@@wookinooki9023there is the live performance on RUclips that is probably this concert which is hitler’s birthday. Tho the sound and playing is horrible.
...yes for the dear furer, and it seems, shockingly enough, that there are a few truly depraved individuals, Nazi sympathizers, here on RUclips who fail to understand that if they didn't get up in the morning the world would be a better place.
The historical importance of this piece of film is not so much the performance of the Ninth Symphony, with its impossibly fast ending, but of Fürtwangler cleaning his hand with his handkerchief immediately after shaking Goebbel's hand at the end of the performance.
@GGbreizh Excellent points! Fürtwangler was an artist during an insane time period. He had to continue making music, regardless of the times. And, so did his musicians. I thought it was great irony that all of the Nazi officers in that audience had to be held "captive" while Beethoven chastised them, loudly and eloquently, from the grave!
And not only Beethoven! Add Mozart, Schubert, Robert Schumann & his wife Clara, AND especially Johannes Brahms!!!! All of them believe in human dignity. Brahms HATED antisemitism [he was not Jewish but some Jews were among his friends like Joseph Joachim & Remenyi]. 🤨🤨🤨🤨
It is very easy to reply. it's not me who says this.... At the end of Furtwängler's trial, Hugo Strelitzer declared: "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". I have quotations like this of Jews...
@TheseusTex I'm a concertmaster of several orchestras and I would give anything to play under such a great conductor. Not only was he a fine musician, but also a great human being!
The musician Hugo Strelitzer declared at the end of Furtwängler's denazification trial :"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".
Look Furtwangler doesn’t need any more accolades, his conducting speaks for itself. So I read here he wasn’t a enthusiastic Nazi, but huge swastika flags and audience dressed in to max in their well pressed Nazis uniforms makes makes me nauseous at minimum. Furtwangler should of kept low profile or defect, otherwise he is part of mass murder Nazi machine. Biggest point is that top Nazis were very well educated and didn’t stop them from being most evil regime in world history. Its counterintuitive that high education produces humane grads, they can be also intelligent, highly educated most devilish people on planet.
Note the closeup of Gerhard Taschner from around 2 min 53 sec. He was the youngest concertmaster for the Berlin Philharmonic, and an absolutely wonderful performer. His records are full of the same kind of passion that emanates from a Furtwangler performance.
@VivaRenata Furtwängler had an, um, "amazing" baton technique, and my respect for the musicians who could find his beat is profound :). Nonetheless, he inspired profoundly moving performances from his orchestras. I am sorry for the listeners who cannot hear this inspiration for themselves. (Not every performance, certainly -- he was not a robot.)
This is the most passionate performance of this music I have ever heard. It is amazing that these musician could play so well under the most brutal and inhumane political system in the history of mankind. One would think that the words of Beethoven and Schiller would have meant something to those in the audience and would have awaken them to see the wrong that their government was doing to Germans and to the rest of the world. Thank you for uploading this video clip.
Précision importante. La bande son du concert anniversaire (transmis à la radio en direct) avait été égarée. Pour les besoins de la diffusion dans les cinémas d'actualité, les autorités nazies ont utilisé l'entegistrement de la 9eme fait par Furtwangler au mois de mars précédent. La bande son originale d'avril 1944 fut retrouvée dans les années 80. On s'y rend compte que Furtwangler sabota son interprétation en particulier la coda du dernier mouvement à telle enseigne que le public nazi, déconcerté, mit une quinzaine de secondes avant d'applaudir.
As most of you probably know: Furtwängler was forced to conduct this symphony this day. Goebbels called him just before to prevent him from finding a nex wrong excuse to avoit it. He was so traumatized by this concert that he completely disappeared from Berlin inApril 1943 and 1944 claiming that he was very sick (his doctor who was a member of german resistance wrote false health prescriptions for him).
@@richardcurry4912 Look I bet you even read Barry Goldberg’s Conscience of a Conservative. Hmm nothing about cult worshiping in that book. For your information Reagan didn’t do the populist jive, but was a great American conservative president.
I think the sweetness and brilliance of the music seems to be giving the audience a small rest from the misery and confusion of that time. It's heartbreaking, to think of the greatest of musicians, conductors, composers coming together to create this spectacular event, juxtaposed with all the terrible history going on outside the music hall. You can imagine the momentary peace it brought to those souls, now long dead. Very moving and profound.
The most important point to know is that Furtwängler was probably the greatest interpreter of this symphony. One of the main reasons for that is that it understood perfectly the structure of this symphony beacause he studied it very deeply with the very great music theorist Heinrich Schenker whith whom he worked between 1920 and 1935.
@@boschmagkwanghoka2542 What an intelligent remark ! You must be full professor in a top level university in the world to know that! In case you can read: try to read my other comments below. One example: "The musician Hugo Strelitzer declared at the end of Furtwängler's denazification trial :"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". In case (very unlikely) you can read books: read the books of the historians who described Furtwängler's behavior during WWII. In particular the fact that he has always been very close to the German resistance (the reason is was sentenced to death in Januray 1945 by Hilter). Furtwängler escaped just before being arrested by the gestapo. I don't want to explain the long story about how he was forced to come to the concert. I think it is hopeless in view of your remark.
