Hanover

(Ger. Hannover).
City in Germany, capital of Lower Saxony. It is first mentioned in
about 1100. Duke Georg of Calenberg established a residence
there in 1636; it soon became an important musical centre,
particularly in the introduction of Italian opera to Germany. In 1692
Duke Ernst August of Brunswick-Lüneburg was granted the rank of
elector and adopted the town as his capital; the court remained
musically important up to 1918, despite a decline after 1714 when
Georg Ludwig became King George I of England. The city was
capital of the Kingdom of Hanover from 1815 until it was absorbed
into Prussia in 1866.
1. Up to 1714.
2. 1714–1866.
3. Since 1866.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
HEINRICH SIEVERS/R
Hanover
1. Up to 1714.
In the Middle Ages Hanover belonged to the diocese of Minden
and the archdiocese of Cologne, and presumably liturgical Offices
used in Hanover were governed by Cologne. The main churches
were the St Georg und St Jacobus (the Marktkirche), the
Aegidienkirche and the Kreuzkirche. The Franciscans and several
other monastic orders had settlements in the city, although none
was of musical significance. The Marktkirche developed a musical
tradition, and had an elaborate Easter procession dating back at
least as far as 1441; the Good Friday ceremonies are described in
a manuscript of 1506 in the Stadtarchiv. An organ in the
Marktkirche is recorded in 1350, and between 1590 and 1593 it
was rebuilt. At the Aegidienkirche an organ builder named Hans is
mentioned between 1533 and 1537. In 1542 Harmen Maler was
organist at the Aegidienkirche, and from 1547 to 1569 the position
was held by Gerdt Schildt, grandfather of Melchior Schildt.
Zacharias Funke succeeded him in 1569 and was followed by his
son Vitus, previously organist at the Kreuzkirche, in 1614.
Accounts for 1557 give details of a major rebuilding of the organ,
and between 1574 and 1630 various repairs and conversions are
recorded.
After the Reformation (1533) there is evidence of more intensive
musical activity. Precise instructions for the use of music in worship
are given in the church ordinances of Urbanus Rhegius in 1536: for
example, those with little education sang hymns in German while
the youth sang in Latin ‘since there are many fine hymns in Latin’.
The liturgy for Sundays and feast days was musically elaborate.
The principal church for music was the Marktkirche, where the first
notable Lutheran Kantor (1568–1616) was Andreas Crappius, also
Kantor at the Ratsgymnasium. Antonius Schildt and his sons
Ludolph and Melchior were organists at the Marktkirche; Melchior,
a pupil of Crappius and of Sweelinck in Amsterdam and Hanover’s
most talented native musician, held the post from 1629 to 1667. A
school Kurrende was set up in 1561 at the Lateinschule, where
there had been a Kantor since at least 1546. Church music
maintained its standards throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th
centuries, although there were few church musicians who were
important as creative artists.
Little is known of early secular music in Hanover apart from the
existence of a city musician who, with his assistants, performed
such traditional duties as Turmmusik from the Marktkirche.
However, when Duke Georg of Calenberg established a residence
at Hanover in 1636, the city’s first Hofkapelle was formed,
consisting of the lutenist J.P. Sponderino, the violinists Ernst Abel,
Jobst Heider and S. Strohmeyer and two choirboys, to which could
be added six trumpeters and a timpanist. From 1639 to 1641
Schütz acted as temporary Kapellmeister there. As early as the
mid-17th century a definite French influence was evident in the
Hofkapelle’s music. Great improvements were made during the
reign of Duke Johann Friedrich (1665–79): the Hofkapelle was
enlarged, and in addition to Italian and French musicians C.H. Abel
and N.A. Strungk were appointed; Johann Friedrich’s Kapellmeister
was Antonio Sartorio. After the duke’s conversion to Catholicism
(1651) the ducal chapel was until 1680 a notable centre of Italian
church music, with Vincenzo De Grandis (ii), Kapellmeister from
1674 to 1680, achieving a considerable reputation.
The first opera performance in Hanover was of Cesti's Orontea,
produced in the Guelph's ducal castle, the Leineschloss, in 1678.
In 1688 Duke Ernst August completed the building of the
magnificent Grosses Schlosstheater in the Leineschloss which was
opened in January 1689 with a performance of Steffani’s Henrico
Leone (fig.1). The opera was under the direction of Steffani from
1688 until Duke Ernst August died in 1698. There were also
performances at the Gartentheater in Herrenhausen, built in 1689–
91 and the oldest surviving garden theatre in Germany, which
came to occupy an important place in the musical life of the court.
