Philharmonic named after D.D. Shostakovich

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Theaters, Concert Organizations
PHILHARMONIC, Saint Petersburg Academy, named after D.D. Shostakovich, the oldest state concert establishment. Created in 1921 on the foundation of the former Court Orchestra (until 1896 the Court Chorus, which itself was comprised of choruses from the Cavalry Guard Regiment and Life Guard Mounted Regiment in 1882), it also houses a musical library and the Museum for Musical History (collection developed by Baron K.K Stakelberg, starting in 1882; functioned as the Court Orchestra Museum from 1900). Initially, the Philharmonic included the State Orchestra (the former Court Orchestra), a piano quintette, as well as the former Court Capella Chorus, and the A.A. Arkhangelsky Chorus. In the summer of 1921, Arkhangelsky's chorus came under the control of the Department for Political Education; in 1922, the Capella became an independent establishment, and the Glazunov String Quartet replaced the quintette (until 1941). The Philharmonic was granted several buildings, including the former Noble Assembly (2 Mikhailovskaya Street). Becoming an academic organisation in 1922, the Philharmonic became part of the Artistic Department of Science until 1929; in 1929-31 it came under the control of the Sofil State Concert Society; in 1931-35 the State Association of Musical Shows and Circus Enterprises; in 1936 under the All-Union Committee for Art of the Soviet of People's Commissars of the USSR; in 1956 under the Ministry of Culture of the USSR; and since 1991 under the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. In 1936-41, the Philharmonic included the Andreev Orchestra of Russian Musical Instruments, which he founded in 1888. In 1946, the Taneev Quartet became part of the Philharmonic. In 1953, the former orchestra of the Leningrad Radio Committee (founded in 1931) became the philharmonic's second orchestra. In 1962, the Philharmonic's chamber orchestra started regular performances under the direction of L.N. Schindler. In 1975, the Philharmonic was named after D.D. Shostakovich. The Philharmonic was created for musical education and enlightenment, and for maintaining a high standard of performance. In 1925, the Philharmonic established a publishing house that published programmes: small articles or collections of materials for each concert. Some eminent musicologists worked for the Philharmonic, including A.V. Ossovsky, B.V. Asafyev, and I.I. Sollertinsky. The Philharmonic held a thematic series of lectures, lectures-concerts, and free out-door concerts, at parks and factories. In 1925, season tickets were introduced. To meet its own high standards, the Philharmonic resorted to a strict selection of invited performers - soloists, conductors, ensembles, and orchestras - and ensured the company's model position with its exceptionally high level Academic Philharmonic Orchestra (from 1934 Honoured collective of the Republic), which until the early 1980s was the best in the USSR and one of the ten best orchestras in the world. Conductors that shaped the orchestra's artistic style are E. Kuper (the first director of the Philharmonic), N.A. Malko (1926-29), A.V. Gauk (1930-33), F. Stiedry (1933-37), E.A. Mravinsky (1938-88), and Y.H. Temirkanov (from 1988). K. Sanderling worked for the Philharmonic from 1941 until 1960. The Symphony Orchestra (2nd) of the Philharmonic was directed by N.S. Rabinovich (1952-60), A.K. Yansons (1961-68), Temirkanov (1968-88), and A.S. Dmitriev (since 1988). The main concert halls include the Grand Hall (renovated in 1939, 1318 seats); and the Small Hall, which originally had 375 seats and a "portrait-foyer" in the main building, and which is now located at the former Engelgardt residence at 30 Nevsky Prospect, rebuilt by architect V. A. Kamensky, with 480 seats. From 1922 until the early 1930s the Small Hall was named after Ludwig van Beethoven, in the 1930s after Glazunov of the Leningrad Conservatory, and in 1949 after M.I. Glinka.

Reference: Ленинградская филармония: Ст. Воспоминания. Материалы / Сост. В. С. Фомин. Л., 1972.

A. L. Porfiryeva. Andreev Vasily Vasilievich
Arkhangelsky Alexander Andreevich
Asafyev Boris Vladimirovich
Beethoven Ludwig van
Dmitriev Alexander Sergeevich
Gauk Alexander Vasilievich
Glazunov Alexander Konstantinovich
Glinka Mikhail Ivanovich
Kamensky Valentin Alexandrovich
Kuper Emil Albertovich
Malko Nikolay Andreevich
Mravinsky Evgeny Alexandrovich
Ossovsky Alexander Vyacheslavovich
Rabinovich Nikolay Semenovich
Sanderling Kurt
Schindler Lev N.
Shostakovich Dmitry Dmitrievich
Sollertinsky Ivan Ivanovich
Stakelberg K.K., Baron
Stiedry Fritz
Taneev Sergey Ivanovich
Temirkanov Yury Khatuevich
Yansons Arvid Krishevich
Mikhailovskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 2
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 30
Ленинградская филармония: Ст. Воспоминания. Материалы / Сост. В. С. Фомин. Л., 1972 Museum of Music History (see Museum of Music in Sheremetev Palace)
Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory
1931
1937
1942
1949