Chronik

The new book Botschafter der Klangkultur (Ambassadors of Sound Culture) – available from 19 March 2026.

The Sinfonieorchester Basel has existed since the merger of the Basel Sinfonie-Orchester and the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Basel in 1997. But that is only one part of the story. For the Sinfonieorchester Basel we know today is the culmination of a tradition that began more than three hundred years ago. It is a history full of ups and downs. Great personalities and artistic ambitions play a part in it, just as much as institutions, concert halls and money. The name of the ensemble has changed frequently, and on more than one occasion a sponsoring body has had to relinquish control of the orchestra. But the ensemble itself – apart from the brief period during the Helvetic Republic – has never disappeared from the scene.

Compiled by Simon Niederhauser

Vivaldi, Wine and Bread
As early as 1692, distinguished citizens of Basel had founded a Collegium Musicum to promote vocal music. Yet after just a few years, the venture failed due to financial difficulties and a lack of new talent. In 1708, a fresh start was attempted. The focus was now on instrumental music, with confirmed performances of pieces from Antonio Vivaldi’s L’estro armonico. The Collegium consists of amateur musicians (‘dilettanti’), who enlist the help of professional musicians. The latter are compensated for their services with bread and wine from the cellars of the Collegium members. Rehearsals take place on Wednesdays from four to seven in Augustinergasse, and the membership stands at a respectable twenty.

The Upper Collegium

The Augustinian monastery had been owned by the City of Basel since 1528, which made it available to the University from 1532 onwards. Subsequently, it housed teaching and reception rooms. In contrast to the (Lower) Collegium at the Rheinsprung, the building was known as the Upper Collegium. This is where the concerts of the Collegium Musicum took place until 1826; from 1752 onwards, they were held in the ‘Prytaneum’, which had been specially converted for concert purposes and could seat up to four hundred people. The illustration shows Augustinergasse with the monastery building around 1843.

Honoraria and unruly audiences

In the mid-18th century, a group of energetic music lovers took over the Collegium Musicum. New sheet music and instruments were purchased, and there was occasional financial support from the authorities. From 1752 onwards, performances took place in a larger hall, the ‘Prytaneum’ in the Upper College of the University. The orchestra numbered up to forty members, a third of whom were paid musicians. The introduction of a subscription system with honorary members (‘Honoraires’) broadened the audience, and the ‘Concerte’ became social occasions. The audience did not always behave in a manner befitting their station, as can be gleaned from the satire Die Reise nach dem Concerte by the Basel mayor Emanuel Wolleb: ‘I am quite angry at the ill-mannered behaviour of our people. It is true that not even a sixth of them come to enjoy the music. The women appear to be seen; the men, to see them.’

Concert by the Collegium Musicum
When Emanuel Burckhardt-Sarasin drew a caricature of a performance by the Basel Collegium Musicum in 1790 (‘a concert for enthusiasts’), he was just 14 years old. The teenager poked fun at bourgeois concert life in a rather irreverent manner: the audience seem to have little interest in the music, and their faces are not exactly portrayed flatteringly either.

The Concertdirektion sets the tone
In the early 1780s, the Collegium’s financial situation was once again precarious. It took the courageous intervention of music lovers to avert its decline. The new management of the Collegium – now calling itself the ‘Concertdirektion’ – sought to raise the standard of the concerts. This was only partially successful, as can be gleaned from the words of the travel writer Christian Gottlieb Schmidt: ‘There was plenty of music here in terms of quantity, but not much in terms of quality; nor did the gentlemen and young ladies of the orchestra find much encouragement in the attention of the audience, who for the most part conversed in very refined tones, often so loudly that the few true friends of music had to periodically command silence and a measure of quiet by tapping their sticks vigorously.’ Yet progress is being made: professional musicians are now paid a fixed annual salary and receive additional fees per concert and solo performance.

Johannes Tollmann
As an orchestra conductor, Johannes Tollmann (1777–1829) enjoyed a reputation that extended far beyond Basel. He was regarded as Switzerland’s first music director and conducted the Swiss Music Festival on seven occasions. In 1822, the Swiss Music Society appointed him an honorary member.

Mannheim influence
In the wake of the Helvetic Revolution of 1798, the Collegium was forced to suspend its concerts. A fresh start was made in 1803, and two years later the violinist Johannes Tollmann was appointed orchestra conductor. Tollmann, who had made a name for himself in the legendary Mannheim Court Orchestra, introduced regular rehearsals in Basel and brought Mozart’s and Beethoven’s symphonies closer to the audience – abridged by omitting those passages he deemed too demanding for both the audience and the orchestra. He conducted the orchestra from the first violin desk. Thanks to Tollmann’s excellent connections, great virtuosos now frequently visited the city. However, a comment by Louis Spohr following a guest performance in 1816 shows that the Basel orchestra could not yet measure up to those of the major cities: ‘As the orchestra, with the exception of four or five artists, consists solely of amateurs, the accompaniment to my solo pieces was dreadful, particularly from the wind section. How to be pitied is poor Tollmann, who has to listen to such music all year round. And yet, as he claims, the orchestras in the other Swiss cities are said to be even worse.’

The architect Melchior Berri
Basel in the first half of the 19th century owes several monumental buildings to the architect Melchior Berri (1801–1854). In addition to the Casino and the theatre on Blömlein (see 1834), the architect, who was a great admirer of the Renaissance, also designed the museum on Augustinergasse, which today houses the Natural History Museum. It stands on the site of the former Upper College, where the Collegium Musicum held its concerts until 1826.

