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!!!
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.
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...
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.
It is sincerely profound and exhilarating to see and relate to the awe-stricken faces of audience members who are very moved by the performance.
15 лет назад+26
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.
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.
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!!!!!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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!❤❤
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!
The Greatest Conductor in history period....The flow ,passion he invited the orchestra into his world not commanded them ....What a genius ...there is no one better and never been since.....Master.
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".
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.
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?
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.
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.)
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"
It is a compliment to furtwangler's ability to continue his role and keep pereserving german musical culture despite the circumstances. I am saying that he was able to due this with his conscience intact, I'm admiring him not being critical.
+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.
@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...
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.
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
Dear Professortiki, I'm glad that you asked for more specification. The matter is really serious and the most German people are simply not able to understand the arguments. I would prefer to use your language: Die kulturelle Geschichte Deutschland ist seit über Jahrhunderte geprägt von musikalischen Genies, Philosophen, Denker, Erfinder und Dichter universaler Geltung. Lieber Prof., mir fällt beim besten Willen nicht einen einzigen in der BRD ein! Sechs Jahrzehnte hätten normalerweise...>
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
@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!
@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 .....
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
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.
This is an incredible document. Who filmed it? All those somber faces in the audience, the Nazi symbol hanging over the orchestra, and Furtwangler conducting and the orchestra playing their hearts out. The sound recording is good considering the age and circumstances of the recording. Even without information about Furtwangler, the documentary is a moving record of Germany in one of the darkest periods in the history of humanity.
The faces are interesting. Seem to reveal a disconnect between what they are hearing and what they are experiencing as they know they are headed for doom Very grim faces. Hard to view them without conflicting emotions. Profound music but terrible situation.
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.
@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 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.
@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.
Furtwängler is a very great conductor. He was able to let the orchestra sing, just like Willem Mengelberg did in the Netherlands with his Concertgebouw-orchestra. Always a little bit glissandos with the violins. I like him. Furtwängler had to pay for what the other Germans did. Just like Mengelberg in the Netherlands, when they let the dutch jews in the lurch. Hans NL.
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.
It will be the consolation concert in the factory in somewhere. The reason why the expression of the face of the spectator is tense may be that they are conscious of a camera. Because it plays it in front of the symbol of the Nazis, the expression of the face of Furtwangler is not improved very much.
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.
Давайте опустим подробности господа и будем просто наслаждаться неземной потрясающей музыкой Рихарда Вагнера в исполнении оркестра под управлением блистательного дирижёра Вильгельма Фуртвенглера ведь это торжество добра над злом и просто льются слёзы из глаз и радость разливается во всём существе вот такая сила этой музыки нет другой такой
Absolutely perfect, as if Wagner were conducting the score from his own creative imagination. There is a much better transfer of this performance on Bel Canto.
no, i watched ... more importantly listened... to the whole excellent rendition by a fine conducter. my point was that by 1942 most young German boys were in the armed forces being killed in a senseless no-win war. i watched again, most of the young men are apparently injured soldiers, with a few (my apologies) exceptions. no one can seriously question that the flower of German youth was devastated by the criminal nazi regime and their war...or do you?
In reality the problem often was more complicated. Great musicians like Mengelberg and Bõhm were Nazi-sympathizers, Cortot supported the Vichy regime. On the other hand, someone like Gieseking lived in his own universe but just couldn't leave his home soil. It is perhaps too easy to say that great artists can just keep their eyes closed for extreme political ideas. Life and Art are always intermingled. Meanwhile I agree with you that Furtwängler's Wagner is simply breathtaking!
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.......
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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!!!
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.
I love German culture so much. Long live Germany.
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.
nikogo nie widac waznego
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...
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.
It is sincerely profound and exhilarating to see and relate to the awe-stricken faces of audience members who are very moved by the performance.
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.
Not to mention hunger...
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.
He would vary the tempo to match the emotion of the passages.
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!!!!!
Furtwaengler one of the greatest. Power, control, emotion in this masterpiece by Richard Wagner,. The art againts the heavy shadows of war...
Sicuramente uno dei più grandi direttori di sempre.
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.
Yes, it is interesting that you mention Furtwangler's Bruckner's 5th symphony. It is incredible, and one of my favorite recordings.
涙がこぼれてきた・・・戦時下の人々の思いが伝わってきた・・・演奏は申し分ない。感謝。
すごい気迫、このかたの演奏は、いつも本気を、感じることができます。きれいな映像ありがとうございます。
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.
Did the workers get much choice what was played to them?
@@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.
