Until the 1830s, orchestral performance in Vienna was done by "ad hoc" orchestras, consisting of professional and (often) amateur musicians brought together for specific performances. In 1833, Franz Lachner formed the forerunner of the Vienna Philharmonic, the – an orchestra of professional musicians from the Vienna Court Opera ("Wiener Hofoper", now the Vienna State Opera); it gave four concerts, each including a Beethoven symphony. The Vienna Philharmonic itself arose nine years later, in 1842, hatched by a group who met regularly at the inn 'Zum Amor', including the poet Nikolaus Lenau, newspaper editor August Schmidt, critic Alfred Becker, violinist Karlz Holz, Count Laurecin, and composer Otto Nicolai who was also the principal conductor of a standing orchestra at a Viennese theater. Mosco Carner wrote in "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" that "Nicolai was the least enthusiastic about the idea, and had to be persuaded by the others; he conducted the first on 28 March 1842." The orchestra was fully independent, consisted of members of the "Hofoper" orchestra, and made all of its decisions by a democratic vote of its members; it had its day-to-day management handled by a democratically elected body, the administrative committee.