There are many music societies but only one Musikverein. Music lovers throughout the world know it as the centre of Viennese musical culture, as the focus of the international concert circuit and as the Eldorado of classical music.

The Musikverein - a resonant name, a scintillating idea. Strictly speaking, it has a twofold meaning: the concert hall on Karlsplatz, Vienna and the society to which this building belongs, the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of Music Lovers) in Vienna. Two different things which belong inseparably together. What would the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde be without its magnificent concert hall and what would the concert hall be without the society? One name encapsulates the interplay between these two elements and brings both together: the Musikverein.

MUSIC "in all its Facets"
The "promotion of music in all its facets" - this was the foremost aim of the new society. Three important initiatives contributed towards this: the music lovers began organising their own concerts and thereby took the decisive step towards the establishment of a public concert life in Vienna. They founded their academy of music, which also made them pioneers; the society's school of music was the first public music school of all in the city of Vienna. They also recognised the necessity of systematically collecting historical musical documents.

This was the beginning of the archives of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, one of the most important music collections in the world. Of these three elements, the society has given up only one of them. The music school, which had become too small to accommodate the large numbers of students from the whole Hapsburg Empire, was taken over by the government in 1909 and as the "K.K. Akademie" was the predecessor of the present Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna. Before then the society's music school had already made history. In addition to other famous teachers, Anton Bruckner was Professor of Harmony, Counterpoint and Organ Playing. Gustav Mahler and Alexander Zemlinsky, Leos Janácek and Hugo Wolf sat on the benches of the Musikverein school. The two other activities, concert organisation and the archives, have been carried out by the society for almost two hundred years. Individual commitment has remained the driving force behind the organisation and combined with the enthusiasm of music lovers has ensured that the society still retains its personal profile. This individuality has guaranteed quality for almost two hundred years.

Classical and Modern - Concert Life
To "present the existing classical works" was, according to the first statutes, the declared aim of the society's planning of concerts. The Musikverein still feels itself bound to this maxim today. However, then as now, the avowal of the "classical" does not mean a rejection of the present. On the contrary, the Musikverein has always been a forum for the new, a place of premieres. Symphonies by Brahms and Bruckner, Tschaikovsky's Violin Concerto and Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, waltzes by Johann Strauss, and Lieder by Hugo Wolf, Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), choral and orchestral works by Richard Strauss, Webern's Passacaglia and compositions by Alban Berg all had their premieres in the Musikverein building.

This series has continued up to the present day. The society also promotes the new in a practical way, especially by commissioning new works. Classical and modern, old and new music, are combined in a programme schedule which makes the Musikverein a leading international concert organiser. Season after season the Musikverein offers subscriptions for around thirty series of concerts. Highly regarded by Vienna's music enthusiasts are the established concert series such as "The Great Symphony", the "International Orchestral and Choral Series" and the three "Master Musician" series, as well as Nikolaus Harnocourt's "Concentus Musicus" series and "Counterpoints", which specialises in the contemporary, or the "Allegretto" series for children which has tripled in size. All in all, there are around 500 concerts per year at the Musikverein - 500 opportunities to experience the Musikverein at its best.

The Main Concert Hall
As high as any expectations could be, they would still be exceeded by the first impression of the hall which displays an architectural beauty and a stylish splendour making it the only one of its kind." This was the reaction of the press to the opening of the new Musikverein building and the first concert in the Grosse Musikvereinssaal on 6 January 1870. The impression must have been overwhelming - so overwhelming that Vienna's leading critic, Eduard Hanslick, irritatingly brought up the question of whether this Grosse Musikvereinssaal "was not too sparkling and magnificent for a concert hall". "From all sides spring gold and colours." Was this splendour, as Hanslick as a shocked ascetic supposed, not a distraction from the music? Or does it rather have the exact opposite effect - as numerous music lovers have found until today - of directing the attention towards the music? The festive atmosphere of this hall throws off everything "which reminds one of everyday life", wrote one Viennese critic, Carl Eduard Schelle.

He thought that the Grosse Musikvereinssaal did not only provide the ideal atmosphere for music but was music in itself: "... in the architectural details, in the ornament, the tones of colour such as in the separation of masses a perception does in fact manifest itself which one would like to call musical; should it be possible to think of Mozart's great 'Jupiter' Symphony constructed in solid, visible forms, then this new concert hall in the Musikverein building would provide a suitable picture. Hansen and Mozart really do have related characteristics in common." The Grosse Musikvereinssaal, exactly 48.80 metres long, 19.10 metres wide and 17.75 metres high, combines the in itself static, stabile basic form of a rectangle with enlivening details. The walls and the ceiling are rhythmically arranged, forms and colours enter into an interesting interplay.

The ceiling paintings by August Eisenmenger - Apollo and the nine Muses, surrounded by allegorical figures - create a dynamic counterpoint to the dominant golden tone of the hall. Another no less attractive contrast is the plain white of the sculptures by Franz Melnitzky. The pairs of female figures, indolently elegant, moulded over the balcony doors and the organ, perfectly correspond to the straight-backed caryatids in the stalls - feminine variations in the historical interplay of the main hall. In the midst of this, the art of music takes on the concrete form of marble busts of famous composers of the past (only masters who had already died before 1870 were accepted into this illustrious gallery).

