Concentus Musicus Wien

The Concentus Musicus Wien emerged decades ago as a leading ensemble devoted to historical instruments and performance practices, amassing an extensive catalog of recordings in the process.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt, a conductor and cellist, established the group in Vienna during 1953. Together with his wife Alice, who assumed the role of first violinist, and numerous fellow musicians drawn from the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the players devoted four years to preparation before presenting their debut concert. Although the city already drew international notice for early music through figures such as keyboardist Gustav Leonhardt and ensembles including the Clemencic Consort, the Capella Academica, and the Vienna Recorder Ensemble, Concentus Musicus distinguished itself immediately through an unprecedented degree of technical mastery on period instruments.

Its Teldec (formerly Telefunken) association, launched in 1963, produced a string of prize-winning yet frequently debated discs. The ensemble’s programming choices traced the broader arc of Western music history: initial programs occasionally reconstructed medieval and Renaissance repertory, yet the inaugural recording project focused on Henry Purcell’s Viol Fantasias of 1680, after which the group gained renown for its high-Baroque interpretations. Landmark Bach readings encompass the Brandenburg Concerti (first captured in 1964), the Orchestral Suites (1966), the St. John Passion (1965), the Mass in B minor (1968), the St. Matthew Passion (1970), and the complete cantatas (a project shared with Gustav Leonhardt and carried out from 1971 to 1990). During the same period the musicians joined Zürich stagings of Monteverdi’s three operas in the 1970s and explored works by Rameau, Telemann, Handel, and additional composers. Building on that foundation, Concentus Musicus advanced into the Classical era with incisive, vigorous accounts of symphonies, choral pieces, and operas by Mozart and Haydn. Accolades include a Grammy Award, repeated French Grand Prix du Disque honors, the Edison Prize, the German Schallplattenpreis, and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik; the Bach cantata cycle further secured the Gramophone Award for Special Achievement.

The artistic outlook of Concentus Musicus continues to reflect the outlook of its founders, Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt. Nikolaus designated his 1954 essay “On the Interpretation of Historical Music” as the ensemble’s guiding statement. Rejecting what he viewed as two opposing methods—modernizing older music until it loses its identity or retreating so completely into historical study that contemporary relevance vanishes—he advocated employing period instruments and techniques to generate a living musical experience for the present day. He regarded the Baroque orchestra as an instrument “whose sound and technique aid and inspire us” in creating music within the twentieth century. Distinctive sonic traits of this approach comprised exceptional proficiency on early instruments, incisive articulation and accentuation, historically informed tuning, and imaginative deployment of spatial effects to realize the “Musical Dialogue.”

Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt both stepped down from Concentus Musicus in 2015. Stefan Gottfried succeeded Nikolaus as artistic director, while Erich Höbarth assumed Alice’s former post as concertmaster. In 2019 the ensemble issued Schubert (Un)finished: Symphony No. 7 in B-flat Major, D 759; Lieder with orchestra, conducted by Gottfried and released on the Aparte label.