- Symphony no. 9 (Henze)
The Ninth Symphony of the German
composer Hans Werner Henze was written in 1997.It is a
choral symphony , subtitled "Den Helden und Märtyren den deutschen Antifaschismus gewidmet" ("Dedicated to the heroes and martyrs of Germananti-fascism "). It sets words by the poetHans-Ulrich Treichel , and is based on the novel "The Seventh Cross " byAnna Seghers . According to the composer, the symphony deals with themes which have preoccupied him since he was conscripted to theGerman Army as a young man duringWorld War Two . His earlier Requiem is in many ways a precursor to this work.Across its seven movements, and in parallel with the novel, it recounts the story of a fugitive from the
Nazis , with depictions of the callousness of small-town torture and 'official' police reporting and the felling ofplane tree s to makecross es with which to crucify recaptured fugitives (movements two and three). The sixth movement is delirious episode in acathedral where the fugitive's faithless encounter withChristian imagery is contrasted with the death of an escapee in the previous movement, and the arrival of attack dogs at the end. The final movement depicts the fugitive's eventual escape in a ship (sailing down theRhine in the novel). However, the ending, like much else in the work, is ambiguous, contrasting the individual's successful escape with the fact that the general threat remains at large.Movements
#"Die Flucht (Escape)"
#"Bei den Toten (Among the Dead)"
#"Bericht der Verfolger (The Persecutors' Report)"
#"Der Platane spricht (The Plane Tree Speaks)"
#"Der Sturz (The Fall)"
#"Nachts in Dom (Night in the Cathedral)"
#"Die Rettung (The Rescue)"Premiere
It was premiered on
11 September 1997 at the Philharmonie,Berlin with theBerlin Radio Choir and theBerliner Philharmoniker conducted byIngo Metzmacher . The performance was also recorded byEMI .References
*Notes to EMI recording of Henze's Ninth Symphony by Christoph Schlüren, Hans Werner Henze and Hans-Ulrich Treichel, 1998
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.