@@boschmagkwanghoka2542 sorry for being nervous. I have a lot of stress since I have to take care of my father who is extremely sick and my mother is in a terrible situation because of that.
In this piece video, the video part was taken from 1942.4.19, one night before Hitler's birthday. The sound track, however, are taken from another performance on 1942.3.22. The reason is that the visual part of the event was discovered earlier than the sound track.
It sounds like the chorus is screaming the Schiller at the audience, which was surely Furtwangler’s intention. The only thing that saves this clip from bathos is the moment at about 3:20 when the soprano screws up and the concertmaster grins at Furtwangler.
@44aceofhearts There is no sweetness or peace in this rendition, or what little there is is swept under the waves of agony and rage. This is by far the most disturbing version of the 9th I've heard, and also one of the best.
Fantastic music, fantastic composer, fantastic conductor.......I wonder what Beethoven would have thought of the audience (especially those in the best seats!!) Inspirational music can inspire you to...what? Good or evil? Depends often on who's judging and at what distance.......
@VivaRenata Thanks for smart & informative comment ! Here we go ! REAL MASTERS can't have ANY COMMONE things with politicians or parties...I often listening Furtwangler's interpretations , & every time having shiver...EVEN THE MOST BAD QUALLITY recordings ...are FANTASTIC & GENIUS !
0:27 I cannot STAND seeing that damned Swastika associated with this glorious piece!!!! A few seconds of the Best of Germany and the Worst in one remarkable shot. 2:28 the Soprano wobbles her top note, and the front desk of the violins chance a wee grin at each other. Humanity shared in a time when it was a rare sight.
@ptrichmondmike I totally agree. Very ironic. Beethoven would have, literally, spat in their faces. But, he kinda did, through his music, that night :)
I'm glad to have seen this. I know the performance from the CD. It's the most apocalyptic Ninth I know. What Furtwängler brings off (to my ears) is incredible: while the Nazi elite is thinking it is being celebrated by great music, Beethoven's moral greatness destroys them. This concert is so complex in its resonances (Alle Menschen werden Brüder vs. people are being murdered while the music is being played), I wish a book had been written about it.
See at all those faces and give me right: Music will always be so more powerfull than politics can be. Music is the key to all our hearts and makes us realise that we all are just a very small peace of time.
I believe Furtwängler was truly one of the greatest orchestral conductors ever... Of course we must never forget the terrible things that happened in those days. But... LISTEN TO THE MUSIC. Simply wonderful.
Special thanks to franciszhou for this miracle documentary..it is priceless(even with the error of soprano on 2:24..1st violinist got that...smiling...)
Not only Beethoven would have covered his face but he would have clearly seen that there is a complete contradiction between German culture and his music and Nazism. It is what Furtwängler wrote on his diary in 1935.
In 1944 in March Furtwängler said again to Goebbels that he was very sick. Goebbels understood in 1944 that it was a lie to avoid the concert for Hitler's birthday. He did not ak him to play for Hitler's birthday but to go to Prague to conduct a concert instead. Furtwängler accepted but conducted in Prague Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, the master piece of slavonic music.
Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 includes afroamerican music that was forbidden on pain of death at that time. Conducting Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 was also a very clear support for slavonic culture (remember that the nazis killed at least 20 millions Slavs during world war II).
It is so sad not to have the whole symphony here. The occasion is horrible, but Furtwängler certainly shows his mastery in this chip of the last minutes of the IX. Great for instance would be to have the first mouvement...
@sam0xin I think what operaviolinist means by Co-ductor is a reference to Furtwängler's erratic baton technique. One of my composer friends described the last part of the 9th symphony with Furtwängler as "every man for himself". But he did not mean that as an insult, he wrote his thesis in musicology on Furtwängler. Better things to do than argue with some of the ignorant people out there. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for your reaction! I know the book exists, but haven't come round to reading it yet. BTW: in the 'eighties Dutch radio had a whole series about Furtwängler, at the end of which was a discussion in an Amsterdam theatre with the widow of Furtwängler present. I was there... Furtwängler is extraordinary.
I would like to believe that art is transformative, improving, a force for good... but seeing Beethovens hymn to freedom, to mankind, to joy used by the most destructive and evil regime the world has ever known shakes that belief to its core. It staggers me that these criminals can sit and clap for a performance of a work by a composer who angrily scratched out the dedication to the tyrant Napoleon from the eroica symphony, that they can listen intently to lines such as "Alle Menschen werden Brüder" seemingly without any self awareness of the millions of people they are condemning to die as they listen. If art has the power to lift us to higher thoughts and improve us as a species, one of the greatest artworks mankind has ever produced failed spectacularly here. Of course no one owns Beethoven, not the Nazis, not Germany, not the allies, no one. Of course, the allies themselves tried to use Beethoven for propaganda quite successfully, turning Symphony No. 5 into the "V for Victory" symphony. This is supposedly what Furtwangler told Goebbels when he wished to use Beethoven for a propaganda film, that no one can own him. And Furtwangler was certainly no nazi. The worst thing he did was give the regime more prestige than it should have had, by association. We still see this today with some comments on this video. But overall I believe he acted courageously throughout the war.