A first casino
The hall in the Oberes Collegium no longer meets the growing demands. ‘Low-ceilinged and quickly filled with smoke, it is often too small and forces the gentlemen to stand crammed together for hours; its design is not acoustically sound, the doors, very close to the orchestra, are highly disruptive, and the stairs, space for coats and refreshments are pitiful,’ reads a 1822 appeal for subscriptions to fund the construction of a casino. Four years later, the wish became reality. From then on, the Basel Orchestra’s concerts took place at Steinenberg, in the casino designed by Melchior Berri. The Concert Society was founded as the successor to the Collegium and its Concert Directorate.

The ‘Theater auf dem Blömlein’
The new theatre, designed by Melchior Berri, could seat 1,300 people. At that time, the city of Basel had a population of 24,000. The photograph of the theatre was taken around 1865; in the background on the left, one can see the Elisabethenkirche, which had been completed shortly before.

Basel gets a theatre
Diagonally opposite the Berri Casino, the ‘Theater auf dem Blömlein’ was built in 1834, also to plans by Melchior Berri. It quickly established itself alongside the Casino as a second centre of bourgeois culture. For the orchestra, the new theatre became an important fixture, particularly as the programme featured more operas than plays as early as the second season. In keeping with the tastes of the time, works by Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini dominated the repertoire.

Ernst Reiter
Ernst Reiter (1814–1875) was trained by Louis Spohr (violin) and Moritz Hauptmann (music theory) and moved to Basel in 1836. Before taking up his post as Kapellmeister of the orchestra in 1839, he had already been working as a conductor at the Basel Theatre. He performed not only as a conductor, but often also as a solo violinist and as first violin in quartet concerts. Reiter enjoyed success as a composer with works including his oratorio Das neue Paradies from 1845. From 1845, Reiter was also director of the choral society and, from 1852, director of the Basler Liedertafel, which he had co-founded.

Connection to the wider musical world
Ernst Reiter, a pupil of Louis Spohr, became Kapellmeister of the Concertgesellschaft in 1839. In 1853, he performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for the first time in Switzerland, and also gave the Swiss premieres of Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions (in 1861 and 1863 respectively, the St Matthew Passion with an impressed Johannes Brahms in the audience). Contemporary composers – Spohr, Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn, Schumann – also featured prominently in his concert programmes. During Reiter’s 36-year tenure, Basel became an important destination for the great virtuosos and conductors of the time: Henri Vieuxtemps, Clara Schumann, Hans von Bülow, Anton Rubinstein, Joseph Joachim and Johannes Brahms were regular visitors to the city, performing as soloists or with the orchestra. Basel’s musical life experienced an enormous boom.

«View of the City of Basel and its Surroundings»
A view of Basel from around the mid-19th century, captured by Johann Ludwig Bleuer.

The Capell Association
In terms of professionalism and size, the orchestra is now capable of performing even the most demanding repertoire. Its governing body, however, has not yet reached the same level. With the aim of guaranteeing the musicians a fixed salary and ensuring a stable workforce for those who use the orchestra, a new orchestra management body, the Capell Association, was established in 1855. It did not (initially) organise its own concerts, but instead hired out the orchestra to its users: the Concert Society, the Summer Casino Society, the Choral Society, the Theatre and the Casino.

St Martin’s Church
St Martin’s Church in Basel is first mentioned in historical records in the 12th century; the polygonal choir and the north and south façades date from the late 14th century. The church underwent major renovation and reconstruction in 1851. Among other things, the first concert stage was erected in place of the rood screen (the barrier in front of the choir). This is where the Capell-Verein’s concerts took place from 1860 to 1876. St Martin’s Church remains a popular concert venue to this day.

Competition and Dissonance
The new orchestra’s governing body (the Capell-Verein) found itself in financial difficulties soon after its foundation. To raise funds, it began organising its own concerts in St Martin’s Church from 1860 onwards, also under the direction of Ernst Reiter. This initially meant a popularisation of the concert scene: whilst the concerts at the Casino remained accessible only to members of the Concert Society, tickets for those at St Martin’s Church were available to anyone. Yet the orchestra’s governing body now suddenly found itself in competition with the Concert Society, the orchestra’s principal user. The atmosphere in Basel’s musical world became poisoned, leading to discord and power struggles.

The concert pitch A'
With the emergence of orchestras as independent musical ensembles in the first half of the 19th century, there was a widespread rise in pitch in many places. Resistance to this came primarily from singing circles. In 1859, the French government – prompted, among others, by Gioacchino Rossini and Giaccomo Meyerbeer – set the concert pitch a¹ at 435 Hz by decree. Subsequently, this ‘Diapason normal’ became established in large parts of European musical life. The tuning of today’s symphony orchestras with modern instruments lies between 440 and 443 Hz (Sinfonieorchester Basel: A¹ = 442 Hz)

Diapason normal
Basel choirs, as well as renowned soloists such as Hans von Bülow and Clara Schumann, complained about the high tuning of the Basel orchestra. After initial resistance, the tuning was adjusted in 1867 to the French standard tuning, the so-called ‘normal diapason’ (a¹ = 435 Hz). The changeover necessitated costly new purchases of instruments. A loan and the proceeds from a benefit concert featuring Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri secured the funding.

