Vienna Philharmonic

In 1833, Franz Lachner formed the forerunner of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Künstlerverein – an orchestra of professional musicians from the Vienna Court Opera. The Vienna Philharmonic itself arose nine years later, in 1842. The orchestra was fully independent, and made all of its decisions by a democratic vote of its members.

The orchestra gave only 11 concerts in the ensuing five years, and in 1847, the orchestra nearly folded.

In 1875, the orchestra chose Hans Richter as subscription conductor. He remained until 1898. Richter led the VPO in the world premieres of Brahms's Second Symphony, Tragic Overture, and Symphony no. 3, the Violin Concerto of Tchaikovsky, the 8th symphony of Anton Bruckner. Richter intended to remain in his position for 25 years. But he resigned on 22 September 1898, citing health reasons.

In 1898, the orchestra elected Gustav Mahler. Under Mahler's baton the Vienna Philharmonic played abroad for the first time at the 1900 Paris World Exposition. While Mahler had strong supporters in the orchestra, he faced dissension from other orchestral members. He resigned on 1 April 1901, like Richter, citing health concerns as a pretext.

Since 1933, the orchestra has had no single subscription conductor. Other conductors who worked with the orchestra in the mid-1930s before the Anschluss included Arturo Toscanini, Felix Weingartner, Hans Knappertsbusch, Otto Klemperer, Adrian Boult, Victor de Sabata and George Szell.

The orchestra's history after the Anschluss and during World War II has been a topic of ongoing discussion and research, including a large amount commissioned by the orchestra.

In 1946, when these conductors were undergoing denazification the orchestra was led primarily by conductors untainted by Nazi association. An exception was Herbert von Karajan, who made his debut with the orchestra with two concerts in January, but was unable to conduct a third scheduled concert when occupying authorities required him to undergo denazification.

In the postwar era, scores of the world's best-known conductors have led the orchestra. Three conductors were given honorific titles by the orchestra in the later 20th century: Karajan and Karl Böhm, who were made Honorary Conductors, and Leonard Bernstein, who was made an Honorary Member of the orchestra. Pierre Boulez, who has conducted the orchestra often, was made an Honorary Member in 2007.

In 2005 the orchestra was named Goodwill Ambassador of the World Health Organisation. Wikipedia