This performance almost brought me to tears. Beethoven's music will glorify everything that is good in humankind, it is such a pity though that the NAZI's used this heavenly piece to glorify themselves and their ideology. So sad. Furtwangler gives one of the best interpretations here, so moving on so may levels.
@oosawashuuji (translation) This audio and video are of different performances. It is reported that the audio is from March 1942, while the video is from the April 19, 1943 performance.
Well do you know a better performance?? (One of my favourite performances is by Christopher Hogwood, who used period instruments - very interesting to hear the 9th on period instruments!!)
When I wanted to know the greatest baseball player I believed John McGraw, who saw them all and unequivocally chose Honus Wagner. Best conductor. Another old timer Pay Casals, said Furtwangler the best he ever heard, or saw.
A quotation from Solzhenitsyn for all "puritans" in this forum who have never lived under tyranny: "No one expects from you to be a hero and make sacrifices, it is morally enough just not to Partcipate in the LIE". Does anyone heard something about active colaboration with the Nazis for people like Furtwaengler, E. Schwarzkopf, K. Flagstad? If not please focus on their genius as artists!
No one blames them They were classical musicians who were furthering the arts. They are no more politicians than Tom Hanks is now. Are you saying that because Tom Hanks acts in a movie he supports Trump or McConnell?
Tom Hanks collaborated with the capitalist swine Pixar executives by daring to participate in the abominations known as "Toy Story 2" and "Toy Story 3," besmirching the artistic purity and unity of the original.
You know what else Solzhenitsyn talked about? The little tribe that ruined his country. The person to whom this concert was dedicated was also aware of this "tribe". When you talk about Solzhenitsyn again, remember that!
see at the faces of all and agree. music is and will ever be so much stronger than politics. van beethoven defeats everybody in the house at the moment. music will survive and has the message for all of us: we have to realise that we all are just a very, very small piece of time. we are all part of a big history. we can save tomorrow by doing our best today and learn from the mistakes we made yesterday.
Yes, there are some Jew there. It's not a Joke. All the "pure Jewish" musicians of the orchestra (around 7 people including the concertmaster) left Germany around 1934. They found a similar position abroad (England or USA) with the aid of Furtwängler. But there are some "half-Jews" in the orchestra. Furtwängler could keep and protect them until the end of the war in spite of the very strong pression of Nazis.
'Good men' like Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Ley, Keitel? Ok... German infantrymen were not sitting in the best seats. Furtwaengler was not a supporter of the Party and was actually forced by Goebbels to conduct this for Hitler's birthday and some have claimed to be able to hear his anger in this particular performance...who knows?
Was that colonel von stauffenberg? at 3:38? (The guy with the eye-patch) The guy who tried to kill Hitler? Tom Cruise plays him in that movie operation Valkyrie...
@Grimgerde The best research gives the number at at least 80, possibly over a hundred if you include the people who Furtwangler arranged exit visas for or assisted financially throughout the war.
In 3:03 the violinist with the long hair survived WW2, Furtwangler, & ended as concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic under Karajan. Retire & died early 1980s.🙂😊
You don't know anything. Napoleon set out to conquer Europe, while Hitler fought a purely defensive war against Sviet attack and allied encirclement. His only military actions before Barbarossa were recovery of territory ceded at Versailles.
Furtwangler was a good conductor, pause at 1:31 - note the man with the pirate patch on his left eye and behind him an asian man - probably Thai or Japanese, given the times.
And Goebbels (who appears on the movie) wrote on his diary in april 1944 "Furtwängler has never been a National-Socialist, he has never made a secret of that and it was enough for Emigrants and Jews to consider him as one of them. He was like in a kind of inner emigration [...] He has never changed his mind about us."
Ironic, considering the Furtwängler quote stating that he conducted during this period b/c it was during those years that the German people most needed the message of Freedom held in such pieces as this...
Music and Arts released a CD of the complete symphony in 1993. An MP3 has been available for a couple of years. Very doubtful that a complete video of the performance exists. Can anyone identify the general at 3:40?
This is not the 19 April concert with Berger and Roswaenge, but actually the March 22-24 performance earlier that year, with Tilla Breim and Peter Anders. The April performance wasn't released until recently. Footage is from the April concert. The only thing disappointing about the March performance is probably the soprano (Breim) who is off pitch in certain places, Berger is much better and I personally prefer Roswaenge in Beethoven to Anders. Furtwaengler was the greatest Beethoven conductor.
Esiste anche la versione completa di questa stupenda esecuzione, forse la migliore in assoluto, superiore anche a quella celeberrima di Bayreuth. Purtroppo per le solite ragioni di politica ( che c'entra poi con la musica?) non è disponibile, almeno in Italia. I soliti puritani.....
Furtwangler was one of the giants of music no doubt about that, I'm not the slighest bit interested in his politics nor any other artist's for that matter. However, I think he rushes this finale like most other conductors. Klemperer is the only conductor I know who can make sense of this movement and not make it sound a complete shambles!
interesting question - there really is no need for him to pass the handkerchief from hand to hand like that. on the other hand, he did conduct this symphony twice for Hitler's Birthday celebration (the other was in 1937). Why?
