For everyone who understand... this is German Culture. This is the German soul and spirit. You find it here. But also in other german music art and german literature. Search for it. Then you will find it. And it will lift you up and take you...and set you free.
@pt45g46 All big american companies have benefited under the nazi regime.You should think about that before saying that such musical masterminds like Karajan and Furtwängler had been nazis.Your country benefited under every war in the world like no other!!!The reason for the power of america is that it always let other countries fight until they've been outburned and than the USA,or should I say the country of humanity,got involved..and surprise surprise america had prevailed!
I have just watched this and have never been so moved. I started out with a face like the rest of those Germans and then it was too much for me and i broke down.I have never heard music conducted like this before.
15 лет назад
Es impactante ver los rostros de las personas mientras escuchan a wagner en esta histórica interpretación de Furtwangler, en plena guerra; hay en ellos cansancio y tristeza, producto de tan lamentable acontecimiento. Viva la música, viva el arte, que nos brinda momentos de oasis en medio de realidades adversas. Viva la gente del mundo entero y la paz.
One of my all time favorite conductors but more importantly Wurtwangler was a man of intense humanity and this can be seen and felt in this video presentation. Thanks!!!
Imagine playing anything classical in a factory today. The lack of sophistication, education and culture in members of the working class today is very unfortunate.
@@edmundgreen8041 you may both be right. It is a propaganda film, and the spectators are "invited" to listen wisely. But on the other hand, the musical culture of the peoples of Europe before 1945 was far superior to that of today. Workers and peasants practised music (and choir) much more than today (in the factory, in church, or in music societies). And there was a "continuum" between popular and elitist orchestras. Popular musicians gave concerts mixing genres. There was no such rupture as there is today. They were therefore able to listen occasionally to the "great repertoire" without being lost. This is my opinion.
In 1972, I was a tourist walking through a working class area of Rome not far from the Coloseum. I passed an auto repair shop and was startled to hear the workers listening to Beethoven's 8th Symphony. I knew that most likely there was not a single auto repair shop in the USA playing that piece or any other piece of classical music.
This concert took place at noon on February 26th, 1942 in the AEG Turbine Factory in Berlin. In addtion to performing the Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner, the Berlin Philharmonic also performed Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 and Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche. In attendance were several high ranking government officials including Reichsminister Joseph Goebbels as well as several wounded German soldiers.
I am trying to find information about a 1942 performance of The Ring Cycle at Bayreuth. Do you happen to know where I could please find dates and further inforamtion for this?
Und was soll das nun anderes bedeuten, als dass die Nazis sich mit Kunst schmücken wollten und das als "ihre" ausgegeben haben, obwohl die ja auch in ihrer wagnerschen Variante himmelhoch über dem Postkarten Maler Hitler und seinem Schreihals Goebbels steht...
In April 1944, Goebbels wrote: "Furtwängler has never been a National Socialist. Nor has he ever made any bones about it. Which Jews and emigrants thought was sufficient to consider him as one of them, a key representative of so-called 'inner emigration'. Furtwängler['s] stance towards us has not changed in the least"
Of course Furtwangler was not a Nazi. Their violence and extremism disgusted him. No serious historical scholar, not any of his contemporaries, including Walter and Klemperer had accused him of being one. Where he was controversial (and to still is) is his decision not to leave Germany after 1933 anad lending credence to Hitler's regime. He could have left Germany as late as November 1938 (after Kristallnacht) and taken up a prestigious postion in the USA or the U.K. However, his total commitment to preserving German Art and Culture, while appearing to be naive to us now, made sense to many including those in the resistance at the time. Classical Music was, and still is, Germany and Austria's greatest contribution to Western Civilization and culture IMHO.
@@eddihaskell Furtwangler wanted to succeed Toscanini as head of the New York Philharmonic in 1938 but leading Nazis would not let him leave. Moreover, Jews in New York were opposed to having a German citizen take over the New York Philharmonic at a time when Germany was actively persecuting Jews. After the war, the Jewish violinist Yehudi Menuhan was a champion of Furtwangler and performed with him. He knew Furtwangler was a great humanist and never was a Nazi.
I know that it was not a joke. But it is exactly the opposite. Furtwängler despised intensively Karajan as a musician. When Karajan took his place in Berlin, the joke between the musicians was that if Furtwängler had known that Karajan would be his successor, he would had refused to die... Before 1938 and his rivalry with Karajan, Furtwängler had already written a long text criticizing sharply Karajan as a conductor.
Je ne sais pas qui a filmé ce concert donné dans l'usine AEG, mais j'admire cette suite de portraits d'ouvriers, de soldats blessés, de jeunes femmes, attentifs, graves, sombres même, qui distraient un peu de la musique, certes, tant ils sont touchants, mais qu'on n'oublie pas. Sinon, superbe direction de Furt, fiévreuse, solennel et lyrique, avec le bon tempo.
