Musical performances attended by a large number of great musicians?

The current BBC Proms season opened last Friday with a 100th anniversary performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony. And quite splendid it was too! I discovered almost by accident that the first performance, in Munich on 12 September 1910, conducted by Mahler himself, was attended by a veritable Who's Who of Mahler's contemporary composers and conductors:

Composers:
Eugène d'Albert
Julius Bittner
Edward Elgar
Leo Fall
Karl Goldmark (by then an old man of 80)
Erich Korngold (a boy of 13)
Oskar Nedbal
Sergei Rakhmaninov
Franz Schmidt
Arnold Schoenberg
Anton Webern

Conductors:
Leo Blech
Otto Klemperer
Willem Mengelberg
Kark Muck
Ernst von Schuch
Fritz Stiedry
Leopold Stokowski
Bruno Walter
Felix Weingartner
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Siegfried Wagner

I think you will agree that this was quite a stellar line-up - especially when one remembers that travel in those days was somewhat slower than it is today. It goes a long way to show how venerated a musician Mahler must have been.

My question is this: is anyone aware of any other performances (whether first performances or not) that were attended by so many illustrious musical figures?

2010-07-22T05:35:44Z

Mamianks:
Thank you for your contribution. I too wondered about 'The Rite of Spring' first performance, but surprinsingly, it doesn't seem so well documented, apart from the riots. It is said that Saint-Saëns was at the first performance (or perhaps the dress rehearsal - evidence is contradictory) and that he stormy out complaining that his sensibilities had been assaulted.

pno4tay2010-07-22T06:33:14Z

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I have never seen a detailed listing, but it is generally agreed that every violinist worth two cents and most pianists of equal value were at Jascha Heifetz's New York debut.

Second thought (oh good, I could edit) - I seriously doubt ANYTHING could top the Last Night at the Old Metropolitan Opera House. Almost every living opera great was there, as well as almost every living conductor who had conducted a performance. Many of them performed in solo or ensemble numbers. And there was a group photograph taken of most of them on the stage (as well as one of Licia Albanese placing a kiss on the floor as she walked off the stage.)

Yet another edit. The Kolodin history of the Met does not have a complete listing of who attended, but does include a picture of the greats on the stage. I count 79 heads, give or take a few. Kolodin lists the following on the first three rows:

Rise Stevens
Marjorie Lawrence
Elisabeth Rethberg (debut 1922!)
Martha Lipton
Lotte Lehmann
Helen Jepson
Nannette Guilford
Hertha Glaz
Vilma Georghiu
Anna Case (first sang in 1912-13 season)
Rose Bampton
Marian Anderson
Alexander Kipnis
Raoul Jobin
Frederick Jagel
Richard Crooks
Eugene Conley
Mario Chamlee
John Brownlee
Richard Bonelli

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Mamianka2010-07-22T12:10:18Z

Well- there are all our Geek Meets - the conventions of each particular instrument or other musical specialty. When I go to the National Flute Association conventions, there are several thousand flutists there - and just about anyone who is of importance in the flute world is there. I would assume that each other instrumental convention is similar. So to US, all our famous colleagues, principal players, etc. are in one spot for a few days . . . and at each others' performances. Above my head where I am now sitting, is a photo of over 2,000 of us - we hold the Guinness records of world's largest flute quartet, conducted by Sir James Galway - and on each of the 4 parts were an odd but exciting agglomeration of college kids, professional players, and superstars. Not quite what you had in mind, Del - but as close as *I* can come from personal experience.

I would have to plow through some things like the Musical Book of Lists, or Through the Looking Glass to see if I can find others. We just saw the indie film about Stravinsky and Chanel - I wonder who was at that first Rite of Spring performance??

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Doctor John2010-07-25T20:48:03Z

Schoenberg and Webern are the only two half-decent composers from your list; but a truly remarkable event...for a very flawed piece of music.....Mahler was (quite rightly) revered as a conductor rather than a composer in his own time

02

hfrankmann2010-07-22T15:37:12Z

The premiere of Strauss' Salome (May 16,1906 in Graz):
Puccini
Mahler (with Alma)
Zemlinsky
Schoenberg
Berg
The widow of Johann Strauss
Thomas Mann's Adrien Leverkuhn
Adolf Hitler also claimed to be there

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