Furtwängler has seen the Nazi flags until his appearance on the podium. If he would have denied his involvement, he would be arrested the next day been. So what should he do?
Beethoven's ninth is certainly not a totalitarian piece of music. Listen to the words of "Ode to Joy" which is sung by the choir! Over the years, Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" has remained a protest anthem and a celebration of music. From demonstrators in Chile singing during demonstration against the Pinochet dictatorship, Chinese student broadcast at Tiananmen Square, the concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein after the fall of the Berlin Walland Daiku (Number Nine) concerts in Japan every December and one after the 2011 tsunami
@@andymilsten9096 In 1942, for Hitler's Birthday, one can assume everyone listening was a. either in the Nazi Party b. a wounded soldier (they are in the audience) or c. members of the Berlin Philharmonic (including Furtwangler) who silently acquiesced to the removal of Jewish players and staff from key positions - although Furtwangler never joined the Nazi Party, and according to one source, only 7% of the members of the Philharmonic were party members.
Clearly not. Von Staufenberg lost his left eye on a RAF raid on April 7th, 1943, in Tunisia. The concert was held almost a year before, so he would have attended the concert with both eyes intact.
@LoonyDoll You are obviously misguided. Fürtwangler was a great human being who helped many Jews during that insane time. It is well-documented that he assisted many of his Jewish fellow musicians remain out of concentration camps and also was able to use his influence to release a few who were imprisoned. Just because he happened to be a conductor in Germany during that time period (and, the greatest conductor in not only Germany, but the world over) does not mean he was a Nazi.
Incredible vocal blunder at 2:27, confirmed by the immediate reaction from Furtwaengler...Fades in comparison to Janowitz/Karajan version from the sixties.. otherwise a fine account indeed.
Beautiful. This guy is probably the best conductor I've heard. I wish they had the entire symphony on here.
i only found a live recording done 1 month earlier, audio only.
There is a lot of W.F. on RUclips! Also, lots of interviews and commentary.
@@wookinooki9023there is the live performance on RUclips that is probably this concert which is hitler’s birthday. Tho the sound and playing is horrible.
@@zenpiper yes, all the best for fuhrer - it was a concert to celebrate Adolf's birthday ;) did they comment on this?
@@ianng9915 the famous video does not have its original sound. it is matched to another performance of the same week.
Magnificent. I noticed Dr Otto Meissner, Minister of State and Chief of The Chancellery, there.
One of the few performances I've heard where the final section is truly *Prestissimo*.
Great performance. Furtwängler is a true maestro. God bless him.
yes, all the best for fuhrer - it was a concert to celebrate Adolf's birthday ;)
Самый замечательный!!
...yes for the dear furer, and it seems, shockingly enough, that there are a few truly depraved individuals, Nazi sympathizers, here on RUclips who fail to understand that if they didn't get up in the morning the world would be a better place.
@@boschmagkwanghoka2542 Why ! I'm shocking ,
@@boschmagkwanghoka2542 And Beethoven would have HATED HITLER!
The historical importance of this piece of film is not so much the performance of the Ninth Symphony, with its impossibly fast ending, but of Fürtwangler cleaning his hand with his handkerchief immediately after shaking Goebbel's hand at the end of the performance.
Una maravilla de músico intérprete al servicio de una maravilla de músico compositor. Lo demás es para otro escenario!
@GGbreizh Excellent points! Fürtwangler was an artist during an insane time period. He had to continue making music, regardless of the times. And, so did his musicians. I thought it was great irony that all of the Nazi officers in that audience had to be held "captive" while Beethoven chastised them, loudly and eloquently, from the grave!
And not only Beethoven! Add Mozart, Schubert, Robert Schumann & his wife Clara, AND especially Johannes Brahms!!!! All of them believe in human dignity. Brahms HATED antisemitism [he was not Jewish but some Jews were among his friends like Joseph Joachim & Remenyi]. 🤨🤨🤨🤨
And I am sure Johann Sebastian Bach would have rejected Hitler & Nazism. Richard Wagner, I don't know.🤨🤨
Such a treasure! Thank you!!
It is very easy to reply. it's not me who says this.... At the end of Furtwängler's trial, Hugo Strelitzer declared: "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". I have quotations like this of Jews...
@TheseusTex I'm a concertmaster of several orchestras and I would give anything to play under such a great conductor. Not only was he a fine musician, but also a great human being!
I was Lucky to be a pupil of Gerhard Taschner, the concertmaster who can be seen at 2:56. I heard great stories about Furtwangler.
@@tijnvellekoop7559 oh! wonderful!
Furtwängler conducts like a drunk man, but the sound he produces is amazing! His beethoven is simply the best.
The musician Hugo Strelitzer declared at the end of Furtwängler's denazification trial :"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".
Look Furtwangler doesn’t need any more accolades, his conducting speaks for itself. So I read here he wasn’t a enthusiastic Nazi, but huge swastika flags and audience dressed in to max in their well pressed Nazis uniforms makes makes me nauseous at minimum. Furtwangler should of kept low profile or defect, otherwise he is part of mass murder Nazi machine. Biggest point is that top Nazis were very well educated and didn’t stop them from being most evil regime in world history. Its counterintuitive that high education produces humane grads, they can be also intelligent, highly educated most devilish people on planet.
