Concertgebouw

The Concertgebouw (“building in concert” in Dutch) is a room of Concert located at Amsterdam, with the Netherlands. Thanks to its superb acoustic, it is regarded as one of best world for the symphonic Musique, at the sides of the Symphony Hall of Boston and of the Musikverein of Vienna. Nearly eight hundred concerts are held to with it per annum, for a total of eight hundred and fifty thousand accommodated people, which in does one of the most visited concert halls of it world. It is used in particular as residence with the royal Orchestre of Concertgebouw.

History

Construction

The decision to build a big room in concert to Amsterdam is made in 1881 by six notable citizens of the city. The called upon cause is the disastrous state of the musical life of the capital of the Netherlands, which counts at the time only of small rooms, to very poor acoustics. Is then selected to build this new room the Architecte Dutch more in sight at the time in Amsterdam: Adolf Leonard (Dolf) van Gendt. That takes as a starting point the Neue Gewandhaus of Leipzig (built two years auparant but destroyed in 1943) to draw a building in the neo-classic style . Construction begins in 1883, in pre located well beyond what were then the limits of the city. Two thousand hundred quatre-vingt-six pillars from twelve to thirty meters of depth are established in the ground, which, sandy, was not predisposed with such a construction. This one is completed in 1886 but the room is forced to remain closed during two years, due to ceaseless quarrels between the silent partners and the council of the city who do not get along, in particular on the construction of the access roads and on public lighting to be brought to those.

Inauguration

Concertgebouw opens finally its doors the April 11th 1888 by an inaugural concert. A orchestra of one hundred twenty musicians and a chorus of five hundred people are assembled for the occasion, for a gathering program of works of Wagner, Haendel, Bach and Beethoven.

The Organ

As of his opening, one considered it regrettable that the room of did not have an organ. The money necessary to the purchase of such an instrument was joined together in 1890 by concert-benefit and a Loterie. It is the organ builder of Utrecht Michael Maarschalkerweerd which was selected to produce the instrument. The architect Dolf van Gendt as for him was pointed out to draw the dresser.

The organ was carefully restored at the end of the 20th century by Flentrop Orgelbouw. Two years and half of work were necessary to modernize the mechanism and to give again with the instrument all its sonority of origin. An inauguration after this restoration took place the March 18th 1993.

Technical considerations

The building is made up in fact of two rooms.

The big room

The first, of a capacity of two thousand places approximately, is called big room ( Grote Zaal ). It is that which accommodates the concerts of symphonic Musique - and which one indicates most of the time when one employs the term of Concertgebouw . Its form is of the type “box with shoes” and its provisions are about the following ones: 44 meters length, 28 meters of width and 17,5 meters height.

The time of reverberation is there 2,8 seconds without public and 2,2 seconds with, which in general makes the room ideal for the symphonic repertory, and more particularly for the post-romantic repertory (Mahler for example). This excellent acoustics returned the big room of famous Concertgebouw in the whole world without one knowing exactly the reasons of this sound miracle.

The small room

The second room, smaller and of Oval form , called small room ( Kleine Zaal ), is devoted to the concerts of Chamber music and to the recitals. It measures only 20 meters length and 15 meters height.

See too

Related articles

Sources

  • the majority of information is drawn from the two pages of the official site of Concertgebouw devoted to its history, its architecture and its acoustics (see page 1, page 2)

External bonds

  • Official site of Concertgebouw
  • Official site of the royal Orchestra of Concertgebouw

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