Johannes Brahms in Basel
In the 1870s and 1880s, Johannes Brahms was by far the most frequently performed contemporary composer in Basel. He visited the city on several occasions, often at the invitation of Friedrich and Margaretha Riggenbach-Stehlin. Brahms performed with the Basel Orchestra on four occasions in total: in 1874 (with the Triumphlied), in 1881 (including his 1st Symphony and as soloist in his 2nd Piano Concerto), in 1882 (with the 2nd Symphony and the world premiere of Gesang der Parzen) and in 1887 (with the Double Concerto).

Brahms conducts, Nietzsche listens.
At the anniversary concert of the Basel Singing Society on 9 June 1874, Johannes Brahms conducted his ‘Triumphlied’ for choir, orchestra and soloists in Basel Cathedral. Among the audience sat the young Basel professor Friedrich Nietzsche. The ardent Wagnerian expresses his admiration in a letter to a friend: ‘Your compatriot Brahms has been here recently, and I have heard much of him, especially his “Triumphlied”, which he conducted himself. It was one of the most difficult trials of conscience for me to grapple with Brahms; I now have a little opinion of this man. But still a very tentative one...’

The Municipal Theatre by J.J. Stehlin
The new Municipal Theatre, designed by Johann Jakob Stehlin the Younger, was inaugurated on 4 October 1875. The Neo-Baroque building could seat a total of 1,600 spectators across four tiers. It was equipped with a spacious foyer, state-of-the-art stage facilities and a ventilation system. The theatre was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1904, but was rebuilt. In 1975, it had to make way for the current theatre.

First state subsidies
The operation of the City Theatre has been plagued by crises for years. During the 1859/60 season, operations had to be temporarily suspended; in 1873, they came to a complete standstill. For the orchestra, this meant significant financial losses. Two years later, a new and larger theatre marked a fresh start. The Grand Council came to realise that a prestigious theatre required proper management. It granted the theatre an annual state subsidy of 12,000 francs – on the condition that this sum be paid to the orchestra for its services to the theatre.

In 1876, the concert hall on Steinenberg was built and the Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft (AMG) was founded. This laid the foundations for the flourishing development of the Basel Orchestra, which continued until the First World War. As a result of the financially difficult post-war years, a new governing body for the orchestra, the Basler Orchestergesellschaft (BOG), was established in 1921. It shaped the Basel orchestra scene for almost seventy years and, in 1970, even incorporated a second orchestra into its structures: the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Basel.

The Music Hall
The Music Hall on Steinenberg is one of several landmark buildings designed by the architect Johann Jakob Stehlin the Younger, which shaped the cityscape of Basel towards the end of the 19th century. It is regarded as one of the finest concert halls of its era and remains the home of the Basel Symphony Orchestra to this day. A comprehensive renovation is planned from summer 2016, combined with a redesign of the access and foyer areas.

A pivotal year
In the early 1870s, the Capell-Verein, the Concertgesellschaft, the Gesangverein and the Liedertafel launched a fundraising campaign for a new concert hall. The response was huge, as was the opposition: the planned hall was deemed too expensive and acoustically inadequate; moreover, it was questioned whether the orchestra was even large and good enough for such a hall. Yet on 4 October 1876, the concert hall on Steinenberg was inaugurated. Alfred Volkland conducted Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. The acoustics were excellent.

Closely linked to the new hall is another milestone in the orchestra’s history: the Capell-Verein and the Concertgesellschaft, both in financial straits, merge to form the Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft (AMG). This brings an end to the gruelling competitive situation. To meet the demands of the new hall, the orchestra is expanded under the new management: It now has 52 members, 38 of whom are professional musicians.

Finally, the third event of the year is the election of Alfred Volkland as the successor to Ernst Reiter, who died in 1875. Volkland is not the first choice; Friedrich Hegar would have been preferred. However, he opted for the attractive offer from the Zurich Orchestra Society (later the Tonhalle Orchestra).

Anna Hegner
The Basel-born violinist Anna Hegner (1881–1963) joined the AMG orchestra in 1900 at the age of 19, becoming the first woman to join the string section. She attracted international attention as a soloist from a young age, appearing seven times as a soloist at the London Proms between 1902 and 1925. However, she decided against a career as a soloist and in 1904 accepted a post as a teacher at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, where Paul Hindemith was one of her pupils. In 1908 she settled in Münchenstein and returned to the Basel orchestra in 1914, to which she remained loyal – with a five-year break – until 1950. From 1947, she held the position of concertmaster – again, as the first woman to do so.

Women in the orchestra
Whilst many European orchestras remained exclusively male institutions well into the 20th century, the AMG orchestra already had its first female musician in its ranks in 1899: the harpist Johanna Koch-Amort. By the end of the First World War, the proportion of female orchestra members had risen steadily, at times reaching as high as a quarter. After that, there were rarely more than three or four female musicians. As late as 1969, there were only five women among the 91 orchestra members, or just over 5 per cent. Today, the proportion of women stands at around 29 per cent.

Hermann Suter
Hermann Suter (1870–1926) ranks alongside Friedrich Hegar and Hans Huber as one of the most important Swiss composers of the turn of the century. His most significant work is the oratorio Le Laudi di San Francesco from 1923. In the same year, he wrote the music for the festival play Wettstein und Riehen, from which the Wettstein March—still popular today—originates. In addition to the orchestra, Suter also conducted the Basel Singing Society and the Liedertafel. For three years he was also director of the Basel Conservatoire. In 1913 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Basel

With Suter into the Modern Era
After 25 years as Kapellmeister of the AMG, Alfred Volkland steps down. Under his leadership, a concert scene of international standing has developed in Basel. His successor is the 32-year-old composer, organist and conductor Hermann Suter. Whilst Suter’s compositional style is rooted in late Romanticism, as a conductor he soon champions modernist music. Works by Stravinsky, Bartók and Honegger feature regularly on the programme. Not always to the audience’s delight: when he presented Arthur Honegger’s Pacific 231 in January 1925, the audience refused to applaud. Whereupon Suter turned round and announced that he would now repeat the piece for a better understanding. Another focus of Suter’s work was Anton Bruckner’s symphonies, which he performed in their entirety during his 24-year tenure. The orchestra, which Suter took over in 1902, had 68 members. Only a few of them were amateur musicians.