@@leonaltmark2852 its also applies to the mass murderous regime “USSR” then
@@leonaltmark2852
Furtwangler did not know the huge swastika flags were going to be there.
@@chris93703 Thats good because I respect him
@@leonaltmark2852 Your one of the most hard extreme brainwashed human I ever seen. Get rid of yourself from this existence please.
Best version ever.
Best 9th chorus I've ever heard! His tempo is wonderful too! He looks nauseated as he almost yanks his hand away from Goebbles'.
Note the closeup of Gerhard Taschner from around 2 min 53 sec. He was the youngest concertmaster for the Berlin Philharmonic, and an absolutely wonderful performer. His records are full of the same kind of passion that emanates from a Furtwangler performance.
@VivaRenata
Furtwängler had an, um, "amazing" baton technique, and my respect for the musicians who could find his beat is profound :).
Nonetheless, he inspired profoundly moving performances from his orchestras. I am sorry for the listeners who cannot hear this inspiration for themselves. (Not every performance, certainly -- he was not a robot.)
Bravoooo!!!! Maestro W. Furtwangler extraordinario!!!
This is the most passionate performance of this music I have ever heard. It is amazing that these musician could play so well under the most brutal and inhumane political system in the history of mankind. One would think that the words of Beethoven and Schiller would have meant something to those in the audience and would have awaken them to see the wrong that their government was doing to Germans and to the rest of the world. Thank you for uploading this video clip.
Précision importante. La bande son du concert anniversaire (transmis à la radio en direct) avait été égarée. Pour les besoins de la diffusion dans les cinémas d'actualité, les autorités nazies ont utilisé l'entegistrement de la 9eme fait par Furtwangler au mois de mars précédent. La bande son originale d'avril 1944 fut retrouvée dans les années 80. On s'y rend compte que Furtwangler sabota son interprétation en particulier la coda du dernier mouvement à telle enseigne que le public nazi, déconcerté, mit une quinzaine de secondes avant d'applaudir.
Maybe that torment is WHY they play so devinely.
As most of you probably know: Furtwängler was forced to conduct this symphony this day. Goebbels called him just before to prevent him from finding a nex wrong excuse to avoit it. He was so traumatized by this concert that he completely disappeared from Berlin inApril 1943 and 1944 claiming that he was very sick (his doctor who was a member of german resistance wrote false health prescriptions for him).
The look on Furtwaengler's face when Goebbels jumps up to shake his hand speaks volumes.
At least it wasn't on the 20th!
No I didn’t know that. He is considered as one of the greats. I hope sincerely that he was not a Nazi, the lowest humans in history.
Untrue. Liberal-Left propaganda,
@@richardcurry4912 Look I bet you even read Barry Goldberg’s Conscience of a Conservative. Hmm nothing about cult worshiping in that book. For your information Reagan didn’t do the populist jive, but was a great American conservative president.
I think the sweetness and brilliance of the music seems to be giving the audience a small rest from the misery and confusion of that time. It's heartbreaking, to think of the greatest of musicians, conductors, composers coming together to create this spectacular event, juxtaposed with all the terrible history going on outside the music hall. You can imagine the momentary peace it brought to those souls, now long dead. Very moving and profound.
at 48", see how he managed to slow down the orchestra.
It's beautiful!!
The most important point to know is that Furtwängler was probably the greatest interpreter of this symphony. One of the main reasons for that is that it understood perfectly the structure of this symphony beacause he studied it very deeply with the very great music theorist Heinrich Schenker whith whom he worked between 1920 and 1935.
You stating whats commonly agreed on. But that’s ok.
yes, all the best for fuhrer - it was a concert to celebrate Adolf's birthday ;)
@@boschmagkwanghoka2542 What an intelligent remark ! You must be full professor in a top level university in the world to know that!
In case you can read: try to read my other comments below.
One example:
"The musician Hugo Strelitzer declared at the end of Furtwängler's denazification trial :"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".
In case (very unlikely) you can read books: read the books of the historians who described Furtwängler's behavior during WWII. In particular the fact that he has always been very close to the German resistance (the reason is was sentenced to death in Januray 1945 by Hilter). Furtwängler escaped just before being arrested by the gestapo.
I don't want to explain the long story about how he was forced to come to the concert. I think it is hopeless in view of your remark.
@@MegaClassicguy ok ok! I totally agree!
@@boschmagkwanghoka2542 sorry for being nervous. I have a lot of stress since I have to take care of my father who is extremely sick and my mother is in a terrible situation because of that.
In this piece video, the video part was taken from 1942.4.19, one night before Hitler's birthday. The sound track, however, are taken from another performance on 1942.3.22. The reason is that the visual part of the event was discovered earlier than the sound track.
It sounds like the chorus is screaming the Schiller at the audience, which was surely Furtwangler’s intention. The only thing that saves this clip from bathos is the moment at about 3:20 when the soprano screws up and the concertmaster grins at Furtwangler.
@saporman98 Myself being a concertmaster, I can totally attest to this! Bravo and thanks for saying it!
