The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that ma ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria, which is located in the

Innere Stadt The Innere Stadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Innare Stod'') is the 1st municipal district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the I ...

district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the

Vienna Philharmonic The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

orchestra. The acoustics of the building's 'Great Hall' () have earned it recognition alongside other prominent concert halls, such as the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Symphony Hall in Boston. With the exception of Boston's Symphony Hall, none of these halls was built in the modern era with the application of architectural acoustics, and all share a long, tall and narrow shoebox shape.

Building

Musikverein, Viena, Austria, 2020-01-31, DD 170-172 HDR

The 's main entrance is situated on Musikvereinsplatz, between Karlsplatz and . The building is located behind the Hotel Imperial that fronts on Kärntner Ring, which is part of the

Vienna Ring Road The Vienna Ring Road (german: Ringstraße, lit. ''ring road'') is a 5.3 km (3.3 mi) circular grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic Innere Stadt (Inner Town) district of Vienna, Austria. The road is located on sites wher ...

(Ringstraße). It was erected as the new concert hall run by the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, on a piece of land provided by Emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until ...

in 1863. The plans were designed by Danish architect

Theophil Hansen Baron Theophil Edvard von Hansen (; original Danish name: Theophilus Hansen ; 13 July 1813 – 17 February 1891) was a Danish architect who later became an Austrian citizen. He became particularly well known for his buildings and structures in ...

in the Neoclassical style of an

ancient Greek temple Greek temples ( grc, ναός, naós, dwelling, semantically distinct from Latin , " temple") were structures built to house deity statues within Greek sanctuaries in ancient Greek religion. The temple interiors did not serve as meeting places, ...

, including a concert hall and a smaller

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small nu ...

hall. The building was inaugurated on 6 January 1870. A major donor was Nikolaus Dumba, an industrialist and liberal politician of Greek descent, whose name was given by the Austrian government to a small street () near the . The Great Hall (''Großer Musikvereinssaal''), also called the Golden Hall (''Goldener Saal''), is about long, wide, and high. It has 1,744 seats and standing room for 300. The Scandal Concert of 1913 was given there, and it is the venue for the annual Vienna New Year's Concert. The Great Hall's lively acoustics are primarily based on Hansen's intuition, as he could not rely on any studies on architectural acoustics. The room's rectangular shape and proportions, its boxes and sculptures allow early and numerous sound reflections. The Great Hall originally included a historic

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks' ...

built by Friedrich Ladegast. Its first organ recital was held by

Anton Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Ger ...

in 1872. The present-day instrument was originally installed in 1907 by the Austrian firm of

Rieger Orgelbau Rieger Orgelbau is an Austrian firm of organ builders, known generally as Rieger. The firm was founded by Franz Rieger. From 1873 it was known as Rieger & Söhne, and from 1879 as Gebrüder Rieger, after his sons took over. At the end of World War ...

, highly esteemed by musicians such as Franz Schmidt or Marcel Dupré, and rebuilt in 2011. In 2001, a renovation program began. Several new rehearsal halls were installed in the basement.

Halls

The names of the six halls refer to gold,

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

, glass, metal, stone and wood respectively.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Music venues completed in 1870 Cultural venues in Vienna Concert halls in Austria Vienna Philharmonic Event venues established in 1870 Buildings and structures in Innere Stadt Theophil Hansen buildings 1870 establishments in Austria