The Mahlers in Basel
During their stay in Basel in 1903, Gustav and Alma Mahler stayed at the Hotel Les Trois Rois. The picture shows the Mahlers on the Rheinsprung, the path between their hotel and the cathedral, where the rehearsals and concerts took place. As a letter to his sister Justine attests, Mahler was very pleased with the performance of the orchestra and the choir: ‘The three rehearsals are now over. Everything was excellently prepared, the choir wonderful... Arnold [Rosé] would have made a much better impression than in Munich. The orchestra is decidedly better, and is pulling itself together, although they still look rather daft.’

Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss
In the spring of 1903, the two most prominent conductor-composers of the time honoured the Basel Orchestra with a guest conducting engagement. On 24 March, Richard Strauss presented, among other works, his tone poems Ein Heldenleben and Don Juan in a special AMG concert, and on 15 June, Gustav Mahler conducted his Second Symphony at Basel Minster on the occasion of the 39th Tonkünstlerfest of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musik-Verein.

Theatre fire of 1904
Following the fire at the Stadttheater, the Theatre Commission called on the citizens of Basel to contribute to a fundraising campaign. The Schweizer Bauzeitung of 15 October 1904 commented: ‘Given the well-known spirit of sacrifice among the people of Basel, there is no doubt that not only will all the wounds inflicted by the accident soon be healed, but that new life will blossom from the ruins in the very shortest of time.’

A fire brings money
In October 1904, the Stadttheater fell victim to the flames. Theatre operations were suspended until its reconstruction in 1909. To help the orchestra make ends meet, the AMG received direct state subsidies for the first time (25,000 francs annually). With the reopening of the theatre in 1909, state subsidies to the theatre were increased. It received 90,000 francs annually, on condition that 76,000 francs of this sum be paid to the AMG as orchestra remuneration. The orchestra was able to expand. Within a few years, it grew to 76 members, 54 of whom were string players.

AMG and BOG
With the founding of the BOG, the AMG was able to relinquish its role as the orchestra’s sponsoring body. Nevertheless, alongside the theatre, it remained the orchestra’s principal user. The BOG orchestra did not have its own conductor or principal conductor; in practice, however, the Artistic Director appointed by the AMG fulfilled this role. Similarly, for its own concerts, the AMG supplemented the BOG’s core line-up with a concertmaster, the section leaders of the strings and additional players. The average line-up for an AMG concert comprised around 80 musicians.

A new sponsor
The years of deprivation during and after the war have left their mark. The AMG no longer felt able to support the orchestra, which had by then shrunk to 57 members. Following the assurance of an annual state grant of 100,000 francs, the Basler Orchestergesellschaft (BOG) was founded in 1921 – as a joint project of the AMG, the Society of the City Theatre, the Conservatoire, the GGG’s Commission for Public Concerts, the Basel Singing Society, the Basel Liedertafel and the Basel Men’s Choir. Thus, as in 1855, the orchestra has a governing body whose primary purpose is the administration of the ensemble and its hiring out to various users. It is a structure that would shape the orchestral scene in Basel well beyond the end of the BOG in 1989

Felix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner (1863-1942) war einer der herausragenden Dirigenten seiner Zeit. 1908 trat er an der Wiener Hofoper die Nachfolge Gustav Mahlers an und führte die Wiener Philharmoniker zu Weltruhm. Weniger Erfolg war Weingartner als Komponist beschieden – obwohl er das Komponieren als seine eigentliche Bestimmung betrachtete. Das Sinfonieorchester Basel hat sich unter der Leitung von Marko Letonja dem kompositorischen Schaffen seines früheren Maestros angenommen und zwischen 2003 und 2012 sämtliche Sinfonien Weingartners eingespielt. Das Bild oben erschien mit folgender Bildlegende in der Festschrift zu Weingartners 70. Geburtstag: «Felix Weingartner in seinem Arbeitszimmer. Von links nach rechts: Frau Müller-Martin, die Schöpferin der grosssen Bronzebüste, die in der Geburtstagsmatinée morgen Freitag enthüllt werden soll. Herr Müller-Martin modelliert eine kleine Büste. Der Jubilar ‹sitzt›. Frau Carmen Weingartner-Studer. Fräulein Ilse Schaefer, Felix Weingartners Sekretärin.»

Basel hat einen Pultstar
Im Juni 1926 stirbt Hermann Suter. Die AMG-Kommission bekommt Wind davon, dass sich Felix Weingartner, der gefeierte Chef der Wiener Philharmoniker, für Suters Nachfolge interessiert. Am 26. Oktober schickt sie eine Delegation nach Mannheim, um im Rahmen eines Konzerts mit dem Stardirigenten Fühlung aufzunehmen. Wenig später ist die Sensation perfekt: Felix Weingartner unterzeichnet einen Fünfjahresvertrag mit der AMG und verpflichtet sich überdies, die Leitung des Konservatoriums und mehrere Gastdirigate am Stadttheater zu übernehmen. Weingartners Ankunft in Basel im Jahr 1927 führt zu einer veritablen Euphorie. Über Monate sind sämtliche Konzerte mit dem Dirigenten ausverkauft. 1935 wird Weingartner an die Wiener Hofoper berufen und verlässt Basel. Er bleibt dem Orchester jedoch als Gastdirigent bis zu seinem Tod treu.