@44aceofhearts
There is no sweetness or peace in this rendition, or what little there is is swept under the waves of agony and rage. This is by far the most disturbing version of the 9th I've heard, and also one of the best.
Fantastic music, fantastic composer, fantastic conductor.......I wonder what Beethoven would have thought of the audience (especially those in the best seats!!) Inspirational music can inspire you to...what? Good or evil? Depends often on who's judging and at what distance.......
@VivaRenata Thanks for smart & informative comment ! Here we go ! REAL MASTERS can't have ANY COMMONE things with politicians or parties...I often listening Furtwangler's interpretations , & every time having shiver...EVEN THE MOST BAD QUALLITY recordings ...are FANTASTIC & GENIUS !
0:27 I cannot STAND seeing that damned Swastika associated with this glorious piece!!!! A few seconds of the Best of Germany and the Worst in one remarkable shot.
2:28 the Soprano wobbles her top note, and the front desk of the violins chance a wee grin at each other. Humanity shared in a time when it was a rare sight.
Apart from the occasion itself - the stills of individuals is fascinating - a very well made film!
@ptrichmondmike I totally agree. Very ironic. Beethoven would have, literally, spat in their faces. But, he kinda did, through his music, that night :)
He spat in your face.
@@mortkebab2849 fick off
@@stratocaster-dn7gt You.
I'm glad to have seen this. I know the performance from the CD. It's the most apocalyptic Ninth I know. What Furtwängler brings off (to my ears) is incredible: while the Nazi elite is thinking it is being celebrated by great music, Beethoven's moral greatness destroys them. This concert is so complex in its resonances (Alle Menschen werden Brüder vs. people are being murdered while the music is being played), I wish a book had been written about it.
TRUE !!!!
Is in the 1968 tv documentary 'The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich'. With Richard Basehart narrating. 😐😐
@@joseortiz3582Thanks!
See at all those faces and give me right: Music will always be so more powerfull than politics can be. Music is the key to all our hearts and makes us realise that we all are just a very small peace of time.
This is fantastic... words fail me in describing the raw power of his conducting.
Una de las mejores interpretaciones que escuchado
I believe Furtwängler was truly one of the greatest orchestral conductors ever... Of course we must never forget the terrible things that happened in those days. But... LISTEN TO THE MUSIC. Simply wonderful.
Special thanks to franciszhou for this miracle documentary..it is priceless(even with the error of soprano on 2:24..1st violinist got that...smiling...)
Erna Berger sang as well as any other soprano in the history of singing.TY for posting.
GREATEST ORCHESTRA IN THE WORLD. AMAZING THAT GERMANY HAD SUCH GREAT RECORDINGS IN 1942
Not only Beethoven would have covered his face but he would have clearly seen that there is a complete contradiction between German culture and his music and Nazism. It is what Furtwängler wrote on his diary in 1935.
In 1944 in March Furtwängler said again to Goebbels that he was very sick. Goebbels understood in 1944 that it was a lie to avoid the concert for Hitler's birthday. He did not ak him to play for Hitler's birthday but to go to Prague to conduct a concert instead. Furtwängler accepted but conducted in Prague Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, the master piece of slavonic music.
He was offered a hand to shake and not a salute. He gave what he was handed.
Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 includes afroamerican music that was forbidden on pain of death at that time. Conducting Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 was also a very clear support for slavonic culture (remember that the nazis killed at least 20 millions Slavs during world war II).
Correct number of Soviet dead.
According to John Ardoin's ,The video on April.19.1942 only left 4 minutes 39 seconds. So the video you watched is the whole chip.
It is so sad not to have the whole symphony here. The occasion is horrible, but Furtwängler certainly shows his mastery in this chip of the last minutes of the IX.
Great for instance would be to have the first mouvement...
@sam0xin I think what operaviolinist means by Co-ductor is a reference to Furtwängler's erratic baton technique. One of my composer friends described the last part of the 9th symphony with Furtwängler as "every man for himself". But he did not mean that as an insult, he wrote his thesis in musicology on Furtwängler. Better things to do than argue with some of the ignorant people out there. Thanks for posting!
I absolutely adore that last comment from PrussianElite about the handshake.
Wonderful Furtwangler
Bravo, Staudtwerner! Apprezzo molto quello che hai scritto!
Thanks for your reaction! I know the book exists, but haven't come round to reading it yet. BTW: in the 'eighties Dutch radio had a whole series about Furtwängler, at the end of which was a discussion in an Amsterdam theatre with the widow of Furtwängler present. I was there... Furtwängler is extraordinary.
フルトブェングラーの、第九？しかもライブ？これでしたら、この、ドキュメンタリーの、貴重な記録は、とくに、大切にすべきですし、演奏を聴いていても、永遠のフルトブェングラーと、よく言われているのが、よく、わかります。とにかく凄い！フルトブェングラーが、音楽に入りこんで、全身全霊といいますか、もう、こういう次元になりますと、理屈を超越した、世界です！これが、本物の、第九なんだと思います。
I would like to believe that art is transformative, improving, a force for good... but seeing Beethovens hymn to freedom, to mankind, to joy used by the most destructive and evil regime the world has ever known shakes that belief to its core. It staggers me that these criminals can sit and clap for a performance of a work by a composer who angrily scratched out the dedication to the tyrant Napoleon from the eroica symphony, that they can listen intently to lines such as "Alle Menschen werden Brüder" seemingly without any self awareness of the millions of people they are condemning to die as they listen. If art has the power to lift us to higher thoughts and improve us as a species, one of the greatest artworks mankind has ever produced failed spectacularly here.
