Sehnsucht Berlin Concert

It is a work of prophecy: in 1932, namely directly before the National Socialists seized power in Germany, Ernst Krenek composed the Cantata on the Transitoriness of Earthly Things in his native city of Vienna. He selected verses by Andreas Gryphius, Martin Opitz and other poets of the 17th century as its texts; these originated under the immediate influence of the Thirty Years’ War, and reflect the horrors and suffering of that time unambiguously clearly. How Krenek set the poems to music constitutes an interesting contrast with the Baroque poetry, which is rich in images. The composer basically takes on Arnold Schönberg’s twelve-tone principles, but without strictly applying them. Instead, passages with retrospective, tonal harmonies can be found in the cantata. Only a few months after completion of the composition, Krenek’s works were banned from being performed in Germany: his music was proclaimed “degenerate art” by the Nazis. In 1938, he used a stay in Belgium to emigrate to the USA. His Cantata on the Transitoriness of Earthly Things has lost nothing of its relevance to this day, and is a powerful warning against the dangers of dictatorial and totalitarian regimes.

The conductor at this concert, at which works by Johannes Brahms and Friedrich Gernsheim will also be performed, is Gijs Leenaars, the principal conductor and artistic director leading the Rundfunkchor Berlin since 2015. Since that time, he has cultivated an extraordinarily broad repertoire, and in so doing attaches particular importance to interpreting contemporary works, as well as on less-known choral literature. His sensitive style of choral conducting will be embodied particularly strongly in this special programme with the RIAS Kammerchor.

7:10 p.m. Pre-concert talk | approx. 9:45 p.m. Post-concert discussion | The concert will be recorded by Deutschlandfunk Kultur.