Hans Münch
Hans Münch (1893–1983) was born in Alsace and studied piano, organ, cello and composition at the Basel Conservatoire from 1912. Like Hermann Suter before him, he served concurrently as artistic director of the AMG, conductor of the Gesangverein and the Liedertafel, and director of the Conservatoire. Münch was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Basel in 1939.

Tradition and consistency
Hans Münch, who had been leading the Liedertafel and the Gesangverein since 1925, succeeded Felix Weingartner in 1935. Münch’s programmes were in keeping with the public’s taste and the AMG’s focus: plenty of Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert, and occasionally early 20th-century French repertoire. Contemporary works are rare, yet Münch’s 31-year tenure does include a few interesting Basel premieres – including Stravinsky’s Petrouchka (1939), Hindemith’s Symphony in E flat major (1944) and Piano Concerto (1964), Martin’s Symphony No. 1 (1945) and Oboe Concerto (1966), Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem (1946), Schostakowitsch’s Symphony No. 5 (1947), Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 (1939) and 2nd Violin Concerto (1947), Honegger’s Symphonie Liturgique (1951), Rolf Liebermann’s Furioso(1952), Bartók’s 2nd Violin Concerto (1947), Piano Concerto No. 3 (1947) and Concerto for Orchestra (1953), Berg’s Four Songs (1953) and K. A. Hartmann’s Symphony No. 3 (1953). (In brackets: year of the Basel premiere).

Hans Ziegler
In 1948, Hans Ziegler took the helm of the BOG. He steered the Basel Orchestra’s fortunes with great dedication for over four decades. Like his predecessor, Ziegler saw himself, in accordance with the BOG’s remit, as the orchestra’s administrator rather than as a director or artistic director. Under his leadership, the number of BOG musicians grew from 60 to, at times, 165 (in 1970, for two orchestras).

A palace coup
After the end of the Second World War, the BOG board proposed increasing the number of orchestra positions from 60 to 64 and adjusting the salary scale. The musicians felt the proposal did not go far enough. At the 1947 general meeting, instead of the usual handful of musicians, almost the entire orchestra turned up and rejected the proposal outright. Whereupon the board resigned en masse. This paved the way for a reorganisation of the BOG: modern salary conditions and social benefits, as well as a more artistically sound arrangement of the musicians, were implemented, ensuring the orchestra’s favourable development in the long term.

Pierre Boulez and Paul Sacher
Pierre Boulez’s connection to Switzerland is closely linked to the Basel-born conductor and music patron Paul Sacher (1906–1999). The two musicians shared a lifelong friendship, and Sacher supported Boulez in various ways, including in the establishment of IRCAM in Paris. Boulez showed his gratitude through works bearing personal dedications and, not least, by entrusting all his manuscripts to the Paul Sacher Foundation in 1985. In 1999, Boulez conducted the Sinfonieorchester Basel at Paul Sacher’s funeral service. Pictured: Paul Sacher and Pierre Boulez in 1969

An ‘avant-gardist’ as head of the AMG?
In 1960, Pierre Boulez conducted in Basel for the first time at the invitation of Paul Sacher. Between 1960 and 1963, Boulez led a class in analysis and composition at the Academy of Music, and in the summers of 1965 and 1969 he gave three-week conducting courses on each occasion. After the first course, the AMG offered Boulez the post of artistic director, as successor to the retiring Hans Münch. Boulez declined because he was put off by the dependence on the theatre and saw no possibility of repeating the programmes in other cities. The French conductor remained closely associated with the orchestra in Basel, however. In September 2015, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, in collaboration with the Paul Sacher Foundation, organised a concert to mark Boulez’s 90th birthday.

Armin Jordan
Armin Jordan (1932–2006) achieved international fame as principal conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, which he led from 1985 to 1997. In June 2006, Jordan was appointed honorary conductor of the Basel Symphony Orchestra. In this role, he was to act as an advisor to the AMG and the orchestra. However, the collaboration was short-lived: Jordan died on 20 September 2006, having collapsed in the orchestra pit at the Theater Basel on 15 September during the premiere of Prokofiev’s opera L’amour des trois oranges. Jordan’s collaboration with the Sinfonieorchester Basel is documented on two CDs, featuring works by César Franck and Ernest Chausson respectively. Image: Armin Jordan before a performance with the Sinfonieorchester Basel in 2001

An opera director
Under the aegis of theatre director Werner Düggelin, the Swiss conductor Armin Jordan became principal conductor in 1969 and music director at the Theater Basel in 1973. Düggelin had to push through Jordan’s appointment against the resistance of the theatre cooperative. Yet Jordan became a favourite with the public and was also highly regarded by the orchestra. His Salome, his Lulu, his Ring, as well as performances of operas by Schostakowitsch and Zemlinsky, remain unforgettable for many who witnessed them.

Moshe Atzmon
Moshe Atzmon (b. 1931) began his musical training in Budapest and emigrated to Israel with his parents at the age of 13. In Tel Aviv, he studied the cello and the horn. Among other roles, Atzmon served as principal conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, as well as music director in Dortmund. He was Artistic Director of the AMG from 1972 to 1986.

