Berlin Akademie became the stronghold of an extreme conservatism, and it was not until toward the end of the period now under review that the liberal spirit came in which has since made Berlin one of the progressive musical capitals of the world.
It may be that the attitude of certain Berlin masters, like Grell, Dehn and Kiel, served a useful purpose as a counterpoise to the impulsive swing of style away from the traditions of the old vocal counterpoint. They certainly helped to keep musical education from forgetting solid structure in composition amid its desires to exploit impressionistic and sensational devices. Probably this reactionary influence did good in the end, though its intolerant narrowness exasperated the many who were eagerly searching out new paths. It at least resulted in making Berlin a centre for choral music of a severe type, for able teachers of the art of singing, for musical theorists and for scholarly investigators of music-history.
One of the most influential organizations was the Singakademie, led
from 1800 by Zelter (d. 1832); from 1833 by Rungenhagen (d. 1851),
who was chosen in competition with Mendelssohn; in 1851-76 by Grell
(d. 1886); in 1876-1900 by Martin Blumner (d. 1901); and since
1900 by Georg Schumann.
The now famous Domchor began to receive special attention about 1830. In 1842 it was reorganized under Mendelssohn's advice, but its eminence from 1843 was chiefly due to the training of August Heinrich Neithardt (d. 1861), who was succeeded in 1861-89 by Rudolph von Hertzberg (d. 1893), assisted in 1862-81 by Heinrich Kotzolt (d. 1881), who was a specialist in a cappella music.
Among many choral societies the most celebrated was the Gesangverein, founded in 1847 and till 1874 conducted by Julius Stern (d. 1883).
The earliest of the music-schools was the Institut für Kirchenmusik, projected in 1819 by Zelter and directed till 1832 by him and Bernhard Klein (d. 1832). Later directors were from 1832 A. W. Bach (d. 1869); from 1869 the organist Haupt (d. 1891); and since 1892 Robert Radecke. The Akademie der Künste was formed in 1833, not simply as an educational institution, but as an honorable society of specialists. Mendelssohn's brief and unhappy relation with it occurred in l841-2. The Institut, the Akademie (Abtheilung für musikalische Composition) and the much later Abtheilung für ausübende Tonkunst (founded in 1869 under Joachim) were in 1875 merged into the significant Hochschule für Musik.
Two other schools were of importance. The Conservatorium was founded in 1850 by Marx, Kullak and Stern, and from 1857 was directed by the latter alone, his successors being in 1883-8 Radecke, from 1888 the singer Jenny Meyer (d. 1894), and since 1895 Gustav Holländer.