I'm afraid the lack of sophistication, education and culture also in members of the upper class today is a catastrophe.
@@brunegilda2453 too true dear.
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.
It looks very much like a war propaganda film.
@@fabiofedericomoralesgarcia5654
YOU are the propaganda, poor moron.
Thank you for uploading this great historical performance.
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?
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!❤❤
Ja, stimmt. And er war kein Nazi!
Das ist ja ein althergebrachtes Geschwätz wieso sollten nicht die Norweger auch solche Charakteristika an den Tag legen
@@tompomm8760 Und die Chinesen and Japaner!
Absolutely splendid! Perfect!
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!
Furtwangler didn't respect the beat, and would chage the tempo to what he felt was most honest.
Totally agree! He and Celibidache are the greatest ever who made recordings!
The Greatest Conductor in history period....The flow ,passion he invited the orchestra into his world not commanded them ....What a genius ...there is no one better and never been since.....Master.
Listen to other performers and only then open your mouth.
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".
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.
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.
as a matter of fact he left Germany in 1944 and lived in Switzerland. (His ears could not stand the sound of bombs)
Thank God I'm German and I will be buried in German ground someday. At least fate did that one right.
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?
Thank you . This sound so much like the Klaus Tennstedt and London Philharmonic Orchestra rendition of same music !!!!
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.
Seriously?
Karajan was a Nazi. Don’t you think that might have have helped him secure the position?
everyone looks so sad, must be because Mr. Singer died. Jokes aside the conducting is inspiring. Also the girl at 6:51 is stunning.
Nah, it's because the war was going badly.
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.)
Yo solo veo a Furtwängler, a su amada orquesta y al público y desde luego maravvillado y emocionado... también escucho la música.
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"
Expertly made video and with great quality of sound.
Fine photography!
!Awesome!
what a beautyful performance
It is a compliment to furtwangler's ability to continue his role and keep pereserving german musical culture despite the circumstances.
I am saying that he was able to due this with his conscience intact, I'm admiring him not being critical.
Grad in schweren Zeiten gibt die Musik Kraft!
We're playing this for our spring concert coming up...0.o This is gonna be good.
To condemn this video is like to refuse to watch a Caravaggio's masterpiece sinche he was a murderer...
+gabsylv and Wagner would had been gladly one
+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
Sorry, you can't say that. Caravaggio was a murderer and Furtwangler was a very decent man !
LONG LIVE CARLO GESUALDO. BITCHES
@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...
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.
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
Dear Professortiki,
I'm glad that you asked for more specification. The matter is really serious and the most German people are simply not able to understand the arguments. I would prefer to use your language:
Die kulturelle Geschichte Deutschland ist seit über Jahrhunderte geprägt von musikalischen Genies, Philosophen, Denker, Erfinder und Dichter universaler Geltung. Lieber Prof., mir fällt beim besten Willen nicht einen einzigen in der BRD ein! Sechs Jahrzehnte hätten normalerweise...>
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.
such a old recording...but still so amazing
It's not an 'old' recording, it's a 'brilliant' recording. Wake up!
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
Bravo bravo bravo!!! Magnificent!!!
That German audience sure took their music seriously - not a smile, no one closing their eyes, or moving a muscle in time with the music.
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.
German reaction to music. No reaction. All is in the deepest regions of the brain, the heart and the guts.
@@Fritz_Maisenbacher Can’t imagine them sitting through a jazz concert. Oh,I forgot, “Negro” music was banned by the Nazis.
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.
Beautifully performed!
ああ、何を以てして、是程までに、血沸き肉踊る具象が･･･
万感の想いが込み上げてきて、胸が熱くなりました。
Beautiful "madel" , at 6' 51 , what was your name , and what happened to you ...
One wonders.... It is sobering to think if any of the individuals pictured survived the war
And you are the idiotic and senile son of Margaret.
@@jeanparke9373 you are an asshole!
すごい・・・・ これは貴重な映像です。Thank you to upload this !!!
amazing conducting , he is the most conductor what i wanted
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
wonderful great music
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.
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.
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.
WAGNER WAS THE GREATEST COMPOSER
Wagner is the greatest composer of the 19th century and beyond
@@demcadman WAGNER WAS THE GREATEST COMPOSER
IN HUMAN HISTORY
@@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.
@@BenBen-pg2wn For me it's a tie between Wagner and Beethoven.
So sorry to see this great director(Furtwängler) in a situation like that ... it is remarcable that his interpretation sounds faster than others.