Mahler Renaissance
In 1966, Hans Münch stepped down after 31 years as Artistic Director of the AMG. The position remained vacant until 1972, when the Hungarian-Israeli conductor Moshe Atzmon was appointed as his successor. Atzmon’s programming is balanced and regularly features new music. Above all, however, he champions Gustav Mahler’s symphonies, which had virtually disappeared from the concert hall in Basel following the end of the Weingartner era. During his 14-year tenure in Basel, Atzmon performs all of Mahler’s symphonies at least once.

“Blow up the opera houses!”
The new theatre was not built on the site of the old one, but set back slightly. This meant that performances could continue in the old theatre whilst the new one was under construction. When the new theatre was completed in 1975, the old one was demolished. Basel is thus one of the few cities to have taken Pierre Boulez’s call from the 1960s literally.

A new theatre
Construction of a new theatre in Basel began in 1972, and it was inaugurated in 1975. Its landmark feature is its roof, a 60-metre-wide suspended shell made of prestressed concrete. The design is by engineer Heinz Hossdorf and architects Felix Schwarz and Rolf Gutmann.

Antal Doráti
Antal Doráti (1906–1988) began his career as a répétiteur at the Royal Opera in his hometown of Budapest. In 1939, he emigrated to the USA, where he initially became Music Director of the newly founded American Ballet before going on to exert a formative influence on the symphony orchestras of Dallas and Minneapolis. He later served as principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, the Stockholm Philharmonic, the Washington National Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony.

Conductor in residence
‘Antal Doráti came, conducted and triumphed’ was the headline used by the reviewer of the Basler Nachrichten to describe Doráti’s first guest conducting appearance in January 1968. Following a further guest appearance in 1972, however, it was not until 1984 that the world-famous maestro returned. But they met all the more frequently thereafter: between Moshe Atzmon’s resignation and the appointment of his designated successor, Horst Stein, the post of artistic director of the AMG remained vacant for two seasons. Doráti agreed to take on a number of concerts. Between 1984 and 1987, he conducted the Basel Sinfonie-Orchester in 17 double concerts organised by the AMG.

Horst Stein
Horst Stein (1928–2008) is regarded as one of the most significant German conductors of the post-war era. He conducted 138 performances at the Bayreuth Festival and served, amongst other roles, as principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera, principal conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, as well as a regular guest conductor with the world’s leading orchestras. Stein also left behind an impressive discography. However, it lacks recordings with the Basel Sinfonie-Orchester – another sign of the complicated orchestral political situation of the 1980s and 1990s.

The preferred candidate
On 9 September 1987, Horst Stein opened his first season as Artistic Director of the AMG with works by Henze, Mozart and Schubert. Stein was the orchestra’s preferred candidate. His repertoire was wide-ranging, with a focus on Mozart, Richard Strauss and Wagner. During his seven-year tenure in Basel, he conducted 117 works, 42 of which were from the 20th century. His era was marked by artistic successes, yet as is easy to discern from a 1994 interview, his relationship with the peculiarities of the Basel music scene was not entirely untroubled: it would be better for Basel’s musical life, said Stein, ‘if the principal conductor of the AMG were also the general music director of the orchestra and the opera. Otherwise, conflicts are inevitable.’

In 1989, the newly founded Basler Orchester Foundation took over the two orchestras of the BOG. For nine years, the Basel Sinfonie-Orchester and the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Basel continued to exist as separate ensembles, until they merged to form the Sinfonieorchester Basel in 1997. Following a period of reorientation, the Sinfonieorchester Basel broke away from its long-standing organiser, AMG, in 2012 and has since operated under its own artistic and managerial responsibility.

The Basel Instrument War
Just how entrenched the divisions were within Basel’s music world surrounding the handover of the BOG is illustrated by an episode that went down in history as the ‘Instrument War’: over the course of its history, the BOG had amassed an impressive collection of instruments – double basses, tubas, but above all larger or rare percussion instruments. When the orchestras were handed over to the foundation, the question of ownership of these instruments was overlooked. The Department of Education took the view that they belonged to the foundation, as they had been purchased using grant funds. The BOG saw things differently: the instruments were either gifts from the patron Paul Sacher or had been acquired from the surpluses generated. Following a public and legal battle, the matter ended up in court. The BOG was found entirely in the right. In 1993, the Basel Orchestra Foundation acquired the BOG’s instruments for around half a million francs. Pictured: Bells for Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique from the orchestra’s instrument collection, donated by Paul Sacher.

A foundation replaces the BOG
In the late 1980s, various problems began to undermine the BOG and its orchestra partnership. On the one hand, the SRG, which provides significant support for the Radio-Sinfonieorchester, made clear its intention to cut costs; on the other hand, the Canton of Basel-Stadt believed that income from performers’ rights should no longer go to the musicians but to the orchestra’s sponsor; and finally, the city canton was keen to reduce cultural expenditure. The Basel government proposed transferring the two orchestras to a state-affiliated foundation. The BOG resisted, but was unable to initiate the necessary reforms. For almost two years, a bitter dispute raged over the future of the orchestras’ sponsorship. The lines of conflict ran right across the political parties and the two orchestras. On 25 September 1988, a referendum with an extremely close result decides in favour of the foundation solution. From then on, the Basel Orchestra Foundation is the sponsor of the two orchestras. The BOG, which shaped orchestral life in Basel for almost 70 years, is left without an orchestra.

