Thou singest ye carol

For centuries, German was the place where composers became famous and where innovations in the classical music world emerged. From 1933, these developments came to a halt, and a return to the ‘pure German’ classical style period was initiated.The National Socialists introduced the category ‘Entartete Musik’, or degenerate music, to denote ‘rejected’ music. Since then, the German classical music world has been marked by monotony and a lack of innovation. Next week, as we celebrate Liberation Day, we remember a number of composers whose music was banned from being played.

Playlist:

1. a. Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn– ‘Ich wandelte unter den Baumen (Heine) soprano Susan Gritton and pianist Eugene Asti b. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy – ‘Reiselied’op.34/6 (Heine) Alto Nathlie Stutzmann and pianist Dalton Baldwin.
2. Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) – a. ‘Sie und ich’ (Friedrich Rückert) b. ‘Meeresstille’ (Wilhelm Müller) Mezzo-soprano Ning Liang and Ilmo Ranta piano.
3. Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944) – Drei Hölderlin Lieder a. ‘Abendfantasie’ b. ‘Wo bist du?’ c. ‘Der Frühling’. Soprano Christiane Oelze , Eric Schneider piano.
4. Wilhelm Grosz (1894-1939) – ‘Kinderlieder nach Texten von Christian Morgenstern’ op.13 a. Schlummerliedchen b. Fips c. Die Enten laufen Schlittschuh d. Vom dem großen Elefanten e. In der Elektrischen f. Die drei Spatzen g. Der Mohr. Soprano Christiane Oelze , Eric Schneider piano.
5. Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) – from: ‘Abschiedslieder’ op. 14 a. ‘Sterbelied’ (Christina Georgina Rossetti) b. ‘Dies eine kann mein Sehnen nimmer fassen’(Edith Ronsperger) Soprano Jeannette van Schaik and Peter Nilsson piano.
6. Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942) – from: ‘Symphonische Gesänge’op.20 – a. ‘Lied aus Dixieland (Josef Luitpold Stern) b. ‘Lied der Baumwollpacker’(Stern) Bass baritone Willard White, Royal Concertgebouw orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly
7. Kurt Weill – a. ‘Das Lied von der harten Nuß’ (Brecht) b. ‘. Die-sieben-Todsünden-Stolz (Brecht) Anne Dammers vocals and René Veen piano.

Billboard from an exhibition from 1938 in Düsseldorf:

Picture : Emil Nolde – Mask Still Life III