The Lower Rhenish Music Festival (German: Das Niederrheinische Musikfest) was one of the most important

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

s of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

, which happened every year between 1818 and 1958, with few exceptions, at

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...

for 112 times.

History

In the year 1817 Johann Schornstein, the musical director at

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

, organized a music festival in his town, in which he was assisted by the musicians from

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

under their conductor Friedrich August Burgmüller. During this festival the idea was born by Schornstein and Burgmüller to repeat this event every year alternately between their cities. In the year 1821 the musicians from

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and 1825 from

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

participated, but with the performance 1827 the responsible persons of Elberfeld decided to stop their commitment, because the town was not up to manage the rush of musicians and guests. This festival continued up to 1958 and took place 112 times. Only during the period of the

Revolutions of 1848 in the German states In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elemen ...

and the First and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the meeting was interrupted. After the last war in the year 1948 Cologne resigned out of this cycle of the music festival, whereas the cities

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

, a fusion of Elberfeld and

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

, and

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

acceded to this meeting. But in the year 1958 the festival was closed definitely, because in the meantime some other regional music festivals were founded. At the beginning the Lower Rhenish Music Festival continued two days and from the year 1826 one day more, every year during Whitsuntide. Temporary in 1834 the king

Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William III (; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, when the empire was dissolved ...

interdicted this performance on Whitsun for religious reasons, but by the intercession of his nephew prince Frederick of Prussia, an art enthusiast and protector of the art societies of Düsseldorf, the festival regained permission with some restrictions.

Characteristics

From the beginning the Lower Rhenish Music Festival apprehended as a societal and cultural culmination on a highly artistically level. To the home and foreign guests, politicians, business people and members of the high nobility there were presented all the compositions, which played a significant role at that time. In addition to the local music directors many important conductors, composers and soloists were engaged as director of the festivals. Again and again the stage was used for the performance of world and national premieres and also for the presentation of new versions by known or unknown artists. The focus comprised the music of the last epochs of the

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...

, the Viennese classical as well as the

Romantic Music Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the ...

and later of the

20th-century classical music 20th-century classical music is Western art music that was written between the years 1901 and 2000, inclusive. Musical style diverged during the 20th century as it never had previously, so this century was without a dominant style. Modernism, i ...

. There were performed the great

symphonic poems A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

chorale A chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one o ...

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s and here and there

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

. This implicated that sometimes the participation of more than 500 musicians. On one side the high number of musicians and the foreign guests connoted a lucrative revenue stream but on the other side also a logistical challenge and risk for the organization.

Chronology

The table lists the chronology of the Lower Rhenish Music Festival, compiled from a selection of reliable sources.

Literature (selection)

* Literaturverzeichnis der Rheinischen Musikfeste in der Bibliothek des Beethovenhauses Bonn
Beethoven-Haus Bonn / literature, sheet music, audiovisual media - Short entries of query results
* Lutz Felbick: ''Daten der Aachener Musikgeschichte: Chronologie und Bibliographie'', Stadt Aachen 1993

* Alf, Julius: ''Geschichte und Bedeutung der Niederrheinischen Musikfeste in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jh.''; Nachdruck aus: ''Düsseldorfer Jahrbuch''. 42. 1940 und 43. 1941. Düsseldorf, 1978, * Dohm, Rudolf: ''Aachens Beitrag zur Musikgeschichte''; in 105. Niederrheinisches Musikfest 1950 in Wuppertal. S. 31–45. * Programme sämtlicher in Aachen abgehaltener (Niederrheinischer) Musikfeste (von 1825 - 1879). in: ''Aachener Calender für das Jahr 1880''. S. 107–119. und in: ''Musik, Theater und Kunst im Jahre 1878/79''. S. 97–101. * Sietz, Reinhold: ''Das 35. Rheinische Musikfest 1857 unter dem Dirigenten Franz Liszt''; in: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsverein (ZAGV). 69. 1957. S. 79–110. * Sietz, Reinhold: ''Das Niederrheinische Musikfest 1834 zu Aachen''; in: ZAGV. 70. 1958. S. 167–191. * Sietz, Reinhold: ''Die Niederrheinischen Musikfeste in Aachen in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jh.''; in: ZAGV. 72. 1960. . * Julius Alf: ''Das Niederrheinische Musikfest in Wuppertal. "Moderne Musik" in Geschichte und Gegenwart''; in: ''Beiträge zur Rheinischen Musikgeschichte'', Köln/Krefeld 005, 1952 * Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller: ''Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy und das Niederrheinische Musikfest 1835 in Köln''; in: ''Beiträge zur Rheinischen Musikgeschichte'', Köln/Krefeld 0625, 1952 * Ursula Eckart-Bäcker: ''Friedrich Nietzsche als Sänger in Köln. Berichte über das 42. Niederrheinische Musikfest 1865''; in: ''Beiträge zur Rheinischen Musikgeschichte'', Köln/Krefeld 062, 1952 * Julius Alf: ''Das Niederrheinische Musikfest nach 1945. Ausklang einer Jahrhundert-Tradition'', in: ''Düsseldorfer Jahrbuch'' 57/58, 1980, S. 472–497 * Willibald Gurlitt: ''Robert Schumann und die Romantik in der Musik, 106. Niederrheinisches Musikfest in Düsseldorf'', Jahrbuch 1951, S. 13–52. - Nachdruck 1966

Websites

DNB, Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek

Heimatverein Düsseldorfer Jonges e. V.
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110719085302/http://www.staedtischermusikvereinduesseldorf.de/lebenslauf/lebenslauf_druck.php
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung – Wikisource
{{Authority control Classical music festivals in Germany Defunct music festivals Music in Düsseldorf Music in Cologne Aachen Culture in Wuppertal 1818 in music Festivals established in 1818 Music festivals established in the 19th century 1818 establishments in Prussia 1958 disestablishments in West Germany