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Any history of Sondershausen will refer alternately to its role as the seat of a princely court and
as a music town. Traditions deriving from both of these have made the town of architectural and cultural
importance.The magnificent palace recalls Sondershausen as an ancient feudal seat, while the music cultured by the princely line still lives on in the symphony orchestra of the town. The Loh-Orchester Sondershausen was originally founded in 1637 as a court orchestra. Liszt considered the Loh-Orchester Sondershausen one of the most distinguished orchestras in Germany after the debut of his Dante Symphony and Symphony-Poem Hamlet. Max Bruch came to Sondershausen in 1870 as conductor of the court orchestra and gave a first performance of his Violin Concerto in G minor. In addition to Bruch, Liszt and Reger, other great musicians such as Spohr and Heinrich Marschner were freqeuent guests of the orchestra with numerous opera performances. The Royal Conservatory, too, was staffed with international pedagogues, notably Willy Burmester, Federic Lamond and Wilhelm Backhaus. In the end this led to the founding of the State College of Music. Perhaps the most famous member of the board of trustees there was Frutwängler. This tradition is continued in the Sondershausen Music Festival, concerts of the Loh-Orchester Sondershausen, civic concerts as well as in international mastercourses. |
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