Ein Orchester im Aufbruch
Die Loslösung von der AMG als Veranstalterin war für das Orchester auch über die Abonnementskonzerte hinaus befreiend. Seither entstanden mehrere neue Konzertformate (Cocktailkonzerte, Schwarz auf Weiss, Cube Session etc.), es wurden diverse CD-Projekte unter dem hauseigenen Label in Angriff genommen und Ausland-Tourneen machen das Orchester zusehends auch international zu einem Begriff.

Endlich: Eine eigene Konzertreihe

Unter Dennis Russell Davies hat sich das Orchester ein unüberhörbares künstlerisches Profil erarbeitet. Der AMG hingegen gelang es auch vier Jahre nach der Übernahme der Gesamtverantwortung (siehe 2007) nicht, die regionale und internationale Positionierung des Orchesters zu stärken. Als die AMG wegen rückläufiger Publikumszahlen ankündigt, ab der Saison 2012/13 die Konzerte mit dem Sinfonieorchester nicht mehr doppelt zu führen, sehen sich die Stiftung Basler Orchester (seit 2009 unter dem Präsidium der ehemaligen Basler Regierungsrätin Barbara Schneider) und das Orchestermanagement zum Handeln gezwungen. Es wird beschlossen, die Abonnementsreihen fortan ohne die AMG und in künstlerischer und unternehmerischer Eigenverantwortung zu veranstalten. Der Knackpunkt dabei: Da die Abonnenten der Sinfonieorchester-Konzerte Abonnenten der AMG sind, muss das Orchester seinen Abonnentenstamm von Grund auf neu aufbauen. Doch das Unterfangen gelingt. Nach einer anfänglichen Durststrecke sind die Sinfoniekonzerte des Sinfonieorchesters Basel heute deutlich besser besucht als in den Jahren vor 2012.

Walter Weller
Walter Weller (1939–2015) was concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic in his early years and made his debut as a conductor in 1966. This was followed by appointments as principal conductor of the Duisburg Symphony Orchestra, the Lower Austrian Tonkünstler Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and, following his tenure in Basel between 1994 and 1997, the Belgian National Orchestra. A reunion between Weller and the Basel audience was planned for December 2015 as part of a guest concert with the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg. Unfortunately, this will no longer take place. Walter Weller died on 14 June 2015 in Vienna.

Interlude
In 1994, the Austrian violinist and conductor Walter Weller succeeded the retiring Horst Stein. Weller was also engaged for two productions a year at the Theater Basel, but had to step down from this role after just two years for health reasons. A year later – in view of the merger of the two Basel orchestras – the conductor also stepped down as artistic director of the AMG, though he remained with the Basel orchestra as a guest conductor. Weller’s programmes in Basel revealed a distinct preference for the music of Slavic composers, above all Antonín Dvořák.

Mario Venzago
Born in Zurich, Mario Venzago began his career as a concert pianist before turning to conducting. He was General Music Director of the City of Heidelberg and later, amongst other roles, principal conductor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Graz Opera, the Basque National Orchestra of San Sebastian and the Swedish National Orchestra of Gothenburg. Following his resignation in Basel, Venzago served as Music Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 2002 to 2009. Since 2010, he has been principal conductor of the Bern Symphony Orchestra.

Two become one: the Sinfonieorchester Basel
In the mid-1990s, the canton of Basel-Stadt made clear its intention to make savings in the cultural sector. The main target was the costly orchestral tandem of the Basel Orchestra Foundation. The foundation decided to merge the two orchestras, combined with a gradual reduction in staff numbers. In 1997, the merger became a reality: the new orchestra was named the Sinfonieorchester Basel. The difficult task of moulding it into a cohesive ensemble was entrusted to the Swiss conductor Mario Venzago. Like his colleagues before the merger, he too was not the orchestra’s principal conductor, but ‘merely’ the artistic director of the AMG. It is a situation that increasingly becomes a burden and, among other things, leads to Venzago’s departure in 2002. Despite all the difficulties, the artistic achievements of the Venzago era are impressive: the repertoire is expanded and Venzago gives the orchestra a decisive boost. The recordings of Robert Schumann’s symphonies attract international attention.

Marko Letonja
Marko Letonja graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Music in 1989 and, two years later, became music director of the Ljubljana Slovenian Philharmonic. His international career began in the 1990s, including engagements with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic. Following his time in Basel, Letonja conducted various Australian orchestras. In 2012, he became principal conductor of the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg.

A General Music Director
Following Mario Venzago’s resignation as Artistic Director of the AMG, the Slovenian Marko Letonja will become the first principal conductor of the Basel Symphony Orchestra and, at the same time, Music Director of Theater Basel. At the theatre, between 2003 and 2006, he directed new productions of Tannhäuser, La Traviata, Der Freischütz, Boris Godunov, Tristan und Isolde, Rigoletto and Don Giovanni. The discographic legacy of his collaboration with the Sinfonieorchester Basel consists of the highly acclaimed recordings of the symphonic works of his predecessor Felix Weingartner (see 1927). After just three years, Letonja resigned from his posts in Basel.

Die Studie von IMG Artists
Der – wiederholten – Neustrukturierung der Basler Orchesterlandschaft im Jahr 2007 war eine vom Basler Erziehungsdepartement in Auftrag gegebene Studie von IMG Artists vorausgegangen. Unmissverständlich kam darin zum Ausdruck, woran das Sinfonieorchester Basel zu dieser Zeit krankte: «Ein Sinfonieorchester von künstlerisch verbesserungsfähiger Qualität, ohne eigene Identität, fremdbestimmt durch Theater und AMG, ohne Ausstrahlung über Basel hinaus, für Sponsoren uninteressant.»

