After its modest beginnings, the ensemble’s prominence began to grow under the leadership of the Baroque composer Georg Caspar Schürmann from 1702 to 1707.

In 1867 the Court Orchestra under principal conductor Emil Blücher hosted a festival for the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein (General German Music Association) in collaboration with Franz Liszt in order to promote contemporary composers like Leopold Damrosch, Eduard Lassen, Felix Draeseke, and Robert Volkmann.

The orchestra's golden era commenced in October 1880 with Hans von Bülow's appointment as court music director, elevating it to elite status in Europe.

In a letter to the "theatre duke" George II of Saxe-Meiningen, Brahms expressed his admiration: 'Bülow should know that even the smallest rehearsal in the smallest hall in Meiningen means more to me than any concert in Paris or London, and […] I could sing endless praises about how content and at ease I feel among the orchestra…' His Symphony No.

After Bülow was offered the conductorship of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the young Richard Strauss briefly served as music director in Meiningen, before being succeeded by Fritz Steinbach and Wilhelm Berger.