Of course no one owns Beethoven, not the Nazis, not Germany, not the allies, no one. Of course, the allies themselves tried to use Beethoven for propaganda quite successfully, turning Symphony No. 5 into the "V for Victory" symphony. This is supposedly what Furtwangler told Goebbels when he wished to use Beethoven for a propaganda film, that no one can own him. And Furtwangler was certainly no nazi. The worst thing he did was give the regime more prestige than it should have had, by association. We still see this today with some comments on this video. But overall I believe he acted courageously throughout the war.
No one did more to protect western values and European high culture, than the NSDAP.
@@erichjager3201 go lick a window you idiot
This performance almost brought me to tears. Beethoven's music will glorify everything that is good in humankind, it is such a pity though that the NAZI's used this heavenly piece to glorify themselves and their ideology. So sad. Furtwangler gives one of the best interpretations here, so moving on so may levels.
@oosawashuuji (translation) This audio and video are of different performances. It is reported that the audio is from March 1942, while the video is from the April 19, 1943 performance.
@TheStockwell Thank you for saying this!
@buffuzo Thank you for defending the greatest composer who ever lived :)
Well do you know a better performance?? (One of my favourite performances is by Christopher Hogwood, who used period instruments - very interesting to hear the 9th on period instruments!!)
When I wanted to know the greatest baseball player I believed John McGraw, who saw them all and unequivocally chose Honus Wagner. Best conductor. Another old timer Pay Casals, said Furtwangler the best he ever heard, or saw.
the video and audio is not in sync
A quotation from Solzhenitsyn for all "puritans" in this forum who have never lived under tyranny: "No one expects from you to be a hero and make sacrifices, it is morally enough just not to Partcipate in the LIE".
Does anyone heard something about active colaboration with the Nazis for people like Furtwaengler, E. Schwarzkopf, K. Flagstad? If not please focus on their genius as artists!
Solschenitzyn was a wise man. Everyone with a heart or a brain or even both knows that.
No one blames them They were classical musicians who were furthering the arts. They are no more politicians than Tom Hanks is now. Are you saying that because Tom Hanks acts in a movie he supports Trump or McConnell?
Tom Hanks collaborated with the capitalist swine Pixar executives by daring to participate in the abominations known as "Toy Story 2" and "Toy Story 3," besmirching the artistic purity and unity of the original.
You know what else Solzhenitsyn talked about? The little tribe that ruined his country. The person to whom this concert was dedicated was also aware of this "tribe".
When you talk about Solzhenitsyn again, remember that!
It is easier leaving his country in order to save his own life instead of staying for saving other's life.
see at the faces of all and agree. music is and will ever be so much stronger than politics. van beethoven defeats everybody in the house at the moment. music will survive and has the message for all of us: we have to realise that we all are just a very, very small piece of time. we are all part of a big history. we can save tomorrow by doing our best today and learn from the mistakes we made yesterday.
Yes, there are some Jew there. It's not a Joke. All the "pure Jewish" musicians of the orchestra (around 7 people including the concertmaster) left Germany around 1934. They found a similar position abroad (England or USA) with the aid of Furtwängler. But there are some "half-Jews" in the orchestra. Furtwängler could keep and protect them until the end of the war in spite of the very strong pression of Nazis.
'Good men' like Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Ley, Keitel? Ok...
German infantrymen were not sitting in the best seats.
Furtwaengler was not a supporter of the Party and was actually forced by Goebbels to conduct this for Hitler's birthday and some have claimed to be able to hear his anger in this particular performance...who knows?
Was that colonel von stauffenberg? at 3:38? (The guy with the eye-patch) The guy who tried to kill Hitler? Tom Cruise plays him in that movie operation Valkyrie...
It is not Stauffenberg because this video is from April 1942 and Stauffenberg was wounded during the battle of the Kasserine Pass in February 1943.

@Grimgerde The best research gives the number at at least 80, possibly over a hundred if you include the people who Furtwangler arranged exit visas for or assisted financially throughout the war.
Mas se a uma confusão quanto a data do video, porque no final de video entra a 3rd Symphony(Eroica)?
In 3:03 the violinist with the long hair survived WW2, Furtwangler, & ended as concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic under Karajan. Retire & died early 1980s.🙂😊
What’s his name?
@@GeloDianela I think his last name was Drolz.🙂
Just as a clarification - where you stating that I was a fool, or ridethetigerII?
The music sounds so ethnic. Same all over Europe at that time. Loved their State.
Beethoven scratched Napoleon's name from his Eroica symphony. I think he would have slapped Hitler with the back of his hand.
You don't know anything. Napoleon set out to conquer Europe, while Hitler fought a purely defensive war against Sviet attack and allied encirclement. His only military actions before Barbarossa were recovery of territory ceded at Versailles.
