Saarländisches Staatstheater

Reconstituted as the municipal orchestra, the newly assembled Saarbrücken musicians presented themselves for the first time in January 1946 with the overtures to Mozart's Zauberflöte and Beethoven's Egmont. About a year later their first music-theatre production accompanied Gluck's opera Orpheus und Eurydike, with the new chief conductor Philipp Wüst on the podium. The post-war shortages, reflected in a depleted music library, were countered in April 1947 by a sponsorship from the Paris Association des Concerts-Colonnes — the beginning of a long tradition of francophone ties in Saarbrücken's municipal concert life. Wüst's 16-year directorship brought Saarbrücken first performances of works by composers such as Maurice Ravel and Albert Roussel.