Tonhalle

In 1893, Franz Kaim, the son of a piano manufacturer, founded the so-called “Kaim Orchestra” together with the Munich Philharmonic Choir. Two years later, it moved to a building built by Martin Dülfer at Türkenstraße 5, which was renamed the Tonhalle in 1905. In 1908, the Concert Association was founded, which served as both the name and legal entity after the City of Munich assumed financial responsibility for the orchestra in 1924, and which became known as the “Munich Philharmonic Orchestra” in 1928. As a central part of Munich’s musical life, the orchestra has collaborated with famous conductors and composers such as Gustav Mahler, Hans Pfitzner and Richard Strauss on numerous world premieres.

In the Tonhalle, which was also used for general events, Thomas Mann held an important speech on November 30, 1926, during the "Fight for Munich as a Cultural Center" rally. He recalled Munich as a center of the artistic avant-garde during the era of the Prince Regent and condemned the cultural decline of the Bavarian capital and its transformation into a bastion of reactionary forces within a few years.

After 1933, the Munich Philharmonic, which primarily used the Tonhalle as its home, became an important cultural ambassador of the “Capital of the Movement” with a high national reputation. Beginning in 1938, under chief conductor Oswald Kabasta, they celebrated great successes on tours of neighboring countries. The repertoire consisted mainly of works from the classical and romantic “German” music literature from Beethoven to Bruckner.
On April 25, 1944, the Tonhalle was severely damaged in a bombing raid. The orchestra, which wasn’t fully taken over as a municipal institution until 1943, was officially disbanded on September 1, 1944. The Munich Philharmonic’s first postwar concert took place on July 8, 1945, under the baton of Eugen Jochum.

Beginning in 1953, the orchestra performed in the Hercules Hall of the Munich Residence, which was built after the war because the Tonhalle was not rebuilt. Since the opening of Gasteig in 1985, the orchestra has once again had its own concert hall, the Philharmonic in Gasteig. Today there is an office building at Türkenstraße 5.