crescendo26: GegenTöne - Counter-Tones
‘I testify! I was there, I suffered, and I stand by my testimony.’ – crescendo
As he bids farewell to his position as professor at the Berlin University of the Arts after 23 years, Axel Bauni discusses the comprehensive topic of contemporary song with Prof. Dörte Schmidt, recounts his time at the university, and certainly allows his proximity to current social discussions to shine through.
Songs by Arnold Schoenberg, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Ursula Mamlok, Viktor Ullmann, Aribert Reimann, Dmitri Shostakovich and Steffen Schleiermacher
Students from the class ‘Contemporary Song’ / In conversation: Prof. Dörte Schmidt and Prof. Axel Bauni
The use of text can give any composition a more concrete message. The more complex the times, the more this can be reflected in the words selected and set to music. The musicians performing this evening will present numerous songs that reflect the brutal events of the last 100 years, including Paul Dessau's setting of Pablo Neruda's poem ‘Yo recuerdo’: ‘I bear witness! I was there – I suffered, and I stand by my testimony – even if there is no one left to remember.’ as well as compositions by Viktor Ullmann, who was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.
Support us!
The Berlin Senate has imposed enormous savings targets on public universities. You know that: An excellent musical education consists not only of the many hours of solitary practising and lessons by professors, but also, to a large extent, of performing in front of an audience. This inherent part of the training is also the opportunity for you to attend almost always free concerts at a high level. We don't want to have to cut back on this. By attending our events, you can also show those responsible in politics that music and art are meaningful for every society. And if you can: support us with small or large donations. The donations are used for teaching, tuning, transport, advertising material, for our music festival crescendo - wherever no funds can be spent at the moment. This directly benefits our students and also you as the audience, as this is the only way we can maintain events of this calibre and variety.
Thank you very much!
Info
crescendo – Künstlerisches Betriebsbüro der Fakultät Musik
crescendo@udk-berlin.de