Exhibition #1

The world premiere performance of this masterpiece took place in the Kärntnertor Theater - the Vienna Court Opera - on May 7, 1824. Ludwig van Beethoven took part in the production.

On May 1, 1824, the Allgemeine Theaterzeitung reported, "Herr Schuppanzigh will have the leadership of the orchestra and the conductor Herr Umlauf will have the overall direction, in which Herr Beethoven himself will also participate.

The orchestral musicians came from the court opera orchestra and were supplemented by other Viennese musicians. Eighteen years later, the musicians of the court opera orchestra founded the Philharmonic Concerts, where in March 1843 the 9th Symphony was once again performed. Two of those musicians had already been mentioned in a conversation book of Beethoven in 1824. The Vienna Philharmonic has now performed the 9th Symphony more than 200 times. In this exhibition we present relevant objects from the collections of the Historical Archives.

This score was sent to Vienna in 1860 by the publisher B. Schott's Söhne together with the orchestral parts for the Philharmonic Concerts. These were presumably used on January 12, 1862, and at an additional nine Vienna Philharmonic concerts under the baton of Otto Dessoff.

This score was published between 1862-1865 as part of the first complete edition of Beethoven's works. A handwritten list of performances between 1843 and 1929 is inserted at the beginning of the score. The first part of the list was probably added in 1885.

Otto Nicolai (1810-1849), founder of the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted the 9th Symphony on March 19, 1843, for the first time in a concert of the Vienna Philharmonic.

The 9th Symphony was performed for the first time as part of the Vienna Philharmonic subscription concerts on January 12, 1862. Otto Dessoff was the Vienna Philharmonic subscription conductor from 1860 to 1875.

Hans Richter (1843–1916) was the conductor of more the 240 Vienna Philharmonic concerts between 1875 and 1898. He conducted the 9th Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic nine times.

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) was the subscription concert of the Vienna Philharmonic from 1898 to 1901. He performed the 9th Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic on February 18 and 22, 1900, as well as January 27, 1901.

The Viennese newspaper Neue Wiener Tagblatt reported on February 23, 1900, "An exceptional impression was made by the slow movement and the scherzo, in which, as in earlier performances under Richter, the first and second sections were not repeated. After the virtuosic performance of these movements, the musicians were forced to rise from their seats to acknowledge the resounding applause."

The Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse reported on January 29, 1901: "At the end of the performance, Herr Mahler was the recipient of a rapturous ovation from the performers."

Under the baton of Leonard Bernstein, the 9th Symphony was performed in the Vienna State Opera on the occasion of the opening of the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna on September 2, 1979. Leonard Bernstein penned this letter to the Vienna Philharmonic on September 5, 1979: "To all of my colleagues of the Vienna Philharmonic: Brothers!"

• Otto Nicolai (1843, 1846)
• Carl Eckert (1859)
• Otto Dessoff (1862, 1864, 1867, 1870, 1872, 1873, 1875)
• Hans Richter (1880, 1882, 1883, 1885, 1889, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1897)
• Gustav Mahler (1900, 1901)
• Joseph Hellmesberger (1903)
• Franz Schalk (1905, 1907, 1927 1928)
• Felix Weingartner (1910, 1911, 1912, 1913. 1914, 1917, 1918. 1920, 1923, 1925, 1927, 1933, 1935, 1937)
• Hermann Schmeidel (1921)
• Richard Strauss (1923; According to the program, only the first three movements were performed.)
• Alois Pachernegg (1927)
• Wilhelm Furtwängler (1929, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1940, 1942, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953)
• Arturo Toscanini (1934)
• Hans Knappertsbusch (1938, 1939, 1941)
• Oswald Kabasta (1939)
• Karl Böhm (1943, 1944, 1951, 1955, 1964, 1965, 1971, 1973, 1977)
• Josef Krips (1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1968)
• Clemens Krauss (1947)
• Herbert von Karajan (1947, 1949, 1958, 1960, 1963)
• Bruno Walter (1948, 1955)
• Carl Schuricht (1956)
• Paul Klecki (1962)
• George Szell (1969)
• Leonard Bernstein (1970, 1979)
• Rafael Kubelik (1970)
• Claudio Abbado (1986, 1987, 1988)
• Georg Solti (1990)
• Zubin Mehta (1995, 2016)
• Simon Rattle (2000, 2001, 2002)
• Christian Thielemann (2003, 2010, 2013, 2017)
• Gustavo Dudamel (2013)
• Franz Welser-Möst (2014)
• Andrís Nelsons (2018, 2020)
• Riccardo Muti (2020)