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Sønderborg Musikforening
Egernsund
The music society was founded in May 1919 under the name "Sønderborg Sang- og Musikforening".
In Sønderjylland people were at that time still living under German rule. Singing together was very widespread and there were many choirs. Choral societies played a large role, and at the end of the 1800s popular communal singing took hold among the Danish-minded part of the population. Thus the core of the newly founded music society became a choir, "Sønderborgkoret".
In the beginning there were both passive and active members, the active ones being choir singers who took part in the concerts.
One of the season's four concerts was in the first years a choir concert, and the other three were predominantly with instrumentalists or singers who were not only local, but from all over Denmark and from abroad. As the years went by, there were fewer concerts with choir, and in 1938 the society got its present name, Sønderborg Musikforening. It was decided to take a break during the years of World War 2.
The concerts were initially held at Sønderborghus. Many concerts also took place in the festival hall of Statsskolen for a long period of years from the 1940s.
In the 1950s and up to 1962 the now closed Teaterhotel was used. It was located in Perlegade, where Wohlenbergs Vinhandel is today.
From 1977 many concerts were played in the newly built Musikhus on Skovvej, now Sønderborg Musikskole.
The society has used Riddersalen at Sønderborg Slot since 1974, and today the concerts take place exclusively in this beautiful space.
At the end of the 1940s concert planning really got going. The old minute books tell of many successful concerts, and it is regularly mentioned that there was a full house. The number of concerts in a season was initially four, today the number is six.
Over the years the society has engaged countless well-known as well as lesser-known musicians. It would go too far and merely become a list to name them all
There have been both Danish and foreign world-famous pianists, singers, instrumentalists and ensembles in all possible combinations.
Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester has played a large role in the society's life. When the orchestra was formed in 1936 its first conductor was the organist Haakon Elmer, who was also for a number of years the society's chair.
From the old programmes it appears that in the years after World War 2 and up to the middle of the 1960s the symphony orchestra regularly played at the society's concerts.
Several of the orchestra's members have also appeared as soloists over the years.
The society also cooperates with Sønderborg Jazzclub and is in close contact with the neighbouring societies in Haderslev, Aabenraa and Tønder.
The society is a member of "Dansk-tysk Selskab af Musikvenner af 1998" together with Verein der Musikfreunde Flensburg and the minorities' cultural committees in Bund Deutscher Nordschleswiger and Sydslesvigsk Forening.
Thanks to the sponsorship of Larsens Strings A/S it has several times been possible to hear outstanding musicians whom the owner Laurits Larsen has met on his business trips around the world.
The society's concerts can be enjoyed at favourable prices. Naturally prices have risen over the many years since the 1920s, when active members paid five kr. and passive members six kroner for a season.
At that time, however, in addition to the membership fee one paid a small amount for each concert. But prices rose only slowly, and as late as 1956 one paid 10 kr. for a season. One could even be allowed to pay in two instalments!
Today a membership costs 500 kr. and you thereby have free admission to all the concerts. A single ticket at the door costs 150 kr.
Pensioner discounts ceased long ago, as most listeners are not exactly young anyway …
In 2019 the society celebrated its 100th anniversary, and for the occasion a commemorative publication was produced with a more detailed account of the society's work. This booklet can be obtained at the concerts.
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