And above all this there is the row of arched windows. Daylight also plays its part in Hansen's symphony of colour. Beyond all artistic details one thing particularly distinguishes the main concert hall, its aesthetics fulfilled what the founding fathers had in mind as an idea of the Musikverein. This hall, in which each area is just as important as another, excludes nobody but rather creates connections. More than two thousand people, 1,744 seated and 300 standing, come together as one audience. To experience music among friends, this is what makes the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde so special.

A Golden Sound in the Golden Hall
At the opening concert the audience was not only impressed by the architecture. They also found the acoustics of the Grosse Musikvereinssaal to be a phenomenal achievement. This amazement has lasted until today. "If it was only a question of the Grosse Musikvereinssaal it wouldn't have been necessary to invent the microphone," wrote Hans Weigel on the one hundredth anniversary of the building. What is it that makes the music in the main concert hall sound so resonant? What is the secret of the golden sound in the golden hall? "This achievement," wrote the Viennese critic Theodor Helm as early as after the opening concert, "is partly a stroke of pure luck (unfortunately acoustics still cannot be precisely forecast or calculated), and on the other hand it is undeniably merited by the excellent architect Hansen..." Helm's statement was absolutely right.

The excellent acoustic qualities of the main concert hall are not the result of strict trials - scientific studies of acoustics were only systematically carried out decades later. The golden sound in the golden hall is, seen in this way, really "a stroke of luck". On the other hand - and Helm was right again here - the acoustic phenomenon is the direct result of the architectural masterpiece. If the rectangular form represents the best basic structure for the acoustics of a concert hall then the elements dividing the space - the partitioning of the ceiling, balconies, caryatids - provide for an ideal spread of sound waves. Other details contribute to the wonderful sound. A hollow space under the wooden floor creates a resonant background, in a similar way to a violin. The ceiling, which is made of wood and is not simply mounted but is hung from the rafters, also gives the sound in the hall an extra dimension. All these factors are still pondered over by experts. The golden hall is still a Mecca for acoustic scientists from all over the world. Where can the magic interplay of sound and hall be better studied than in the Grosse Musikvereinssaal?

Making Music at the Musikverein
In the first draft of their statutes the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde still described themselves as an "Amateur Society". On no account was anything negative meant by this, since the " amateurs" were music lovers who were also highly skilled in actively making music. According to the understanding of the time this did not preclude "professional" achievements. Many of the "amateurs" were highly trained and had a lot of practical experience. During the first decades after the foundation of the Musikverein it was the "amateurs" who called the tune. Amateurs played in the orchestra, supported by professional musicians - at the forefront the professors from the School of Music. Amateurs raised their voices in the choir, trained by the Choir Practice Institute which was directed by none other than Antonio Salieri. In the middle of the nineteenth century the tide turned. In 1842 the Vienna Philharmonic entered Vienna's concert life and new standards of excellence were also applied at the Musikverein. As early as 1851 it was entered into the statutes that limits should be set to the "forward march of mere amateurism".

In future the society's orchestral concerts were to be given only by professional musicians. That these professional musicians often came from the ranks of the Philharmonic and that these same musicians were exactly those who played as the society's orchestra is one of the curiosities of the following decades. However, whether with or without Philharmonic musicians, up to the turn of the century the society presented a professional orchestra under its name. The situation changed in 1900 when the first purely concert orchestra was founded in Vienna. This was the Wiener Concert-Verein (The Vienna Concert Society), out of which arose the Wiener Symphoniker (Vienna Symphony Orchestra). The Concert Society, which quickly advanced to become a top internationally acclaimed orchestra, took over the concerts of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Up until this day the Wiener Symphoniker still play most of the symphony concerts in the Musikverein's program.

A third Viennese orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra, also performs a series of subscription concerts at the Musikverein. As well as the elite native orchestras, the best orchestras from around the world play in the Musikverein. It is clear why the most famous orchestras in the world passionately enjoy their performances in the Grosse Saal. Despite all this the Musikverein has remained faithful to the idea of a "society of amateurs". An amateur orchestra still exists under its roof, the Orchestral Association of the Society of Music Lovers.

The world-famous Choral Society (Wiener Singverein) of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, founded as a daughter association in 1858, is still an amateur choir. Despite this, it has remained to this day as one of the best concert choirs in the world. An indication of how seriously music making is still taken by the music lovers. Concert life has become more international and open to the world. This can also be seen from the conductors at the Musikverein. Whereas in former times there was a permanently engaged conductor who, as "artistic director", moulded the artistic profile of the house, today it is a whole group of top international conductors who bring distinction to concerts in the golden hall. Herbert von Karajan was the last concert director of the Gesellschaft - and thereby the bearer of a great heritage.

Among his predecessors were Wilhelm Furtwängler, Ferdinand Löwe and Franz Schalk, Hans Richter and Johann Herbeck, Anton Rubenstein and - Johannes Brahms. For three years, from 1872 to 1875, Brahms directed the society's concerts in the Grosse Musikvereinssaal. However, being part of an international scene does not mean haphazardness, and certainly not at the Musikverein. For, even in a music scene which has become more mobile, there are conductors who have especially close contact with the Musikverein. Particular mention should be made of those of them who have, in recent years, become honorary members of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde: Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Carlo Maria Giulini, Horst Stein, Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Riccardo Mutti.They are all united by their love of the Musikverein. They have all experienced what Bruno Walter once wrote: "Conducting here for the first time was for me an unforgettable experience. Before then I had not known how beautiful music could be".

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