The Gewandhaus Orchestra never was a court orchestra. It was created through the artistic sense of the merchants of Leipzig, who founded a "Great Concert Society" in 1743. When the Gewandhaus was built in 1781, the orchestra found a home in the upper hall at first, and later also in the new building, which was completed in 1881-84 and later destroyed during the bombings of February 1944. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the orchestra, the present building was handed over to the orchestra in October 1981. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was its conductor from 1835 to 1847. The first performances of Schumann's 1st, 2nd and 4th symphonies fall into this period. Previously, Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto (1811) had already been premiered in Leipzig. That is why these works hold a special place in this collection. The conductor here is Franz Konwitschny (1901-1962), who directed the orchestra from 1949 until his sudden death. Before finding his artistic home in Leipzig, he had been General Music Director in Freiburg, Frankfurt/Main and Hanover. With the Gewandhaus Orchestra and their complete recordings of the Schumann and Beethoven symphonies he went on to become one of the great conductors in the German tradition and its performance history.