Rheingau Musik Festival

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Schloss Johannisberg, 2006

The Rheingau Musik Festival (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey or Schloss Johannisberg, in the wine-growing region Rheingau between Wiesbaden and Lorch.¹

1 Initiative and realisation
2 Locations
3 Program
4 Artists
5 Rheingau Musikpreis
6 Broadcast and recordings
7 References
8 External links

Initiative and realisation

The festival was the initiative of Michael Herrmann, who has served as its Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer. Like the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival founded in 1986, the Rheingau festival was intended to add life to a region rich in musical heritage. The gothic church of Kiedrich houses the oldest playable organ in Germany and has its own "dialect" of Gregorian chant that dates back to 1333. In more recent times, the Rheingau has inspired composers such as Johannes Brahms, who composed his Symphony No. 3 in Wiesbaden and frequently stayed in Rüdesheim, and Richard Wagner, who worked on Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Biebrich.

To test the festival idea, two concerts took place in Kloster Eberbach in the summer of 1987. In November 1987 the Rheingau Musik Festival e. V. was founded, an association that organized the festival from the first season in 1988 which included 19 concerts until 1992. It has continued to support the festival since.² The RMF receives significant financial help from sponsors who choose to fund their own concerts. The Rheingau Musik Festival is under the patronage of the minister-president of Hesse.³ Michael Herrmann was awarded the Goethe-Plakette of Hesse in 2002.⁴

The RMF has grown to be one of Germany's important festivals presenting around 140 events every summer with international orchestras, ensembles and soloists.³

Locations

Eberbach Abbey, 2006

The concerts of the first season took place at Kloster Eberbach, in the hall and church of Schloss Johannisberg, at St. Martin in Lorch (part of the Rhine Gorge World Heritage Site), at the "Rheingau Cathedral" in Geisenheim, and at the Marktkirche and the Kurhaus in Wiesbaden.

Important locations have included Schloss Vollrads, the Abbey St. Hildegard in Eibingen, St. Valentinus in Kiedrich, the romanesque Basilika St. Aegidius of Mittelheim, St. Georg und Katharina in Wiesbaden-Frauenstein, the Parkhotel of the spa Schlangenbad, and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main. Concerts have been staged in churches, castles and former presshouses (Kelterhalle). An annual "Sommerfest" is held at Schloss Johannisberg while other open air concerts have taken place in wineries and vineyards, on river boats, in the cloisters of Eberbach, the courts of Vollrads and the Kurpark Wiesbaden.¹

Program

The Rheingau Musik Festival is traditionally opened by a concert by the hr-Sinfonieorchester, broadcast live. A cycle of the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, conducted by Paavo Järvi, continued in 2010 with the 2nd Symphony. Most events are dedicated to classical music, but cabaret, jazz, readings, musical cruises, children's concerts, wine tastings or culinary events with music add to a diverse program.

Anniversaries

Every year, composers' anniversaries are celebrated. In 2009, six concerts were given. Each had music by Handel, including Israel in Egypt with the Monteverdi Choir under John Eliot Gardiner; by Haydn, including The Creation conducted by Enoch zu Guttenberg; and by Mendelssohn, including Elijah with the Collegium Vocale Gent under Philippe Herreweghe. In 2010, Robert Schumann and Frederic Chopin are celebrated in 16 concerts, such as Das Paradies und die Peri and piano music of Chopin with Daniel Barenboim. Seven concerts are devoted to Mahler and Hugo Wolf, such as Spanisches Liederbuch. Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber performed Mahler's Sieben Lieder aus letzter Zeit (Seven Songs of Latter Days) and songs from Das Lied von der Erde.

Series

Every year, some concerts are grouped around a theme; in 2010, Fernweh, in eight concerts, including one of the ensemble amarcord. Soloists still in their teens are presented at the regular "Treffpunkt Jugend" (meeting point youth). Some performances are presented over several years, such as the piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven by Rudolf Buchbinder. Every year on 15 August the Assumption of Mary is celebrated by a Marienvesper (Vespers for the Virgin Mary), in 2010 additionally Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine to mark the 400th anniversary of the work, with the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann. Organ concerts have been played on the historic instruments of the region by organists such as Marie Claire Alain, Gabriel Dessauer, Edgar Krapp and Ignace Michiels. The festival usually concludes with a choral concert in Eberbach Abbey conducted by Helmuth Rilling, including rarely performed works such as Messa per Rossini (2001), Polish Requiem (2005), and Messiah of Sven-David Sandström.