You're wrong
A noisy chaotic almost crazy perfirsncei have to search in that noise frenzy where is the music in that madhouse.???
@emtube Yay! I'm so glad you said this! Haha, well said!
Barenboim revers Furtwangler too. I agree, he is the greatest conductor in musical history.
Furtwangler was a good conductor, pause at 1:31 - note the man with the pirate patch on his left eye and behind him an asian man - probably Thai or Japanese, given the times.
Der Dirigent,der dem Geist Beethovens am nächsten kommt!Ohne jeden Abstrich!
Grosser Dirigent u. grosses Orchester. Perfekt. Danke.
And Goebbels (who appears on the movie) wrote on his diary in april 1944 "Furtwängler has never been a National-Socialist, he has never made a secret of that and it was enough for Emigrants and Jews to consider him as one of them. He was like in a kind of inner emigration [...] He has never changed his mind about us."
Ironic, considering the Furtwängler quote stating that he conducted during this period b/c it was during those years that the German people most needed the message of Freedom held in such pieces as this...
there is no need to compare "carefully", the two performances are vastly different
Oops, a correction - obviously, this is not Beethoven's "90th", but his 9th, of course.
Music and Arts released a CD of the complete symphony in 1993. An MP3 has been available for a couple of years. Very doubtful that a complete video of the performance exists. Can anyone identify the general at 3:40?
May be Alfred Jodl...
This is not the 19 April concert with Berger and Roswaenge, but actually the March 22-24 performance earlier that year, with Tilla Breim and Peter Anders. The April performance wasn't released until recently. Footage is from the April concert. The only thing disappointing about the March performance is probably the soprano (Breim) who is off pitch in certain places, Berger is much better and I personally prefer Roswaenge in Beethoven to Anders. Furtwaengler was the greatest Beethoven conductor.
Any more film he was conducting?
Esiste anche la versione completa di questa stupenda esecuzione, forse la migliore in assoluto, superiore anche a quella celeberrima di Bayreuth. Purtroppo per le solite ragioni di politica ( che c'entra poi con la musica?) non è disponibile, almeno in Italia. I soliti puritani.....
Does anyone know the name of the concertmaster for this performance?
Gerhard Taschner
so this is the video of april 1942 with the audio of march 1942?
Is it possible that they are playing accor-
ding to 1895 Gustav Mahler edition?
Furtwangler was one of the giants of music no doubt about that, I'm not the slighest bit interested in his politics nor any other artist's for that matter. However, I think he rushes this finale like most other conductors. Klemperer is the only conductor I know who can make sense of this movement and not make it sound a complete shambles!
Where I can found the full video?
@MasterAzunai
Those are their good points.
What about what they did?
Great music made by great musicians who were not great heroes.
interesting question - there really is no need for him to pass the handkerchief from hand to hand like that.
on the other hand, he did conduct this symphony twice for Hitler's Birthday celebration (the other was in 1937). Why?
Furtwängler has seen the Nazi flags until his appearance on the podium. If he would
have denied his involvement, he would be arrested the next day been.
So what should he do?
HarryOKellysooutines
Beethoven's ninth is certainly not a totalitarian piece of music. Listen to the words of "Ode to Joy" which is sung by the choir! Over the years, Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" has remained a protest anthem and a celebration of music. From demonstrators in Chile singing during demonstration against the Pinochet dictatorship, Chinese student broadcast at Tiananmen Square, the concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein after the fall of the Berlin Walland Daiku (Number Nine) concerts in Japan every December and one after the 2011 tsunami
HarryOKelly Were all the members nazi fans?
Amazing that you can read his mind.
@@andymilsten9096 In 1942, for Hitler's Birthday, one can assume everyone listening was a. either in the Nazi Party b. a wounded soldier (they are in the audience) or c. members of the Berlin Philharmonic (including Furtwangler) who silently acquiesced to the removal of Jewish players and staff from key positions - although Furtwangler never joined the Nazi Party, and according to one source, only 7% of the members of the Philharmonic were party members.
wow! talk about mixed feelings!!!!
Clearly not. Von Staufenberg lost his left eye on a RAF raid on April 7th, 1943, in Tunisia. The concert was held almost a year before, so he would have attended the concert with both eyes intact.
Besides that, he has very different facial features compared with Stauffenberg.
@emtube Coolness! Thanks for noticing that :)
@LoonyDoll You are obviously misguided. Fürtwangler was a great human being who helped many Jews during that insane time. It is well-documented that he assisted many of his Jewish fellow musicians remain out of concentration camps and also was able to use his influence to release a few who were imprisoned. Just because he happened to be a conductor in Germany during that time period (and, the greatest conductor in not only Germany, but the world over) does not mean he was a Nazi.
Incredible vocal blunder at 2:27, confirmed by the immediate reaction from Furtwaengler...Fades in comparison to Janowitz/Karajan version from the sixties..
otherwise a fine account indeed.
Nope. Blows v Karajan out of the water, IMHO.
Who is that guy sitting between Himmler (?) and Goebbels at 1:35 and 4:09? And that guy at 3:38? Is it Stauffenberg?