Lower Rhenish Musical Festival

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The Lower Rhenish Musical Festival (Niederrheinisches Musikfest) had ranked as the most important triennial musical festival in the world. In 1811 a Thuringian musical festival was held at Erfurt under the conductorship of Bischoff, the organist of Frankenhausen. In 1817 Johann Schornstein, who was the musical director at Elberfeld, organized a festival in which he was assisted by the musicians of Düsseldorf. Originally the Lower Rhenish festivals were held at Elberfeld and Düsseldorf alternately, but in 1821 the musicians of Cologne participated, and the Musikfest was held in their city. In 1825 Aix-la-Chapelle was the city selected. With the single exception of 1827, when the festival was held at Elbersfeld, the meetings took place at Düsseldorf, Aix-la-Chapelle, or Cologne. Among the conductors have been Spohr, Mendelssohn, Spontini, Hiller, Liszt, Rubinstein, Joachim, Gade, Brahms, Richter, R. Strauss.

• This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.