The Philharmonic Society is the oldest musical association of the former Austrian monarchy and the successor of the Academia Philharmonicorum Labacensis. It was founded in 1794, its predecessor was a string quartet whose members were four Ljubljana citizens (Karel Moos, Karl Kogl, Jožef Jellemitzky and Jožef Flikschuh). The aim of the Society was to enrich emotions by choosing good compositions, and to shape musical taste of the citizens through a good musical performance. The Society's activities were initially limited to weekly in-house performances for a closed circle of members and quarterly "academies" open to the public. The reputation of the Ljubljana Philharmonic Society grew steadily, and so did its membership. Anyone who was important in Ljubljana was a member of the Philharmonic Society. The French occupation and the establishment of the Illyrian Provinces halted its work for a while, however in 1816 the Society already had 200 members. The records indicate that there were up to a hundred instrumentalists in the orchestra and around forty singers in the choir, and some sixty regular listeners.

The Society held its last concert in autumn 1918, after which it became a section of the Glasbena matica musical society.