Der Schulterschluss
Am 2. November 2006 verkünden die Veranstalterin AMG und die Orchesterträgerin Stiftung Basler Orchester einen ‹Schulterschluss› der beiden Institutionen: Die AMG übernimmt ab 2007 die gesamte operative und künstlerische Führung des Sinfonieorchesters Basel und erklärt sich somit verantwortlich für die Positionierung des Klangkörpers sowie die Vermittlung von auswärtigen Auftritten und Aufnahmen. Man hofft, dass damit die jahrelangen Querelen zwischen der AMG und der Stiftung ein Ende haben. Während der zuständige Basler Regierungsrat von einem «Durchbruch» spricht, äussern sich andere Stimmen skeptisch: «Die Basler Kulturpolitk hat sich hier über den Tisch ziehen lassen», schreibt der Musikwissenschaftler und Journalist Michael Kunkel in einem Kommentar in der ProgrammZeitung.
 

Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies was born in Toledo, Ohio, and studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School in New York. Among other roles, he has served as principal conductor of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, as well as a professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Following his debut at the Bayreuth Festival, he has conducted at the Salzburg Festival, the Lincoln Center Festival in New York, the Houston Grand Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opéra National de Paris and the Teatro Real in Madrid. Dennis Russell Davies has been principal conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz since 2002. His contract with the Sinfonieorchester Basel was extended by two years in 2014.

An American in Basel
After three long years, the Sinfonieorchester Basel once again has a principal conductor in 2009: Dennis Russell Davies. The Austrian-American pianist and conductor has set a clear direction from the outset. Contemporary music is a priority for him, particularly that of American composers from the Minimal Music generation. This does not always meet with approval from the audience or the AMG. Yet acceptance is growing – certainly following the separation from the AMG as organiser (see 2012). Davies has a remarkable knack for turning his audience (and the orchestra too) into accomplices in his musical adventures. In terms of recordings, he has set out key priorities with the Sinfonieorchester Basel: complete recordings of the symphonies of Franz Schubert and Arthur Honegger, recordings of the great ballets by Igor Stravinsky, and two CDs featuring symphonies by Philip Glass.

An orchestra on the move
Breaking away from AMG as the organiser was liberating for the orchestra, even beyond the subscription concerts. Since then, several new concert formats have emerged (Cocktail Concerts, Schwarz auf Weiss, Cube Session, etc.), various CD projects have been launched under the orchestra’s own label, and international tours are increasingly making the orchestra a household name abroad.

At last: a concert series of its own
Under Dennis Russell Davies, the orchestra has developed an unmistakable artistic profile. The AMG, however, failed to strengthen the orchestra’s regional and international standing even four years after assuming overall responsibility (see 2007). When AMG announced, due to declining audience numbers, that it would no longer stage the concerts with the symphony orchestra twice from the 2012/13 season onwards, the Basel Orchestra Foundation (chaired since 2009 by former Basel cantonal councillor Barbara Schneider) and the orchestra management felt compelled to act. It was decided to organise the subscription series from then on without the AMG and under their own artistic and managerial responsibility. The crux of the matter was that, as subscribers to the Symphony Orchestra’s concerts were AMG subscribers, the orchestra had to rebuild its subscriber base from scratch. Yet the endeavour succeeded. After an initial lean period, the Sinfonieorchester Basel’s concerts are now significantly better attended than in the years prior to 2012.

More than Minimal Tour
In April 2014, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, together with its principal conductor Dennis Russell Davies, embarked on an extensive tour of England. The repertoire was unusual: the programme consisted exclusively of works by Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, John Adams and Arvo Pärt. The orchestra will perform three concerts as part of a festival at London’s Cadogan Hall, and four further concerts at other venues. The reactions from the British press have been enthusiastic: ‘Minimalist works maximise power’ (The Guardian), ‘A fabulous ride’ (The Telegraph), ‘The audience responded with rapture to the performance given by the excellent Basel Symphony Orchestra and its skilled conductor.’ (Classical Source)

Far East Tour
In March 2015, the Sinfonieorchester Basel will travel to the Far East for the third time. Principal conductor Dennis Russell Davies will also be joining the tour in 2015 and will conduct concerts in Beijing, Shanghai and Tongyeong. Fazil Say and Yumi Hwang-Williams will perform as soloists, with works by Mozart, Beethoven, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Bernstein, Isang Yun and Chén Yí on the programme. The enthusiasm of the Chinese and Korean audiences is immense.

We’re bringing music to the city – with Ivor Bolton
The summer of 2016 marks a turning point for the Sinfonieorchester Basel: with a new principal conductor, it is rising to the challenge of the Stadtcasino extension. The British conductor Ivor Bolton has been chosen as the successor to Dennis Russell Davies, who led the orchestra from 2006 to 2009. The Polish conductor Michał Nesterowicz will be the first guest conductor. The orchestra’s main venue, the Stadtcasino Basel, is undergoing renovation for three years. From summer 2016, the Sinfonieorchester Basel will stage its symphony concerts at Basel Minster, Theater Basel and Musical Theater Basel. The programmes will be tailored to the concert venues. From the start of the 2020/21 season, concerts will once again take place as usual at the Stadtcasino.