Steffani wrote at least eight operas for Hanover, and with Leibniz,
the court poet Ortensio Mauro and the Duchess Sophie, he was a
member of an intellectual circle that might well stand comparison
with that of Versailles. The Hofkapelle, modelled on French lines,
was distinguished by its excellent oboists. Chamber music was
composed by J.B. Farinel and Francesco Venturini; Telemann
became familiar with Hanover’s chamber music during his
schooldays at Hildesheim, and Mattheson wrote a critical study on
the subject. The number of chamber musicians employed reached
a peak under the Elector Georg Ludwig, the successor of Ernst
August. In about 1680 and again after 1695 Farinel was
Kapellmeister; he was succeeded on 16 June 1710 by Handel, who
had an orchestra of 18 musicians at his disposal. However, he
stayed in Hanover only nine months; Farinel then held the
appointment again until he was succeeded in 1713 by Venturini.
After Georg Ludwig had become King George I of England in 1714,
music at the Hanover court declined rapidly, although the post of
Kapellmeister was not abolished.
Hanover
2. 1714–1866.
In the late 18th century a revival of musical activity was brought
about by itinerant opera companies who performed Singspiele and
operas. The Singspiel was introduced to Hanover by Seyler’s
company in 1769, but more significant productions of opera and
Singspiel began in 1773 with F.L. Schröder; he produced works by
J.F.G. Beckmann, F.G. Fleischer, Hiller, Grétry and Paisiello. Great
success was achieved by Georg Benda’s melodrama Ariadne auf
Naxos. Schroeder produced 23 different operas and Singspiele, as
well as numerous ballets. On 10 April 1787 G.F.W. Grossmann’s
theatre company presented its first production in Hanover; in the
next decade, with mixed success, it staged 92 operas, of which 40
were German, 36 Italian and 16 French. The repertory included
Holzbauer’s Günther von Schwarzburg, Gluck’s La rencontre
imprévue, and Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le nozze
di Figaro and Don Giovanni, the last two in German versions by
Adolph von Knigge and his daughter Philine (1791). The musical
director of Grossmann’s company was B.A. Weber. Concerts
began to flourish once more in about 1775. Performances by the
small Hofkapelle under J.B. Vezin (Kapellmeister from 1765)
alternated with amateur concerts of oratorios and cantatas.
Handel’s Messiah was first heard in 1775. In 1790 Grossmann
founded a series of concerts spirituels; there were also private
concerts by such virtuosos as G.J. Vogler, Luisa Todi and Carl
Stamitz, and opera performances with the poorly paid members of
the Hofkapelle constituting the orchestra. In 1795 the Duke of
Cambridge, son of George III of England, took up residence at
Hanover; he reorganized the Hofkapelle, engaging A.W. L’Evêque
as director. It then consisted of nine chamber musicians,
supplemented by ten of the garrison’s best oboists.
With the formation of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1815, a
particularly flourishing period began in the history of opera in
Hanover. Wilhelm Sutor, the royal Kapellmeister, succeeded
Lüders as musical director of the opera in 1818. In the same year
Hanover had its first permanent opera and theatre, where the
works of Spontini and Rossini featured prominently. Weber’s Der
Freischütz was received enthusiastically in 1822, and Beethoven’s
Fidelio was given in 1824. Sutor died in 1828, and was succeeded
in 1829 by H.A. Praeger. Carl Kiesewetter was appointed
Konzertmeister on 28 October 1814. Beethoven’s music was first
heard in Hanover when the Third Symphony was played in 1815. In
1817 a large-scale music festival took place in the Marktkirche,
organized by the director of music in Hildesheim, G.F. Bischoff.
Amateur concerts were given on a subscription basis on Sundays
in the Ballhof, where Kiesewetter conducted the instrumental music
and Sutor the vocal music; an innovation of Kiesewetter’s was that
symphonies were always performed without cuts. He relinquished
his duties in 1822; his successor from 1824 to 1832 was Ludwig
Maurer, who during the Kapellmeister’s absence also directed the
opera.
