The Faces of German Music Supremacy: Wein, Weib und Gesang

Finally, the hot water is running in the attic. There is a reason why it took so long, but if you don't know what has happened over the past 30 years, you will inevitably be late in starting. First, I will stay indoors again.

I will have to wait until Sunday for the sun to come out, but it seems that the minimum temperature will be the lowest this winter, so I doubt I will go to my desk on Sunday. However, the cold will ease from the beginning of next week, so I may be able to go downstairs again.

The water flow in the heater became poor and stopped after about three weeks, but although I wasted fuel to heat the downstairs from Sunday to here, I gained something. Above all, I can now use the heater next to my desk. I have learned how to use it effectively in the future if I absolutely need it. I also came up with an idea for a slot-shaped thing to put on top of the heater.

Now, I can finally try out the small speaker I reinstalled last week. First, I have to decide what to do about the live broadcast of DCH. There is no live radio broadcast, so I need to listen to the sound, and if possible, I would like to watch the video as well. Since there is also Schoenberg's "Variations", I think it might be worth watching it twice, with the rebroadcast.

I tried watching the complete collection conducted by Boulez, which I already have on hand, and as expected, the variations have progressed and it is very difficult to make them sound.

It is said to be the first work using 12 tones for a large orchestra, which premiered on December 3, 1928, but it seems that it was a difficult birth when commissioned by Furtwängler. He seems to have stumbled especially over the fifth variation. I see, it seems that the future prospects were getting worse around that point.

What the conductors and composers of the same era shared in common was the supremacy of German music, and at the start of World War I, he wrote to Alma Mahler that music from other cultural spheres was invading Germany. Furtwängler's supremacy is also clear from his words that he could not conduct without the audience during the next world war. And in fact, he praised the early tonal works such as "Verkläufer Nacht" and "Pelléas", and he also conducted five atonal orchestral works.

However, as Piatigorsky, who was a solo cellist from 1926, recalled, after receiving the twelve-tone music and only a few practice sessions, he seemed to have just been snatching notes without knowing what was going on, and was at a loss when the final practice session came. Then, with a look of relief on his face, Furtwängler said:

"Gentlemen, I have just received good news from Vienna. It seems that the composer is not coming."

The situation is clear from the cheers of the audience. However, his disciple Webern, who was at the premiere, criticized the performance as being unbelievably irresponsible. On the other hand, some sources say that Berg was well-received, although there were many refusals. It is said that the disciples did their best and cheered, but there must have been just as many audience members who liked new things as there were criticisms of the flutes. Later, Karajan also recorded it, but the sound was confusing and not much different from his predecessors. Neither Abbado nor Rattle should have had much success with this piece. Perhaps it is finally time for the genius Petrenko to step in.

Reference: »Unglaublich! Ganz unverantwortlich!«, Schönbergs op. 31 under Wilhelm Furtwängler The musical genius's reaction 2023-01-27 | Sound Two things make a third 2023-01-26 | Miscellaneous thoughts