Denken wir gerade heute auch an unsere deutschen Werte wie Fleiß, Anstand, Höflichkeit, Wille zur Leistung,Ehrlichkeit und Zuverlässigkeit!Das ist wirklich der Geist dieser Musik!!BRAVO BRAVISSIMO Wilhelm Furtwängler!❤❤
@pt45g46 Why should a famous conductor stopp doing his passion just because there is a system which does not fit with his own preferences?He was able to protect a lot of jews just because he stayed at his position.Otherwise they would have been deported but Furtwängler used his reputation to safe a lot of musicians.To do nothing would have been the worst thing he could have done!
Goebbels wrote in April 1944: "Furtwängler has never been a National Socialist. Nor has he ever made any bones about it. Which Jews and Emigrants thought was sufficient reason to consider him one of them, a key representative of so-called 'inner emigration'. Furtwängler's stance towards us has not changed in the least".
+Gringachola You know, what you are talking about? How many Wagner operas do you know? In all of them, love is a central element. But the nazis are not able to recognize that.
Yes she'd be a beauty in any era. The young portrayed are beautiful but the old are ugly or grizzled - deliberately ordinary, - workers, blue collar the kind of people who the Nazionalsocialismus was supposed to serve. Especially notice the guy with the Hitler moustaches at 6.11 - at the climax: the message being that at the Fuehrer is the Volk and the Volk is the Fuehrer: as if to say "He identifies with you and your struggle for precisely this - German Kultur."
"everyone looks so sad": It's Wagner! When does Wagner ever bring a smile to anyone's face? And they're Germans, one of least funny, smiling people on the face of the planet. (There are no comedies in German classical literature. Shakespeare wrote at least 10.)
Слушая В Фуртвенглера ловишь себя на мысли, будучи неисправимым дилетантом, мне удается это весьма легко, оркестр воспроизводит некий звук, получающийся суммированием множества звуковых колебаний амплитудно-частотных характеристик всех инструментов, а мое ухо слышит своеобразную монодию. Удивительное ощущение. Мне это, кажется, но заслуживает уточнения, будто такое наблюдал в некоторых исполнениях оркестра, руководимого П Коганом. Великий благодарственный поклон кудесникам канала Классики. Неизменный почитатель Ваших талантов и восторгающей эрудиции.
Nothing is more illustrative than this video to understand the German society in the WWII. Music is about what's going on in people's mind. What's shown here is the cry for humanity, there's no doubt of it!!!!!
incredible interpretation, Even the age of the recording could with the sound of the old BPO. It is an independent comment of the politics that apparently matter more than the same music here.. sad stuff. Great Furtwangler and Berliner Philharmoniker
@@BenBen-pg2wn agreed. While there are so many wonderful composers in Europe, R Wagner is responsible for revolutionary changes in music. Richard Wagner is the greatest composer in history.
Hugo Strelitzer declared in 1946 : "If I am alive today, I owe this to this great man. Furtwängler helped and protected a great number of Jewish musicians and this attitude shows a great deal of courage since he did it under the eyes of the Nazis, in Germany itself. History will be his judge"
as byographer of Herbert Von KarajanI must tell you that Furtwangler when asked about his successor , expressely named Karajan instead of Celibidache, judging the former the best conductor available. This happened when Furtwangler was already in hospital in Baden Baden (interv. Elisabeth Furtwangler). Furtwangler was nominally jealousof the young and more "commercial" colleague but IN PRIVATE he never denied his absolute qualities as a conductor. In public, the visions were different.
Furtwangler is arguably the greatest conductor of German music in the entire history of it. So many modern conductors say the same thing. Moreover, he stood up to Hitler from beginning and truly believed that to leave Germany would be to abandon the enormous cultural legacy of German music to the Nazis. Thankfully, because of his international renown, he could do that. Contrast WF with Herbert von Karajan, who joined the Nazi Party in the early 30's and did their bidding throughout the entire period.
+Bob Burns Hitler disliked von Karajan; he detested - for the first and last time witnessing a performance by Karajan - his rendition of the 'Meistersinger', saying: "it was not German /Teutonic enough". The Nazi's then did not much to stimulate his career. This is what I learned about it. Beware: lots of myths about Karajan are going around.
Before getting carried away with the abilities of the conductor, as many do nowadays, let's not forget the instigator...the composer, in this case Wagner. Without him and all the other composers, there wouldn't be the conductors, players etc
Bob Burns: Where did you find this information I can find no trace of Furtwängler opposing Hitler? What did he oppose the booming economy perhaps after the poverty of the previous decades?