The Singakademie, a mixed choir founded some time after 1802,
gave performances of oratorios. In March 1830 the Alte
Hannoversche Liedertafel was founded, the first male-voice choir in
Hanover. In 1831 Heinrich Marschner was appointed
Kapellmeister, his Der Vampyr already having been successfully
performed in Hanover in 1828. His works met with some success
there, but French and Italian opera also remained popular under
King Ernst August. The theatre was rebuilt and renamed the
Hofoper in 1837, but the standard of opera fell considerably
between 1841 and 1846 because of inadequate finances and
personnel, although there was an outstanding production of
Flotow’s Alessandro Stradella in 1845. Concerts changed in
character between 1830 and 1850, under the Konzertmeister
Maurer, Anton Bohrer, F.W. Lübeck and Georg Hellmesberger (ii):
the orchestra of the Hofoper then consisted of about 40 musicians,
and concert programmes came to include contemporary works
alongside those of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Weber. Choral
music flourished after 1830, and in 1834 the Singakademie gave
the first Hanover performances of Bach’s St Matthew Passion,
Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s The Creation. Two male-voice
choirs were founded in 1850: the Union and the Neue Liedertafel,
the latter conducted by Karl Klindworth. The Hannoverscher
Männergesangverein was founded in 1851 and has continued to
be active. Although church music declined in the 19th century, the
tradition was maintained by the Schlosskirche choir founded in
1840 and the Verein für Kirchlichen Gesang founded at the
Marktkirche in 1856.
The building of a new Hoftheater was commissioned by King Ernst
August in 1843, but was completed in 1852 (fig.2) under his
successor, the blind Georg V, a notable pianist and composer, who
ratified Marschner’s appointment as court Kapellmeister, and
appointed C.L. Fischer from Mainz as Kapellmeister and Joachim
as Konzertmeister in 1852. Music in Hanover flourished during his
reign: Tannhäuser was performed there in 1855, followed by
Lohengrin, Der fliegende Holländer and Rienzi. In 1859 Marschner
was pensioned with the honorary post of Generalmusikdirektor.
The new Kapellmeister (‘assistant’ until Marschner’s death in 1861)
was Bernhard Scholz; he resigned in 1865 and was succeeded by
Spohr’s pupil J.J. Bott. At that time the orchestra was enlarged to
75 members, while the opera chorus had 51 singers. In 1862
Gounod conducted his Faust with great success. From 1852
subscription concerts were given under Joachim’s direction in the
concert hall of the new Hoftheater. He gave the first performances
in Hanover of works by Schumann and added variety to the
symphonic programmes by including chamber music. Clara
Schumann often appeared as a soloist at the subscription concerts.
In 1856 the Joachim Quartet began to give regular recitals,
including Beethoven’s late quartets and the early chamber works of
Brahms.
Hanover
3. Since 1866.
In 1866 the Kingdom of Hanover became a province of Prussia and
its music became strongly influenced by that of Berlin. Bülow
succeeded Fischer as court Kapellmeister (1877–9), assuming
responsibility for both theatre and concert music. Until World War I
the Hoftheater remained in the hands of excellent administrators
and Kapellmeister. The Stadthalle, built shortly before World War I,
was the first in Hanover to accommodate public concerts; its two
halls are the Kuppelsaal, whose great concert organ was destroyed
in World War II, and the Beethovensaal for chamber music. In 1921
the Hoftheater’s administration was transferred to the municipal
authorities, and it became known as the Städtisches Opernhaus.
Rudolf Krasselt was Generalmusikdirektor from 1924 to 1943, the
zenith of the Hanover opera.
The opera house, severely damaged in 1943, was completely
rebuilt and reopened as the Landestheater in 1950; in the interim
the Galeriegebäude in Herrenhausen provided temporary
accommodation. In 1970 the Landestheater was renamed the
Niedersächsisches Staatstheater; its personnel comprises the
Staatstheater company and the Staatsoper company. From 1945
to 1949 Franz Konwitschny was Generalmusikdirektor and
conducted the operas and subscription concerts; he was
succeeded by Johannes Schüler (1949–59), Günther Wich (1961–
5) and G.A. Albrecht (1965–93) and Christoph Prick (from 1993).
The theatre’s centenary was celebrated in 1952 with the première
of Henze’s Boulevard Solitude; it was later renowned for its ballet
productions under Yvonne Georgi (d 1975). In 1984–5 the theatre
was renovated; the auditorium (cap. 1207) is modern in style, but
with classical elements relating it to the external façade. The
Staatsoper has an active education department which holds
children's festivals and performs children's operas.
