“A whiff of revolution”
An exhibition by the Zentralbibliothek Zürich at the Zurich Opera House, 2006–2007
26. August 2006 - 08. July 2007
Location
Opernhaus Zürich
Falkenstrasse 1
8008 Zürich
Opening hours
Die Ausstellungen der Zentralbibliothek im Foyer des Opernhauses Zürich werden jeweils eine Saison lang präsentiert. Sie sind während der Öffnungszeiten des Opernhauses frei zugänglich.
Anschliessend sind sie ein weiteres Jahr in der «Musikgalerie im Predigerchor» zu sehen. Die Exponate befinden sich dann im Treppenaufgang zum Lesesaal der Musikabteilung.
Conductors in Zurich in the first half of the 20th century
By Zurich standards, Erich Schmid’s (1907–2000) dedication to the music of Gustav Mahler had “a whiff of revolution” about it.
Yet other Zurich-based conductors also demonstrated that they were very much in tune with contemporary developments. The earliest among them was Friedrich Hegar (1841–1927), who transformed a provincial orchestra into a professional ensemble of international renown and was one of the first to perform works by composers such as Richard Strauss. His successor Volkmar Andreae (1879–1962) was highly regarded as an interpreter of Bruckner in particular. At the Opera House, Lothar Kempter (1844–1918) conducted the first authorised performance of Wagner’s “Parsifal” outside Bayreuth.
Zurich also enjoyed magnificent premières of a number of works by Ferruccio Busoni, Alban Berg’s “Lulu” and the stage début of Schönberg’s opera “Moses und Aron”, which had until then been regarded as unperformable.
The exhibition presents a portrait of conductors from the Opera House and Tonhalle Zürich through a highlight from their work as interpreters and a composition of their own. It reflects the broad range of their personalities, from the Romantic symphony of Robert Denzler (1892–1972) to the atonal compositions of Schönberg pupil Schmid and the operettas of Victor Reinshagen (1908–1992).
Exhibition concept: Angelika Salge