I'm not interested in what Perlman thinks, but in what we think. And we don't think about the Palestinians (do you?). Israel will be a democratic state when all his citizens are equal in front of the law. As long as it's a Jewish state, it can't be democratic. As long as it steals Palestinian land, Palestinians have all the right to resist to the oppressor. You're right: there's no parallel. Perlman doesn't risk anything. Furtwaengler risked when he chose to remain and defended Hindemith.
This video is extrodinarily powerful. I came here to learn of conducting from the maestro. I do not know how he did it. The faceshots electrified me inside seeing them, but in the most horrendous way possible. To think he could accept that applause, and the flowers, and bow... Listen to their applause and compare your listening to theirs. The faces on these men and women, they hear something so much different than us. This breaks me it does.
I don't see anything wrong with "playing to the troops" - we had Vera Lynne - they had Wagner and Furtwangler, Beethoven, Brahms, Bach etc etc - nothing wrong with bringing out your best during war!!
This is however not playing to the troops. It's playing to the workers (or better: employees) of an AEG factory in Berlin. The (few) soldiers in this video are most likely AEG employees drafted as soldiers currently back home while injured or on vacation. Filming and recording such a live event was quite some task at this time. While from the flags at the wall it's clear that this event was organized by the KdF (the NS party workers' organization replacing the unions), the lack of persons with NS party uniforms or emblems among the audience is really strange. One must also not forget that there was no TV at this time. The recording was surely broadcasted in radio. A wide reach had the weekly Wochenschau film clips shown in cinemas. But those were rather short (like later TV news) and would have not included more than some short excerpts of this film.
My favorite basso of all time, *Josef Greindl* was on Hitler's "God-Gifted List" which exempted him from the requirement of military service. Not his fault, of course.
A concert pianist friend of mine said someone had stated that Furtwangler began where other conductors left off. Can't attribute the quote. Magnificent interpretation!
@kunnukun - Um, Furtwangler was instrumental, in smuggling some of the Jewish players of the old Berlin Phil., OUT of the Nazi Germany of the time. His devotion was to the music, and never accepted Hitler. His reputation is secure .....
It depends on how this film was edited. I think it is quite a brilliant piece. I'm sure not all members of the audience were filmed when the music was playing.
Well, it's a Nazi propaganda film, with carefully staged tableaux and lots of close-ups of people with deep and meaningful looks. The Nazis just LOVED this work by Wagner.
Sure. The fact that Furtwängler is considered as the greatest conductor in history by many critics has nothing to do with the fact that he helped people Jews or not. But the discussion was here about his behavior during Nazi era and it is a matter of fact that he saved many people including many Jews.
And yet no one ever navel-gazes over the question of whether Prokofiev, Shostakovich, or Khachaturian were convinced Communists and willing accomplices of Stalin.
Los grandes artistas (y el Arte, por supuesto) pueden erigirse más allá y por encima de la infamia que hombres malvados puedan inventar. El Arte que el Hombre inventa y crea es la mejor garantía de la supervivencia humana. Esta excelente interpretación de la Obertura de Los Maestros Cantores es una prueba fehaciente de ello.
Obviously disturbing to see the swastika (et al)--but one can't defeat Furtwangler and Wagner--fantastic combo. Not even Hitler could steal from those geniuses.
Love to know more about the circumstance of this recording and if others were recording this evening. I listen to how overture develops, its cadences and dynamics. Sonically, so much is missing. We are blessed to have this. My heart yearns for more.....
This was filmed during a free concert for workers at the AEG Turbine Factory in Berlin, probably under the auspices of the Kraft durch Freude system. Note the gear wheels in the banners. No doubt the cameras picked out the audience members who appeared to be listening most intently, as I believe they probably were - this is quite a performance. How many American workers would attend such a performance at all, let alone give a standing ovatin?
los trabajadores o transformadores de energía entran en escena a través de uno de los más grandes trabajadores o transformadores de energía de la historia wagfulking
I wonder how many members of that orchestra were deported and eventually murdered, and then replaced by someone you’re listening to there? Furtwangler a humanist, not a Nazi? Certainly in complicity, up there conducting in 1942. Just saying.
Great German spirit song and amazing performance of Furtwangler. I am wondering if the second person maybe young Dietrich Fischer Dieskau. 3:37 to 3:40
Yo quiero ver al Director de Orquesta, no me importan las caras ni de los músicos ni de los espectadores. Dedican más tiempo a los últimos que al Director que era muy especial en su trabajo como Director de Orquesta.
I just uploaded a 78rpm of Erich Rohn, concertmaster of the Berliner Phil during the 30's and 40's. Probably he can be seen on this video! I have very little info about his life. More info is welcome!! On the 78rpm on my channel he plays Beethoven's Romanze op40. Search for "erich rohn" (or click "otterhouse" above) to see the video I made out of the record (that never has been re-issued!). Thanks for the Meistersinger clip! Rolf, Netherlands
@Leonidaspart Have you any idea how terrified Wilhelm Furtwängler would be if he read idiotic, unintelligent and racistic comments such as yours? Find something out about the great legacy of his father and the great courage of this conductor - who dedicated himself to combatting Nazism and in all probability died for this. Shame on you!