Hanover, a provincial capital from 1945, has followed far-sighted
policies in encouraging music since the war. In this a number of
institutions have played a significant part. The opera orchestra is of
a high standard, as was the Niedersächsisches Symphonie-
Orchester, conducted by Helmuth Thierfelder (d 1966), which
ceased to exist in 1968. The Hanover RO (from 1992 the Radio
Philharmonie Hanover) was formed in 1950; it plays principally for
broadcasts but has also mounted subscription concerts. The city
has numerous choirs, notably the Städtischer Chor, which gives
regular performances of oratorios. A festival of contemporary music
was established in 1958; more recently the Hanover Gesellschaft
für Neue Musik, founded in 1987, has promoted concerts of new
music and other events. Other festivals include music and theatre
at Herrenhausen and an international organ festival in the
Gartenkirche. The main centres of Protestant church music are the
Marktkirche and the Gartenkirche, both of which have notable
organs.
The Hanover Konservatorium was founded privately in 1890. After
World War I it established a comprehensive range of courses
under the leadership of Walther Höhn (d 1953); it became the
Städtisches Konservatorium in 1921 and the Landesmusikschule in
1943. It was known as the Akademie für Musik und Theater from
1950 until 1961, when it was renamed the Niedersächsische (later
the Staatliche) Hochschule für Musik und Theater (rebuilt 1973).
The Kammermusik-Gemeinde (1929) has had much influence on
the city’s musical life. Since World War I Hanover has been an
important centre of the German organ movement, largely through
the work of Christhard Mahrenholz and his colleagues. The firm of
Furtwängler & Hammer (now Hammer-Orgelbau), one of its most
important organ builders, has been internationally known since the
19th century; after 1945 the firms Gebrüder Hillebrand and Schmidt
& Thiemann also built up fine reputations.
Hanover
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MGG2 (A. Fischer and G. Katzenberger)
E. Bodemann, ed.: Die Handschriften der königlichen öffentlichen
Bibliothek zu Hannover (Hanover, 1867)
H. Müller: Das Königliche Hoftheater zu Hannover (Hanover,
1884)
G. Fischer: Opern und Concerte im Hoftheater zu Hannover bis
1866 (Hanover, 1899, 2/1903 as Musik in Hannover)
F. Schuster: ‘Kunst und Künstler in Hannover zur Zeit des
Kurfürsten Ernst August’, Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter, vii
(1904), 1–11, 49–86, 97–114, 145–240
A. Edigi: Die Orgel in der Stadthalle zu Hannover (Berlin, 1915)
K. Bauer: 75 Jahre Opernhaus Hannover, 1852–1927 (Hanover,
1927)
E. Rosendahl: Geschichte der Hoftheater in Hannover und
Braunschweig (Hanover, 1927)
T.W. Werner: Hannovers Musikleben (Hanover, 1927)
T. Abbetmeyer: Zur Geschichte der Musik am Hofe in Hannover
vor Agostino Steffani 1636–1689 (diss., U. of Göttingen, 1931)
T.W. Werner: Von der Hofkapelle zum Opernorchester (Hanover,
1937)
G. Vorkamp: Das französische Hoftheater in Hannover (Göttingen,
1956)
G. Schnath: ‘Die Geschichte des Leineschlosses 1636–1943’,
Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter, new ser., ix/4 (1956), 19–
205
H. Sievers: Die Musik in Hannover (Hanover, 1961)
H. Schrewe and F. Schmidt: Das Niedersächsische
Staatsorchester Hannover (Hanover, 1971, 2/1972)
R.E. Wallbrecht: Das Theater des Barockzeitalters an den
welfischen Höfen Hannover und Celle (Hildesheim, 1974)
H. Sievers: ‘Musik und Musiker in Herrenhausen’, Fünfundzwanzig
Jahre Musik und Theater in Herrenhausen, ed. K. Morawietz
(Hanover, 1977)
H. Sievers: Hannoversche Musikgeschichte: Dokumente, Kritieren
und Meinungen (Tutzing, 1979–84)
H. Sievers: Kammermusik in Hannover: Historisches,
Gegenwärtiges, Kritiken, Meinungen (Tutzing, 1980)
S. Hammer, ed.: Das Opernhaus in Hannover: Architektur und
Theatergeschichte (Hanover, 1985)
W. Konold, ed.: Das Niedersächsische Staatsorchester Hannover,
1636 bis 1986 (Hanover, 1986)
S. Hammer, ed.: Oper in Hannover: 300 Jahre Wandel im
Musiktheater einer Stadt (Hanover, 1990)
K. Mlynek and W.R. Rohrbein, eds.: Geschichte der Stadt
Hannover (Hanover, 1992–4)
H. Bergmeier and G. Katzenberger, eds.: Kulturaustreibung: die
Einflussnahme des Nationalsozialismus auf Kunst und Kultur
in Niedersachsen (Hamburg, 1993) [exhibition catalogue]