Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra

Tracing its beginnings to 1882, the ensemble later known as the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra was established as the Imperial Music Choir to serve the Court of Tsar Alexander III. Its first public program took place on December 25 of that year, after which Court functions dominated its schedule for the ensuing twenty years. G. Flige, its initial music director, held the post from 1882 until 1907, at which point the group had already begun presenting concerts for general audiences.

G. Varlikh assumed leadership in 1907 and broadened the repertoire to include recent works by non-Russian composers; Richard Strauss himself conducted the orchestra in 1912. Sergey Koussevitzky took over the same year, initiating a series of performances at the Pavlovsky Vokzal concert hall. Under Emil Cooper, who served from 1920 to 1923, the orchestra secured state backing and moved into the Great Hall of the Philharmonic, the former Court Assembly venue. Cooper’s tenure featured ambitious programs, among them a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 that involved nearly five hundred musicians.

Valery Berdyaev and Nicolai Malko followed Cooper on the podium. By then the city had been renamed Leningrad in 1924, and the orchestra adopted the corresponding title Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. By the close of the 1920s it was widely regarded as the Soviet Union’s foremost ensemble, drawing guest appearances by Bruno Walter, Ernest Ansermet, and Hans Knappertsbusch. Alexander Gauk succeeded Malko in 1930; during his three-season tenure he introduced numerous new Russian scores by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Myaskovsky. Fritz Stiedry served from 1934 to 1937, sharpening the orchestra’s technical precision.

Yevgeny Mravinsky was named music director in 1938 and remained in the post for half a century. He had already led the premiere of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 as a guest conductor in 1937 and introduced the Sixth the following November; he later conducted the first performances of Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony in October 1947 and numerous additional Soviet works. Although he recorded Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and other Russian composers, Mravinsky generally favored live performances over studio sessions. Wartime conditions forced the orchestra’s evacuation to Novosibirsk in 1941, where it remained until returning in 1944. Postwar losses of personnel and subsequent defections weakened ensemble standards, yet Mravinsky, aided by Kurt Sanderling, restored the orchestra’s caliber; by the late 1960s it was again viewed as world-class, a status affirmed by extensive international touring throughout the 1970s.

In Mravinsky’s final years he conducted infrequently, leaving most duties to assistants. After his death Yuri Temirkanov was appointed music director. When the city reclaimed its former name of St. Petersburg in 1991, the orchestra was accordingly retitled the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.