert was held as scheduled, which naturally aroused great public enthusiasm. In the first performance season, the audience reached 83,359, and even every concert was full at the end. In the second season, the audience reached 1 1 1770.

In the early days of its establishment, Boston Symphony Orchestra once performed in the city's concert hall. This place, which was built in 1852, was replaced by the new symphony concert hall in 1900+00+00+09. The symphonic concert hall designed by McJim was assisted by sound engineer Sabine in the preparation process, which is the first time that sound professionals have participated in similar buildings in the United States. Since then, this hall, which can accommodate 2,645 people, has become a permanent place in Boston Symphony Orchestra. Henschel, the first conductor of the orchestra, left after three years in office. After him, all the conductors in charge of Boston Symphony Orchestra also had a strong German-Austrian background, which made this growing orchestra show an obvious German-Austrian tendency. Its accurate playing style and rigorous musical style constitute the most distinctive features of the orchestra. As the chief conductor from 1906 to 1908 and from 19 12 to18, Karl Muk played a vital role in the development of the orchestra, and he raised the orchestra to the world level. Under the leadership of Mu Ke, Boston Symphony Orchestra became the first American band to record music. On June 5438+09 17, 10 recorded the three preferred songs for Victory Records Company, including the last movement of Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, the March of the Army in the first suite and the prelude to the third act of Wagner's Lohengreen. An excited critic wrote: "This is simply unparalleled ... unprecedented, and there will be no one after it."

However, the command of Fengtian ended tragically after the beginning of World War I. During his stay in Berlin, he was a friend of William II. After the war broke out, he showed a pro-German tendency and refused to play the Stars and Stripes at the beginning of a concert, which led him to be arrested and imprisoned as a German spy in his home in Boston. Although Higginson gave him strong support, he was not free until after the war. Almost at the same time, some outstanding German musicians in the orchestra were also dismissed, which caused chaos to the orchestra. Under such circumstances, 84-year-old Higginson felt unable to support the situation independently, so he handed over the management of the orchestra to the Council and retired himself.

Since Pierre Monte was the chief conductor in 19 19, more and more modern works have appeared in concerts in Boston Symphony Orchestra, among which Stravinsky's Sacrifice to Spring is a controversial work. After Mont's first year in office, there was a trade union movement in the orchestra, and about one-third of the orchestra members refused to attend a concert to express their demands for higher wages, thus conflicting with the tough attitude of the Council. As a result of this trade union movement, 30 of the 96 musicians resigned, which made the orchestra face a serious disintegration crisis. In this case, Monte reorganized the structure of the orchestra, re-recruited personnel, and a large number of young American musicians entered the orchestra, making it a thriving scene. Boston Symphony Orchestra joined the Musicians Union as late as 1942, and was the last of the major orchestras in the United States.

Although it was deeply regrettable that 1924 Monte left the orchestra, Sergei Kuseviski, who later joined the orchestra, did fundamentally change the orchestra during his 25-year term and became the most outstanding orchestra in the world at that time. Kuseviski's era is marked by a series of unusual contract works: Bartok, berezovsky, Brice, Britten, Grica Ninov, Yi Beier, Mali pierrot, Mi Yue, Ravel, Cherepin, Vera Lobos, Walton and a series of other composers who occupied an extremely prominent position in the 20th century all wrote for Boston Symphony Orchestra. In the performance season of its 50th anniversary, the orchestra has performed works dedicated to the orchestra by Copland, Hill, Hindemity, Oneig, prokofiev, Autorino ottorino respighi and Russell, as well as Stravinsky's Symphony of Poetry. Many American composers, including ballantine, Barber, Diamond, Firth, Grievous, Gorenberg, Soapy, Steinet and Tansman, have benefited a lot from Boston Symphony Orchestra and his visionary conductor. For many years since 1926, concerts on Saturday nights have been broadcast live to the public. In the era of serge koussevitzky, Boston Symphony Orchestra also started a tradition, that is, music activities in summer. During the intermission of the music season, the orchestra will hold a six-week Xia Bo Music Festival in Tanglewood, dedicated to playing relaxed orchestral works. During this period, all performers except those in charge of each voice will perform popular works such as popular sketches and music adaptations in classical music in the name of Boston Pop Orchestra. From 1930, the conductor in charge of this performance is Arthur Federer. 1940, Kusevitski founded the Xia Bo Music Center, realizing the ideal of Higginson, the founder of the orchestra, and establishing a school for training musicians. This summer music school gathers young students from all over the world every year. They are taught face to face by musicians of the orchestra. So far, this school has sent a large number of outstanding playing talents to the world. After 1964, every summer, the head of the orchestra 12 also formed a chamber orchestra to play chamber music works.

1942, the serge koussevitzky foundation related to the orchestra was established, which continued to support American and even global composers by entrusting or providing subsidies. Entrusted by this foundation, the French composer Mei Xian completed the Turan Gali Symphony on 1948, and made its world premiere in Boston Symphony Orchestra under the command of Bernstein in 65438+February the following year.

When Kusevitski retired from his 25-year tenure, Frenchman Charles Monche succeeded him as the new chief conductor. Although he inherited the best orchestra at that time from his predecessor, Meng Qi and serge koussevitzky were completely different figures. Serge koussevitzky has an authority that can't be ignored in front of the orchestra. He took great pains in rehearsing and even was extremely rude to the performers. In contrast, Monche is generous, kind and even a little shy. He always thinks of his experience as a violinist. Sometimes, he doesn't hide his grumpy and harsh criticism of Kushevsky in rehearsal. Like his predecessor, he is also very good at French music. From 195 1, Meng Qi resumed the practice of opening rehearsals to the public, which was initiated by Higginson, the founder of the orchestra, and later developed into public rehearsals on Wednesday nights and formal concerts on Friday afternoons and Saturday nights. Meng Yu 1952 led the orchestra to tour Europe for the first time, including concerts in the former Soviet Union. This is the first time that an American symphony orchestra has appeared in this country.

However, in Meng Qi's era, although Boston Symphony Orchestra was still an outstanding orchestra, it was no longer the most outstanding one, and its previous position was replaced by Cleveland Orchestra in Searle's era. From 65438 to 0962, Erich Leinsdorf became the new conductor of Boston Symphony Orchestra, which made him reach the peak of his career. Under the guidance of Monche's relaxed and expressive way, the style of this orchestra has changed greatly compared with that of serge koussevitzky's era, but Leinsdorf restored the accurate and exquisite ensemble characteristics of the orchestra in the past and expanded the repertoire, and many German and Austrian works neglected by Monche reappeared in the concert. However, the conflict with the orchestra eventually led to Leinsdorf's resignation after seven years in office.

After Wei Jian Steinberg's five-year term ended, Seiji Ozawa entered Boston Symphony Orchestra on 1973, which is one of the few examples that an Asian musician can take charge of a first-class American orchestra. Besides him, an Indian won this honor, Mehta.

Seiji Ozawa has added a layer of crystal clear feeling to this orchestra, which has been vacillating between French and German ensemble modes. The dynamic sense of mobility and clear and moving voice are the best combination of the orchestra's strong tradition and Seiji Ozawa's personal temperament. Its performance is full of aristocratic flavor, and its long history, abundant financial resources, exquisite sound hall and idyllic summer performance venue all constitute the most charming scenery of this orchestra.

However, it is undeniable that after Seiji Ozawa's term of office reached more than 20 years, some worrying phenomena appeared in Boston Symphony Orchestra. Seiji Ozawa's repertoire is too limited to the works in the later period of romanticism, and the rough interpretation and superficial musical connotation have more or less affected the status of the orchestra.