Schönberg's masterpiece: reminder to the horror of the Holocaust in Cologne

Schönberg's masterpiece: reminder to the horror of the Holocaust in Cologne

Köln, Deutschland - A very special musical event is celebrated in Cologne: Arnold Schönberg's melodram "A survivor from Warsaw" is performed with the Gürzenich Orchestra under the direction of Andrés Orozco-Eestrada. This premiere of the work, which is already considered one of the most urgent pieces to deal with the Holocaust, goes deep under the skin and finds prominent recognition. According to Concerti , the historic piece by Dominique Horwitz is accompanied as a speaker.

"A survivor from Warsaw", composed in 1947, addresses the terrible scene of the Warsaw Ghetto and the brutal selections that many Jews were exposed. In about seven minutes, Schönberg describes the cruel circumstances that led to the murders. The premiere took place on November 4, 1948 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and was characterized by great success. "It is an artistic manifesto that not only addresses the horrors of the Holocaust, but also serves as a reminder for future generations," says Luigi Nono, who described the work as "aesthetic musical manifesto of our era".

The meaning of the work

The work reaches its emotional climax in the final when the Jewish creed "Shema Jisrael" is tuned off by the prisoners in the face of death. According to Wikipedia , the piece is enriched with a variety of musical and linguistic elements and reflects the brutality that brought the National Socialist occupiers through the population. Schönberg originally created the work under the impression of the atrocities that he experienced himself and which he processed deeply in his artistic identity.

The occupation of the work not only includes a string orchestra, but also a men's choir and various wind ensemble. An exciting facet is that Schönberg was based on a single twelve -tone series and divided the work into three parts - introduction, narrative and final choir.

Schönberg's path to composition

Arnold Schönberg was born in Vienna in Jewish in 1874 and grew up in the Orthodox municipal district of Leopoldstadt. But his relationship with Judaism was complex; His upbringing was strongly shaped by the popular music of Vienna and not necessarily by religious traditions. His experiences with anti -Semitism and the traumatic experiences of the First World War led him to address his Jewish roots more in his later works. Since he himself was a child of such brutal events, the argument in his later compositions became all the more relevant.

1913 Schönberg converted to Protestantism, only around 1933, shortly before his emigration to the United States, to return to his Judaism. What served him as an expression of his identity turned out to be a profound source of his creativity. "A surviving from Warsaw" is therefore not only a musical work, but also a shocking testimony of his life story, which deals with loss and memory.

Andrés Orozco-Eestrada, who will come to Cologne in the coming season as a Gürzenich bandmaster, celebrated numerous successes with its entertaining direction. This time he will demonstrate his good hands in the interpretation of Schönberg's complex and shaking work.

The fact that the Cologne residents deal with such a historical piece not only enriches the city's cultural life, but also offers the opportunity to anchor the reminder of forgetting not only in the ears, but also in the heart. Schönberg's work represents an indispensable connection to the history and is still often treated in the curricula.