Furtwängler never joined the Nazi Party and did not approve them.Greatest conductor ever!!!
what a beautifull document.... thanks a lot for sharing....beautifull also to see the completely enrapted faces of the public....as in pray...
@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!
@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 .....
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
This famous performance has here been sped up so much that it's in D major.
Somber faces? LOL It’s called listening with rapt attention and appreciation to music they know backwards and forward.
@marcusaurelius80 They had a lot of Beethoven too... This was in the Deutschland Arbeits Front (Labor Front)
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.
It adds to it IMO.
Great Furtwangler under the most frightening circumstances
Yes, indeed: a Lancaster could have rained explosives on them at any moment.
süss, wie du deine Antipathie über die Musik projezierst X-D
A wonderful interpretation!
@joeocho88 : look at the left side, there are 7 basses!!!
@Fasolt100 beh insomma misera larva ...... cmq senti come da' l'attacco a 1.33 il suo stile poi fatto di un modo tutto particolare di dirigere unico!
This is an incredible document. Who filmed it? All those somber faces in the audience, the Nazi symbol hanging over the orchestra, and Furtwangler conducting and the orchestra playing their hearts out. The sound recording is good considering the age and circumstances of the recording. Even without information about Furtwangler, the documentary is a moving record of Germany in one of the darkest periods in the history of humanity.
The faces are interesting. Seem to reveal a disconnect between what they are hearing and what they are experiencing as they know they are headed for doom
Very grim faces. Hard to view them without conflicting emotions. Profound music but terrible situation.
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.
@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 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.
Wagner siempre sera el, no importa lo que haya pasado su forma de compositor es exquisita, estamos en el siglo xxl, saludos a todos.
The video looks somewhat quaint now. Art deco? Whatever the setting, Furtwangler was at his best in this period and gives a stirring performance.
Фуртвенглер лучший!
@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.
Furtwängler is a very great conductor. He was able to let the orchestra sing, just like Willem Mengelberg did in the Netherlands with his Concertgebouw-orchestra. Always a little bit glissandos with the violins. I like him. Furtwängler had to pay for what the other Germans did. Just like Mengelberg in the Netherlands, when they let the dutch jews in the lurch.
Hans NL.
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.
This is freakin awesome! The actual classic real swastika sign is still there since this is during the war! Wow...just wow!
petatap. What about history? This is not about history. It is about music. To my mind Furtwangler was a great musician, and this vieo clip proves it.
It will be the consolation concert in the factory in somewhere.
The reason why the expression of the face of the spectator is tense may be that they are conscious of a camera.
Because it plays it in front of the symbol of the Nazis, the expression of the face of Furtwangler is not improved very much.
How did you manage to get this recording? Furtwangler turns music into something much more.
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.
Давайте опустим подробности господа и будем просто наслаждаться неземной потрясающей музыкой Рихарда Вагнера в исполнении оркестра под управлением блистательного дирижёра Вильгельма Фуртвенглера ведь это торжество добра над злом и просто льются слёзы из глаз и радость разливается во всём существе вот такая сила этой музыки нет другой такой
Absolutely perfect, as if Wagner were conducting the score from his own creative imagination. There is a much better transfer of this performance on Bel Canto.
@tedsherk I'm glad someone else recognizes that this is not Furtwangler at his best!
Nadie parece disfrutar el concierto ,más parecen estar allí obligados haciendo mero acto de presencia ante las cámaras.
Splendid that they played this in a factory. I wonder if British orchestras did the same?
no, i watched ... more importantly listened... to the whole excellent rendition by a fine conducter. my point was that by 1942 most young German boys were in the armed forces being killed in a senseless no-win war. i watched again, most of the young men are apparently injured soldiers, with a few (my apologies) exceptions. no one can seriously question that the flower of German youth was devastated by the criminal nazi regime and their war...or do you?
Its a shame that german people with such great culture and history made such a terrible historical mistake by choosing these maniacs as their leaders.
In reality the problem often was more complicated. Great musicians like Mengelberg and Bõhm were Nazi-sympathizers, Cortot supported the Vichy regime. On the other hand, someone like Gieseking lived in his own universe but just couldn't leave his home soil. It is perhaps too easy to say that great artists can just keep their eyes closed for extreme political ideas. Life and Art are always intermingled.
Meanwhile I agree with you that Furtwängler's Wagner is simply breathtaking!
26 people are deaf they don't relies that they are listening to heaven right hear.
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.......
Furtwängler is the greatest interpreter of Wagner but his recording in Bayreuth in 1943 is even better than this one.
No wonder the Germans thought they could conquer the world. They had music like this,