Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe

The Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe, a concert and opera orchestra, is part of the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, Germany. The origins of the orchestra trace back to a court chapel mentioned in 1662 of the Margraves of Baden-Durlach.

From 1712 to 1718, the Venetian Giuseppe Beniventi served as Kapellmeister in Durlach. His successor, who became the first Kapellmeister after moving to Karlsruhe, was Johann Philipp Käfer (1672–1726), who was dismissed in 1722 due to disputes over his salary. His successor was Johann Melchior Molter (1669–1765), who had been a violinist in the chapel since 1717. To support Molter, the Margrave financed a two-year study trip to Italy, where he stayed from 1719 to 1721 and studied under Alessandro Scarlatti, among others. Molter wrote numerous compositions as Kapellmeister, almost all of which are preserved in the Karlsruhe Library to this day. During Molter’s time, the composer Sebastian Bodinus (~1700–1759) was also a member of the court chapel.

In 1733, the court chapel was dissolved as the Margrave moved to his Basel court due to the War of the Polish Succession. All musicians, including the Kapellmeister, were dismissed. After initially finding a position in Eisenach, Molter reapplied in Karlsruhe and became Kapellmeister of the newly formed court chapel again in 1743, a position he held until his death in 1765. Many of his compositions from this time were for smaller ensembles, as the court chapel had few musicians due to financial reasons, including flutist, oboist and clarinetist Johann Reusch, trumpeter Friedrich Pfeifer, and viola da gamba virtuoso Johann Gottlieb Bendorf, Molter’s son-in-law.

Molter’s successor as Kapellmeister in 1765 was Giacinto Schiatti from Ferrara. After the extinction of the Margraves of Baden-Baden in 1771 and the dissolution of their court chapel in Rastatt, its members, along with their Kapellmeister Joseph Aloys Schmittbaur (1718–1809), joined the Karlsruhe chapel. During this time, the Margravine Karoline Luise also joined the chapel as a harpsichordist. The orchestra was especially supported during the reign of Margrave Karl Friedrich and the Margravine and patron Karoline Luise.

Schmittbaur, who did not want to work under Schiatti, moved to Cologne in 1775, and after Schiatti’s death in 1777, he took over the direction of the Baden court chapel. During his leadership, the composer Friedrich Schwindl (1737–1786) and Mozart’s student Christian Franz Danner (1757–1813) were Kapellmeisters of the court chapel.

After the elevation of the Margraviate of Baden to a Grand Duchy, the orchestra was integrated under the name “Großherzoglich Badische Hofkapelle” into the newly founded Grand Ducal State Theater of Karlsruhe in 1808, becoming the leading orchestra of the country. When Bruchsal also came under his rule, the Episcopal Chapel of Bruchsal was integrated into the Karlsruhe court chapel in 1805. Johann Evangelist Brandl (1760–1837), a violinist and composer of operas, church and chamber music, and songs, came from there to Karlsruhe and initially became co-leader with Danner, later the sole leader of the court chapel.

In 1812, Franz Danzi (1763–1826) became Kapellmeister. Notable members of this time were the concertmaster and composer Friedrich Ernst Fesca (1789–1826). Danzi’s successor was the Moravian-born violinist Joseph Strauß (1793–1866), a student of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. From Strauß, who led the court chapel until 1863, came operas, symphonies, chamber music, and songs. During his time, the court chapel experienced numerous artistic highlights, including the performance of works by Weber, Meyerbeer, and especially the three Wagner operas Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, and The Flying Dutchman, together with the Intendant Eduard Devrient. Kapellmeister from 1826 to 1840 was the Bohemian composer and violin virtuoso Franz Pecháček (1793–1840).

In 1853, Franz Liszt conducted Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Karlsruhe, and in 1863, Richard Wagner stood at the podium of the Badische Staatskapelle, conducting his own works.

A year later, in 1864, Hermann Levi became Kapellmeister in Karlsruhe together with Wilhelm Kalliwoda, the music director since 1853. Levi was a close confidant of Richard Wagner and later conducted the premiere of Parsifal. Levi moved to Munich in 1872. After an interim period with the conductor Max Zenger, who led the court chapel for a year together with Kalliwoda, Felix Otto Dessoff took over the chapel in 1875. In 1876, the 1st Symphony by Johannes Brahms was premiered under Dessoff’s direction by the court chapel. During Dessoff’s era, Josef Ruzek (1834–1891), known as a composer of men’s choirs, was second Kapellmeister.

Dessoff’s successor was Felix Mottl, who as a Wagnerian particularly cultivated the work of his master, giving the court theater the reputation of a “Little Bayreuth.” During this time, about a third of the Karlsruhe musicians regularly participated in the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. In addition, he also performed works by Bruckner, Chabrier, Cornelius, and Liszt. Under Mottl’s direction, the opera Les Troyens (The Trojans) by Berlioz premiered in Karlsruhe in December 1890. In 1913, Richard Strauss conducted his own operas and orchestral works in Karlsruhe.

In 1926, the Austrian conductor Josef Krips became Mottl’s successor at 24 years old, becoming the youngest General Music Director in Germany at the time. Karl Böhm, Otto Klemperer, George Szell, and others had also applied for the position in Karlsruhe, which was evidently highly coveted in the 1920s. Krips continued the Wagner and Bruckner tradition of his predecessor but also played many contemporary works by Béla Bartók, Paul Hindemith, and Hans Pfitzner. Works and operas by Richard Strauss, who repeatedly guest-conducted his own works in Karlsruhe in the 1920s, were also often performed.

Krips left in 1933 for political reasons and due to harassment by the Nazis (one parent was Jewish) and returned to Vienna, where he was banned from performing by the Nazis between 1938 and 1945. After 1945, he was significantly involved in the reorganization of the Vienna State Opera.

In 1933, the orchestraIn 1933, the orchestra received its current name and since then has also been conducted by notable guest conductors such as Werner Egk, Wolfgang Fortner, and Michael Tippett. From 1935 to 1940, Joseph Keilberth, born in Karlsruhe, was General Music Director (GMD), later leading the Sächsische Staatsoper in Dresden and the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. After the Baden State Opera and Theater were destroyed in the war in 1944, the Staatskapelle had a provisional venue at the Konzerthaus Karlsruhe from 1945/46 until the new building opened in 1975.

The new building of the Badisches Staatstheater was inaugurated in 1975 with a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Concurrently, a new concept of festival culture was introduced. Since 1978, the Händel Festspiele have been held in Karlsruhe, and since 1983, the European Cultural Days. In 1989, Günter Neuhold became the new GMD. Under Neuhold, the Staatskapelle made several CD recordings, including Brahms’ 1st Symphony premiered in Karlsruhe in 1876 in its original version, and Mahler’s 1st Symphony in the rarely played five-movement original version, as well as Le Sacre du Printemps by Igor Stravinsky and a critically acclaimed complete recording of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. His successor Kazushi Ōno (GMD from 1996 to 2002) also recorded rarely performed works by Masataka Matsuo, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Wolfgang Rihm.

From 2002 to 2008, the British conductor Anthony Bramall was GMD, recording excerpts of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen on a double CD. From 2008 to 2020, the British Justin Brown was GMD, also appearing as a concert pianist and conductor with the Staatskapelle, such as on November 29, 2010, with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite No. 1, Concerto for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra, and 10th Symphony.

In 2012, the Badische Staatskapelle celebrated its 350th anniversary. A CD recording of Mahler’s 9th Symphony conducted by Justin Brown was highly acclaimed in the anniversary year. In 2020, Georg Fritzsch became General Music Director of the Badische Staatskapelle, which was only able to work in a very limited capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Wikipedia