Meiningen Court Orchestra

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Meiningen Court Orchestra
Orchestra
Meiningen Court Orchestra playing a symphony concert under the baton of Philippe Bach, July 2013
Founded	1690
Concert hall	Meiningen Court Theatre
Principal conductor	Philippe Bach
Website	das-meininger-theater.de

The Meiningen Court Orchestra (German: Meininger Hofkapelle) is one of the oldest and most traditional orchestras in Europe. Since 1952 the now 68-member orchestra has been affiliated to the Meiningen Court Theatre and in addition to their opera performances regularly give symphony concerts and youth concerts. The incumbent music director (GMD) is Philippe Bach.

History

The

In 1867 the Court Orchestra under principal conductor Emil Blücher together with Franz Liszt held a festival of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein (General German Music Association) promoting contemporary composers like Leopold Damrosch, Eduard Lassen, Felix Draeseke, and Robert Volkmann. At Richard Wagner's request, the orchestra performed at the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876.

With the succession of

• (1690–1702) Bernhard I of Saxe-Meiningen
• (1702–1707) Georg Caspar Schürmann
• (1711–1731) Johann Ludwig Bach
• (1865–1880) Emil Büchner
• (1880–1885) Hans von Bülow
• (1885–1886) Richard Strauss
• (1886–1903) Fritz Steinbach
• (1903–1911) Wilhelm Berger
• (1911–1914) Max Reger
• (1915–1920) Karl Piening
• (1926–1930) Heinz Bongartz
• (1945–?) Peter Schmitz
• (1956–1961) Rolf Reuter
• (1961–1967) Olaf Koch
• (1967–1995) Wolfgang Hocke
• (1995–1999) Marie-Jeanne Dufour
• (1999–2004) Kirill Petrenko
• (2004-2007) Alan Buribayev
• (2007–2010) Hans Urbanek
• (2010–Present) Philippe Bach

World premiere of works

• Brahms – Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 (October 25, 1885)
• Strauss – Suite in Bb major (suite for wind) Op. 4 (November 18, 1884)

Notable instrumentalists

• Richard Mühlfeld – Violinist (1873–1876), Principal clarinettist (1876–?)
• Gustave Knoop – Cellist
• Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer
  – Cellist (1801–1805)
• Richard Bruno Heydrich – Contrabassist