Concert Notes
Music of the Other Germany
Music of the Other Germany By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Music of the Other Germany, performed on Jan 25, 2009 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. It is hard to believe that twenty years have passed since the fall of Communism. Almost until the very end, the idea that Communism would be…
Read MoreHanns Eisler, Auferstanden aus Ruinen, Hymne der DDR
Hann Eisler, Auferstanden aus Ruinen, Hymne der DDR By Laura Silverberg, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow, Columbia University Written for the concert Music of the Other Germany, performed on Jan 25, 2009 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Lionized in the GDR as the founding father of socialist German music, Hanns Eisler (1898–1962) was an ardent…
Read MoreRudolf Wagner-Régeny, Mythological Figures
Rudolf Wagner-Régeny, Mythological Figures By Laura Silverberg, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow, Columbia University Written for the concert Music of the Other Germany, performed on Jan 25, 2009 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Rudolf Wagner-Régeny (1903–1969) had no strong socialist sympathies and composed little explicitly political music. While his contemporaries Eisler and Dessau voluntarily made their…
Read MorePaul Dessau, In Memoriam Bertolt Brecht
Paul Dessau, In Memoriam Bertolt Brecht By Laura Silverberg, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow, Columbia University Written for the concert Music of the Other Germany, performed on Jan 25, 2009 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Along with his contemporary Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau (1894–1979) was one of East Germany’s most prominent composers. The grandson of…
Read MoreUdo Zimmermann, Sinfonia come un grande Lamento, in Memory of F. García Lorca
Udo Zimmermann, Sinfonia come un grande Lamento, in Memory of F. García Lorca By Laura Silverberg, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow, Columbia University Written for the concert Music of the Other Germany, performed on Jan 25, 2009 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. In 1971, Erich Honecker (General Secretary of the ruling Socialist Unity Party) declared that…
Read MoreSiegfried Matthus, Responso: Konzert für Orchester
Siegfried Matthus, Responso: Konzert für Orchester By Byron Adams, University of California, Riverside Written for the concert Music of the Other Germany, performed on Jan 25, 2009 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The distinguished German composer Siegfried Matthus was born in 1934 in what was then East Prussia. In 1944, fleeing the advancing Russian…
Read MoreAgainst the Avant Garde: Romanticisms of the 1920s
Against the Avant Garde: Romanticisms of the 1920s By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Against the Avant-Garde: Romanticisms of the 1920s, performed on Dec 7, 2008 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The act of writing history inevitably forces the historian to simplify and generalize. The object of historical writing seems in part…
Read MoreWalter Braunfels, Don Juan, Op. 34
Walter Braunfels, Don Juan, Op. 34 By Professor Ute Jung-Kaiser Written for the concert Against the Avant-Garde: Romanticisms of the 1920s, performed on Dec 7, 2008 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Don Juan is a living myth. He is a projection screen for male longing, the embodiment of the seducer, who can bring any…
Read MoreHermann Suter, Violin Concerto in A major, Op. 23
Hermann Suter, Violin Concerto in A major, Op. 23 (1924) By Dr. Peter Laki, Visiting Associate Professor, Bard College Written for the concert Against the Avant-Garde: Romanticisms of the 1920s, performed on Dec 7, 2008 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Verachtet mir die Meister nicht, und ehrt mir ihre Kunst! (“Do not disdain…
Read MoreJoseph Marx, Eine Herbstsymphonie (Autumn Symphony)
Joseph Marx, Eine Herbstsymphonie (Autumn Symphony) By John Wood, Poet and Art Critic Written for the concert Against the Avant-Garde: Romanticisms of the 1920s, performed on Dec 7, 2008 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. We are fortunate to live in a time of broadminded musical rediscovery. Doors that once had slammed shut on…
Read More