The Odeon is a former concert hall in the

Odeonsplatz The Odeonsplatz is a large square in central Munich which was developed in the early 19th century by Leo von Klenze and is at the southern end of the Ludwigstraße, developed at the same time. The square is named for the former concert hall, ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, which is named after it. Built in the early 19th century to a design by

Leo von Klenze Leo von Klenze (born Franz Karl Leopold von Klenze; 29 February 1784 – 26 January 1864) was a German architect and painter. He was the court architect of Ludwig I of Bavaria. Von Klenze was a devotee of Neoclassicism and one of the mo ...

and forming a counterpoint to the externally identical

Palais Leuchtenberg The Palais Leuchtenberg, (known between 1853 and 1933 as the Luitpold Palais or Prinz Luitpold Palais) built in the early 19th century for Eugène de Beauharnais, first Duke of Leuchtenberg, is the largest palace in Munich. Located on the west s ...

, it was rebuilt after being almost totally destroyed in

World War II 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 ...

and now houses the

Bavarian Ministry of the Interior The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, Sport and Integration () is the interior ministry of Bavaria. It is headquartered in Munich, and was established on November 21, 1806 as the ''Departement des Innern''. The first Minister of the Interior wa ...

History

The Odeon was built in 1826–1828 on a commission from King

Ludwig I of Bavaria Ludwig I or Louis I (; 25 August 1786 – 29 February 1868) was King of Bavaria from 1825 until the German revolutions of 1848–49, 1848 revolutions in the German states. When he was crown prince, he was involved in the Napoleonic Wars. As ki ...

and was originally a concert hall and ballroom. Klenze designed the exterior as an identical counterpart to that of the Palais Leuchtenberg, so that there was no outward indication of its function.Geschichte des Odeons: von Leo von Klenze bis heute
,

, with historical photographs and plan. The

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

, which measured and seated 1,445, had two superimposed colonnades which provided access on the ground floor and a gallery with standing room, and a ceiling high with a skylight.Hermann Alexander von Berlepsch, ''Munich: Its Art-treasures and Curiosities; Supplement to Every Travelling Guide'', Munich, 1871,
p. 45
The orchestra was accommodated in a semi-circular

exedra An exedra (: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architecture, architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek word ''ἐξέδρα'' ('a seat ou ...

, behind which in niches were busts by Johannes Leeb of the ten composers then considered most important in the history of music:

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

Gluck Christoph Willibald ( Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire at ...

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

Vogler Vogler may refer to: People * Vogler (surname), a list of people with the surname Vogler * Vogler Quartet Places * Vogler (hill range), a hill range in the Central Uplands of Germany * Vogler Peak, rock peak in Antarctica * Vogler Air Base

, Méhul,

Weber Weber may refer to: Places United States * Weber, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Weber City, Virginia, a town * Weber City, Fluvanna County, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Weber County, Utah * Weber Canyon, Utah * Weber R ...

Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa (; 17 December 1749 – 11 January 1801) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School and of the Classical period. He wrote more than eighty operas, the best known of which is ''Il matrimonio segreto'' (1792); most of his ...

and

Winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

. The ceiling was decorated with

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es in the Nazarene style: ''Apollo among the Muses'' by Wilhelm Kaulbach, ''Apollo among the Herdsmen'' by Adam Eberle and ''The Judgement of Midas'' by

Hermann Anschütz Hermann Anschütz (12 October 1802 – 30 August 1880) was a German painter and professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Anschütz was born in Koblenz. His father Jos ...

. The hall, which has been called "one of the most extraordinary classical architectural solutions of the concert hall", had excellent acoustics and was popular with the public. The building was gutted in an air raid on the night of 25 April 1944. Beginning in 1951, it was rebuilt by

Josef Wiedemann Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) * ''Josef'' (film), a 2011 Croatian war film *Musik Josef Musik Josef is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It was founded by Yukio Nakamura and is the only company in Japan spec ...

to house the Ministry of the Interior. Recreation of the façade took until 1954. The former auditorium became an interior courtyard. Numerous lovers of music and architecture asked for it to be restored as a concert space, but this was not technically or financially feasible. The preservationist and architect

Erwin Schleich Erwin Schleich (20 April 1925 – 13 August 1992) was a German architect, architectural conservator, and architectural historian known for his post-war reconstruction of buildings and monuments in Munich. Biography Erwin Schleich was born in M ...

campaigned for it to be recreated on the site of the Palais Leuchtenberg, also destroyed in the war, but despite widespread support organised by the ''Arbeitskreis Odeon'' (Odeon Working Group) formed by Schleich in 1960, that plan was also rejected. It pitted preservationists who argued that such a recreation would be a "forgery" against those like Schleich who valued "social utility" over authenticity. In 2003–06, the courtyard was covered with a glazed roof (a

gridshell A gridshell is a structure which derives its strength from its double curvature (in a similar way that a fabric structure derives strength from double curvature), but is constructed of a grid or lattice. The grid can be made of any materia ...

) by the architecture firm of Ackermann and Partner."Hofüberdachung des ODEONs von Leo von Klenze, München: 2003 - 2006"
Ackermann und Partner , retrieved 3 March 2013.

References

External links

* Heinrich Habel
Klenzes Odeon—zur Baugeschichte und Typologie
Bavarian Ministry of the Interior (pdf) * Robert Münster
117 Jahre klingendes Leben im Odeon
Bavarian Ministry of the Interior (pdf) ; originally published in ''Musik in Bayern'' 61 (2001) 53–64. * Josef Wiedemann
Der Wiederaufbau des Odeons, 1950–51
Bavarian Ministry of the Interior (pdf) {{coord, 48.143484, 11.576801, region:DE-BY_type:landmark, display=title, 1828 establishments in Bavaria Buildings and structures completed in 1828 Buildings and structures in Munich Maxvorstadt Leo von Klenze buildings Ludwig I of Bavaria

History

References

Further reading

External links