Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein

For the purpose of reaching this aim, the steering committee of the ADMV should consist solely of persons with his confidence.

In his first articles, he had taken a critical look at contemporary Parisian musical life which he found wanting in all aspects.

In October 1842 Liszt had been nominated in Weimar as "Kapellmeister in außerordentlichen Diensten" ("Conductor in extraordinary services").

[6] In the early 20th century, there were attempts to rename the ADMV as "Liszt Verein" or "Neudeutscher Musikverein" ("New German Music Association").

The earliest was a "Beethoven-Stiftung" (Beethoven Foundation), (1871) funded by the assets of Sophie and Robert Pflughaupt, and enlarged by gifts of Liszt and Karl Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

Artists supported by the "Beethoven-Stiftung" included Robert Franz, August Göllerich, Felix Draeseke, Max Reger, Hans Pfitzner and others.

In 1903 and 1904, when Richard Strauss was president of the ADMV, Arnold Schoenberg was supported with an annual sum of 1,000 Marks, the maximum grant of the foundation.

In 1937, when the ADMV was closed, the foundations still existed, although there had been losses of considerable amounts due to World War I and subsequent economic crisis.

[10] As part of the artistic aims of the ADMV, annual Tonkünstler-Versammlungen at different locations were to be arranged, with performances of important, rarely heard, and especially new musical works of all kinds.

The strong position of Brahms in the concert programs of the ADMV may at first sight be surprising, as he had been often characterized by reference to the "Manifesto" he wrote with Joachim against the New German School.

Even in 1864, in connection with the Tonkünstler-Versammlung in Karlsruhe, it was Liszt who suggested a performance of Joachim's Violin Concerto in Hungarian style.

Nearly all of the works have disappeared from the regularly played concert repertoire, and the scores can only be accessed in archives.

The music of the "New German School" up to 1886, including most of Liszt's works, was neglected or ignored even by scholarly research for a long period, with the exception of that of Wagner.

However, there were severe divergences between him and the rest of the leading committee concerning his activities in favour of a change of the legal rights of composers of instrumental music, regarding royalties from performances of their works.

For these reasons, after Fritz Steinbach had been elected as new president, Strauss was on 24 September 1898 excluded from the steering committee.

The ADMV hence was accused of confusing an esprit de corps, as installed by Liszt, with interests of a diocese or the conceit of a regiment.

[23] Until World War I, the most frequently performed contemporary composer at the Tonkünstler-Feste was Strauss himself,[20] but there were also works such as Mahler's Symphonies Nos.

The edition was to be undertaken by the publishing-house Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig, but the consent of original publishers of Liszt's works was needed.

After World War I, at the Tonkünstler-Fest of 1919 in Berlin, the ADMV restarted with a concert program consisting of Karl Prohaska's Oratorio Frühlingsfeier, Friedrich Klose's Oratorio Der Sonne Geist, Julius Weismann's Lieder auf indische Dichtungen with Trio accompaniment, Siegmund von Hausegger's Aufklänge, Symphonic variations on the nursery-rhyme "Schlaf, Kindchen, schlaf", Georg Schumann's Variationen über ein Thema von Bach, Op.

59, and his scene David und Absalom, Op.70, songs with orchestral accompaniment by Paul Stuiber, the String Quartet, Op.31, by August Reuß, a violin sonata by Julius Kopsch, Richard Strauss' Sechs Lieder, Op.

According to Bruno Schrader, an ultranationalist of an anti-Semitic inclination, most of the productions as performed at the Tonkünstler-Fest were hyper modern.

After World War I had been lost by the "Deutsche Reich", according to Schrader, a cultural retaliatory battle against a French, Belgian and Polish invasion of art had to take place.

Strauss’s Tone Poems, such as Also sprach Zarathustra, ten years earlier still regarded as avant-garde music, were now viewed as works of times of yore.

In July 1935 Strauss had to resign due to his collaboration with Jewish artists, especially with Stefan Zweig, librettist of the opera Die schweigsame Frau.

The suggestion was accepted, since leading members hoped, with Raabe's uniting both positions the ADMV could maintain independence; but this was an error.

It was a letter by some National Socialistic members to Paul Graener, rector of the composers department at the Reichsmusikkammer, with complaints about the steering committee of the ADMV.

[29] After a heated debate with further accusations against Joseph Haas, Siegmund von Hausegger, Hermann Abendroth and Richard Strauss, the authors of the letter apologized.

As Raabe found no support in decisions of two further general assemblies, in June and November 1937, the ADMV was closed.

[31] The Faust Symphony, in its final version, had for the first time been performed at the Tonkünstler-Versammlung of 1861 in Weimar, where the foundation of the ADMV had taken place.

With the sounds of the Chorus mysticus "Alles Vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichnis" (Anything perishable is only a symbol) the ADMV dismissed itself from history.