The concerts held there may be regarded as the start of a long musical tradition on the Johannisberg. The decision to construct a concert hall and assembly room on this spot led to the announcement of an architectural competition in The actual building phase lasted from to and the official opening of the Historische Stadthalle was celebrated from 6 to 8 July with a dazzling musical festival, one of whose conductors was a young Richard Strauss.
Although the Historische Stadthalle survived both World Wars more or less unscathed, the character and appearance of the rooms were altered substantially in the fifties in keeping with the architectural taste of the day. All the pictorial elements and colourful mouldings disappeared under a layer of monochrome paint. The Historische Stadthalle was painstakingly renovated and rehabilitated between and in order to recreate and optimize the original aesthetic and functional qualities of the edifice.
Since then, the participants and organizers of up to events a year have demonstrated their undiminished enthusiasm for this architectural gem. The award-winning researcher has developed an innovative method which allows for the precise comparison of the acoustics of different concert halls.
However, the hall has very nice acoustics and it should be much better known. We really liked the Stadthalle and it definitely supports the full dynamics that an orchestra can play. It is one of the best concert halls in Europe. In every location, it was assembled in exactly the same way so that the concert hall was the only variable factor that could influence the sound of the recordings. Later on in the lab, this allowed for an extremely precise comparison of the acoustic properties.
When listening to music from the various different concert halls using spatial sound reproduction in the lab, all subjective audio assessments were conducted using sensory test methods that revealed the different factors affecting perception in the individual concert halls. That was what Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once called the organ. Anyone who has ever heard it, or had the thrill of playing it, goes into raptures and quickly transmits their enthusiasm to music-loving friends and colleagues.
