Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, German orchestra. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra has its origins in the Bilsesche Kapelle formed by Benjamin Bilse in 1867. In 1882, 54 of its 70 players reorganized themselves as the Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductorship of Franz Wüllner. Joseph Joachim became the conductor in 1884; he was succeeded by Hans von Bülow in 1887. Under Artur Nikisch, who became conductor in 1895, it achieved new heights and made several international tours. Nikisch was succeeded by Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1922, who acquired a subsidy for the orchestra from the city of Berlin in return for 20 popular concerts per year—an arrangement that has given the orchestra its financial security ever since. In 1944 the orchestra’s home, the Philharmonie, was destroyed by Allied bombs. Post-war concert-giving began only days after the German surrender, on May 26, 1945. The young Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache led the orchestra briefly, but in 1947, after being cleared of collaboration with the Nazis, the rehabilitated Furtwängler returned. He was succeeded in 1954 by Herbert von Karajan, who conducted the first concert in the new Philharmonie in 1963. On Karajan’s death in 1989 the Italian Claudio Abbado took over the conductorship. All the orchestra's previous chief conductors except Celibidache having stayed in the post virtually until their deaths, Abbado was unusual in announcing his retirement in 1999, effective from 2002. He had changed the orchestra's direction by placing greater emphasis on contemporary music, and this trend seems likely to continue under his successor, Sir Simon Rattle, the first British conductor to be elected to the post. Rattle’s first performance, in September 2002, was enthusiastically received by both audience and critics.

From its inception the Berlin Philharmonic has had the benefit of the finest conductors and gained for itself a reputation for a sophisticated and polished sound quality that, under Karajan, reached a degree that some critics considered mannered. As an ensemble it plays with uncanny unanimity, and has made innumerable fine recordings under all its conductors since Nikisch and with many guests. Its members enjoy a high status in Berlin society.