Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • Winter 2025 19 A Wld of Music the second Gewandhaus along with Peter Tchaikovsky, Edvard Grieg, and Richard Strauss while Anton Bruckner, Paul Hindemith, and Igor Stravinsky all performed there. In 1981, Kurt Masur conducted two premieres of note in the current Gewandhaus. At the opening concert in October was the commissioned Gesänge an die Sonne by Siegfried Thiele (born in 1934) and on a program in November was Symphony No. 3 by Alfred Schnittke (1934–1998). Founded with sixteen musicians as the Grosses Concert One by the bourgeoisie in 1743, today's Gewandhaus Orchestra, the oldest German civic orchestra, is one of the best in the world. Its 185 musicians rotate, annually giving about 300 performances of symphonic, operatic, and sacred music in the Gewandhaus, Leipzig Opera, and Thomaskirche. In 1978, my late brother, concert pianist Malcolm Frager, performed with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Kurt Masur at the zoo's Congress Hall, its temporary home for thirty-five years. In 1986, Malcolm performed with the GDR Radio Symphony Orchestra Leipzig under Herbert Kegel in the current Gewandhaus. Parenthetically, Julius Klengel (1859–1933), a composer well known to cellists like me, became the youngest member of the orchestra at age fifteen. He was promoted to principal cellist at twenty-two, and played in the section for a half century! The musical giant Herbert Blomstedt was the permanent maestro of the Gewandhaus Orchestra between 1998–2005 and is now Conductor Laureate. Recently, I stayed in a hotel room with a full view of the Gewandhaus. It was cold, windy, and drizzling when I walked there. After climbing upstairs, I could see a gigantic rainbow through a huge glass panel inside the concert hall. This beautiful sight was a prelude to my "pot of concert gold" that evening: Blomstedt conducting Schubert's second and fourth symphonies. Facing him in my seat, I imagined myself playing in the orchestra. What an unforgettable experience! Currently, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra — both led by Andris Nelsons — are collaborating. And in 2025, the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), the orchestras will have a special, comprehensive celebration from May 15 to June 1 in Leipzig, performing almost all of the works from his extensive oeuvre — symphonies, concertos, chamber works, and even an opera. The Festival Orchestra (comprised of young musicians from the Mendelssohn Orchestra Academy and the Tanglewood Academy) will join forces with the two professional groups. Not surprisingly, all three Gewandhauses have contained the same Latin motto. Inscribed in large capital letters under the 6,845 organ pipes in the newest Gewandhaus are the words RES SEVERA VERUM GAUDIUM. ("True joy is a serious matter.") Seneca the Younger was absolutely right!

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