Jahn, Wilhelm

Conductor

Born: 24.11.1835 in Hof (Moravia)

died: 21.04.1900 in Vienna

After starting out in Budapest and Zagreb, Jahn came to the opera house in Amsterdam and worked at the opera in Prague from 1857-64. In the fall of 1865, he took up the post of opera director at the Wiesbaden Court Theatre, which he held for 15 years. Contemporaries regarded him as an excellent conductor and talented stage director with great administrative skills. Jahn offered operas by German composers such as Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Heinrich Marschner, Friedrich von Flotow, Albert Lortzing, Otto Nicolai and Wagner. Wiesbaden premieres included Gluck's "Armide" (1866) and "Orpheus and Eurydice" (1869) as well as Mozart's "Idomeneo" (1871) and "Così fan tutte" (1876). In 1874, he rehearsed Robert Schumann's only opera "Genoveva", which remained unsuccessful here as elsewhere. After "Der fliegende Holländer", "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin", he also produced Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" in 1879, which was recognized as an admirable achievement. From the Italians, there was above all Donizetti and Verdi, and the French "grand opera" was also cultivated. As early as 1865, Jahn introduced regular symphony concerts by the theater orchestra, in which the classical repertoire and contemporary works were performed. One highlight was the performance of the 9th Symphony on Beethoven's birthday on December 17, 1869, which created a competitive situation with the Cäcilienverein and led to conflicts. Presumably for this very reason, the board of the Cäcilienverein elected Jahn as its new artistic director in 1870; however, the Berlin General Director of the Royal Prussian Theatres did not allow this secondary activity. Jahn was chairman of the "Verein der Künstler und Kunstfreunde" for several years.

In October 1880, he moved to the Vienna Court Opera, which he successfully conducted for 16 years - longer than any of his predecessors - and was succeeded by Gustav Mahler. He returned to Wiesbaden as a guest conductor for the Middle Rhine Music Festival in 1891.