Portraits of living composers

A special feature of the RMF is the annual Komponistenporträt, the presentation of a living composer in talk and music. It was initiated by Walter Fink and has been sponsored by him. From the beginning in 1990 the core of this portrait has been the invitation of a composer for an interview with chamber music. The modern ESWE Atrium⁵ was a fitting venue, but since a larger audience got interested the talks were moved to Schloss Johannisberg. In later years more concerts were added, sometimes in different locations, sometimes showing the works of the featured composer in relation to other music, lately concentrating on large scale works. Some composers have played or conducted themselves.

Artists

Artists have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Alfred Brendel, Mstislav Rostropovitch, the Alban Berg Quartet, Zubin Mehta, and Riccardo Muti.³ Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau has appeared as a recitator, and Giora Feidman and Bobby McFerrin included their audience in their performance. In 2001, Dave Brubeck and his quartet appared with the Jacques Loussier Trio.⁶ Chick Corea visited in 2009 and jammed with Roy Haynes, whose band had opened the concert.⁷ Other artists of 2009 included Colin Davis, Ludwig Güttler, Martha Argerich, Frank Peter Zimmermann and Anne Sofie von Otter.⁸ Lorin Maazel conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 and Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps.

Rheingau Musikpreis

In 1994 the festival initiated the Rheingau Musikpreis that has been awarded annually for musical achievements, to

1994 Volker David Kirchner, composer
1995 Alexander L. Ringer, musicologist
1996 Gidon Kremer, violinist
1997 Ensemble Recherche, chamber ensemble for contemporary music
1998 Toshio Hosokawa, composer
1999 Tabea Zimmermann, viola player
2000 Helmuth Rilling, choir conductor
2001 Artemis Quartett, string quartet
2002 Michael Quast, actor, cabarettist, comedian
2003 Stefan-Peter Greiner, violin maker
2004 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musikphysiologie und Musikermedizin, Society for music in medicine
2005 Niki Reiser, composer of film music
2006 Hugh Wolff, conductor
2007 Windsbacher Knabenchor, boys choir
2008 Heinz Holliger, oboist and composer
2009 Christian Gerhaher, baritone⁹

Broadcast and recordings

Many concerts have been conducted in collaboration with broadcasting stations, namely Hessischer Rundfunk. Selected events were recorded, including:¹⁰

Canzoni & Concerti of Girolamo Frescobaldi, Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel - Guillemette Laurens, Il Giardino Armonico, 1995
Tschaikovsky: Manfred Symphony, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Yuri Temirkanov, live in Kurhaus Wiesbaden, 1997
Dvořák: Biblical Songs op. 99, New World Symphony - Liliana Bizineche-Eisinger, Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, conductor: Gerd Albrecht, live in Kurhaus Wiesbaden, 1997
Haydn: The Seasons, Anna Korondi, Markus Schäfer, Dietrich Henschel, Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern; Orchester der KlangVerwaltung München, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Eberbach Abbey, 30 July 1998
Charles Gounod: Mors et Vita, Barbara Frittoli, Lidia Tirendi, Zoran Todorovich, Davide Damiani, Budapest Radio Choir, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Marcello Viotti, 4 July 1999, Eberbach Abby
Carl Orff Carmina Burana - Annette Dasch, Gert Henning-Jensen, Zeljko Lucic, Orfeón Donostiarra, hr-Sinfonieorchester, conductor: Hugh Wolff, live in Eberbach Abbey, 2002
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 , Brigitte Geller, Iris Vermillion, Festival Chor und Orchester Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling, 30 August 2003, Eberbach Abbey
Handel: Messiah, Anna Korondi, Annette Markert, Werner Güra, Sebastian Noack, Cappella Istropolitana, Choir of the Bamberger Symphony, Rolf Beck, Eberbach Abby, 21 August 2004
Mozart: Great Mass in C minor, Version of Robert D. Levin, Diana Damrau, Juliane Banse, Lothar Odinius, Markus Marquardt, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling, 2006
Mahler: Symphony No. 3 , Waltraud Meier, Limburger Domsingknaben, MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Paavo Järvi, Eberbach Abby, 23 June 2007
Unergründliches Geheimnis (Enigmatic Secret) Sacred choral music of Brahms, Bruckner, Mendelssohn and Reger, Windsbach Boys Choir, Marktkirche Wiesbaden, 18 July 2008
Rheingau Musik Festival 2009, Best of Vol. III, Baiba Skride, Nikolaj Znaider, Alfredo Perl, Xavier de Maistre, Christian Gerhaher, Windsbach Boys Choir, 2009