I will say he had no equal and the music he made had no equal. But to be indifferent to the content besides the music here is wrong. Recognize the music, but not exclusively. I could not have done what furtwangler did and I don't think anyone else could with his concious. Karajan did it without his concious. Furtwangler did it with it. Recognize the man as well as his music.
there is STILL extant, actual newspaper pages stating that "Judea" declared war upon Germany. this remarkable statement ensued after the Nazi Party came into power during Free Elections. btw, when Poland was invaded by the Nazis AND the SOviet Union, France and Britain declared war upon Germany ONLY. the Jews in power in England prevented a declaration of war against SOviet Union. some how the history books never mention France and Britain declaring war on Germany only.
The shots of F and the orchestra seem genuine enough, but the audience shots are clearly posed and arranged. If these are genuine ARG workers in mid shift, they have all been instructed to brush and comb their hair meticulously before they are even allowed into the auditorium space, and have then been even more meticulously screened to provide images of the right kind, probably well before the orchestra arrived or on another day entirely. None of these interpolated shots shows any reaction to the music at all. This must have been carefully budgeted and staged by the Propagandaministerium. Compare the National Gallery concert in Jennings's "Listen to Britain" where the camera wanders about in a Myra Hess Mozart piano concerto passing by Queen Elizabeth and Kenneth Clark all the way outside to the Barrage balloons above Trafalgar Square.......
@violindave2 this is probably the Machine-Hall of the AEG plant in Berlin, if you notice there are electrical dynamos & switchboards all marked AEG (General Electric Society) the Machine-Hall was built in 1912 & survived the Berlin bombings, it is today a Historical Monument of the city...
Nietzsche mentions Die Meistersinger in Beyond Good and Evil.. I can really see what he's talking about now that I hear it. Furtwangler did a fantastic job, especially from 6:05 - 6:21
@jcaldu1 Toscanini left Italy. Furtwangler stayed in Germany and continued to perform there under nazi banners. This is where his fault lies: he endorsed the nazis'misusing of Wagner's music. No, we cannot just listen to this performance, without bearing this in mind.
"I dont believe in the holocaust." @Normalverteiler what exactly do you mean to say? that you don't believe there was any such historical event? or do you not believe there is any meaning for the word "holocaust"? or you find no meaning implications historical consequences, etc.? if you mean the holocaust, a documented historical record of the period in Germany Poland Czechoslovakia Hungary Romania etc., never existed? if so you're saying history itself is a record of myths lies and deceptions!
@SFOtter I can't remember all the posts that I made. Im not romanticizing any one I am reacting to the faces of the workers. But most of all to Furtwanglers interpitation of Der Miestersinger Overture A peice of music that I love. I am not giving credibility to the nazis. Furtmangler is my favorite conductor.
Possibly you were not very attentive in reading: I strongly suggest you also te read the memoirs of Gerhard Von Westermann (intendant BPO under F & K) and you will find confirmation to what I state. Then you may remain of your opinion, I will be as happy as I am now.
Simply amazing, if not the greatest ! 1940-46 have been the best years of Wilhelm Furtwangler .. btw. one note to all those who are not listening, but just watching this video - Furtwangler was an anti-fascist, he criticized Goebels in public (!) and in newspaper (Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung).
True. He was as critical as one could dare be and still live. He also helped many Jews to escape the Nazis. Why Furtwangler is not called a "righteous gentile" in Israel is beyond me.
@kunnukun - Also, I've been a member of the American arm of the Furtwangler Society, here in America, for a while. I can research some of the issues of the latter's newsletter, to find out more about this touchy subject .... given time. It's still safe to say that Wilhelm F. was NEVER a true supporter of either Hitler, nor Nazism, in the latter's naked, empty, nihilistic form.
And yet no one ever navel-gazes over the question of whether Prokofiev, Shostakovich, or Khachaturian were convinced Communists and willing accomplices of Stalin.
That is exactly *why* it is such great conducting. He has no need to do much with his hands. Watch James Levine sometime. He barely moves. He just smiles and rubs his fingers together sometimes and the music flows. The job of the best conductor is done when (s)he can just sit back and listen.
Furtwangler is so tall and awkward looking when he's excited. It looks like he's going to topple over at points. That doesn't detract from his awesome awesomeness, though.
Mr Furtwangler was one of the best conductors, in this video he tried to make the German people Happy, Germans were devastated at that time with war. Horrible faces showing sadness and anger due the hard times that were living. Furtwangler was a hero for German society.
+Ken Howes A lot has to do with how people at that time dress and wear their hair. If you watch American movies in the 1950, everyone looked old because they dressed and did their hair in an old fashion way.
