Concert halls in Amsterdam around 1880
Amsterdam Odeon
- Built: 1662.
- Address: Singel 460, Amsterdam.
- Merchant’s house, received a cultural destination in the 19th century.
- Visitors: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
- Burned down in 1990. Re-opened 2015.
Amsterdam Odeon.
Amsterdam Oude Schouwburg (Old Theater)
- Built: 1774.
- Address: Leidseplein, Amsterdam.
- This building was entirely made of wood.
- On his last visit to Amsterdam in 1885 Brahms took the Hoforkest van Meiningen to show how it should be done (the perfectionist Von Bülow conducted Symphony No. 4).
- Visitors: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Hans von Bulow (1830-1894)
- Burned down in 1890.
Amsterdam Oude Schouwburg (Old Theater), Leidseplein.
Amsterdam Felix Meritis
- Built: 1788.
- Address: Keizersgracht 324, Amsterdam.
- The oval concert hall was Amsterdam’s most important music hall until well into the 19th century and enjoyed a great international reputation.
- The Ninth Symphony by Beethoven and the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz were played for the first time in the concert hall of Felix Meritis.
- The small hall of the Concertgebouw is inspired by this room.
- On 26-01-1884, almost a year after Wagner’s death, the first concert of the Amsterdam Wagner Society took place in the Felix Meritis building.
- The society was dissolved in 1888.
- Visitors: Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Clara Schumann, Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Julius Rontgen (1855-1932). The sister-in-law (and first lover) of Mozart, Aloysia Lange-Weber, sang there, a few years after Mozart’s death (1798).
- Rebuilding in 2015. Still exists.
Amsterdam Felix Meritis
Amsterdam Parkzaal (Park hall)
- Built: 1849.
- Address: Plantage Doklaan (now Wertheimpark), Amsterdam.
- Predecessor of the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw.
- Although the acoustics were excellent, the room was not entirely ideal for concerts. This was due to the lack of a cloakroom, the location of the kitchen and the toilets directly to the hall, which regularly caused disturbing noises. It was also the case that the audience listened to the music, seated at tables and served by waiters.
- Visitors: Franz Liszt (1811-1886), Max Bruch (1838-1920), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921), Niels Wilhelm Gade (1817-1890). The violinist Henryk Wieniawski celebrated triumphs.
- Demolished in the fall of 1881 because it was decided a new distinguished music temple would be built at the Houbrakenstraat (Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw in the Van Baerlestraat).
Amsterdam Parkzaal (Park hall)
Amsterdam Paleis voor Volksvlijt (Palace of Popular Diligence)
- Built: Year 1864.
- Address: Fredriksplein, Amsterdam.
- The only hall that qualified in Amsterdam for the performance of orchestral music for the commissioning of the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw.
- It was built to house a permanent exhibition of ‘objects of folk industry and folk art’. Later the large concert hall was divided in two: one half functioned as a theater and the other half as a concert hall. because the concert hall of the Palace left something to be desired and there were hardly any facilities in the building for the public, the room was considered unsatisfactory.
- Rehearsal by Brahms in 1884 of his Symphony No. 3 and Pianoconcerto No. 2 with a quarreling couple of unruly (Brahms: ‘You are best people, but bad musicians’).
- Theater hall and Concert hall.
- Aristide Cavaillé-Coll organ.
- Visitors: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
- Burned down in 1929.
Amsterdam Paleis voor Volksvlijt (Palace of Popular Diligence).
Amsterdam Paleis voor Volksvlijt (Palace of Popular Diligence). Concert hall.
Gebouw der Vrije Gemeente (Building of the Free Church) (Paradiso)
- Built: Year 1877.
- Address: Weteringschans 6-8, Amsterdam. Near the Leidseplein.
- The Vrije Gemeente is an originally modern-theological religious community, which originated in Amsterdam in 1877 when the brothers Ph. R. and P.H. Hugenholtz came from the Dutch Reformed Church and started their own congregation.
- Now stage for popmusic called Paradiso.
- Visitors: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
- Still exists.
Gebouw der Vrije Gemeente (Building of the Free Church) 1/3.
Gebouw der Vrije Gemeente (Building of the Free Church) 2/3.
Gebouw der Vrije Gemeente (Building of the Free Church) 3/3.
Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (Concert Building)
- Established in 1882 by de Naamlooze Vennootschap Het Concertgebouw (Public Company The Concertgebouw).
- Architect: A.L. van Gendt.
- Due to the lack of good accommodation for the symphonic music in Amsterdam around 1880.
- Built: Year 1888.
- Opening concert: 11-04-1888. Six years after the first plans. Conducted by Henri Viotta (1848-1933).
- No own orchestra at the time.
- Continuation: Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw.