CORONAVIRUS: MUSIC HAS CHARMS TO SOOTHE A SAVAGE BREAST

And, dear Mr. Congreve, has mine needed soothing!  I’ve been up, down, happy, sad, angry, peaceful, distracted, focused, and around again.  I feel like a ping pong ball paddled back and forth by an unseen viral force.  On Monday I’m brought low by frightening infection and mortality rates, which are countered on Tuesday by hopeful news of the development of a vaccine and therapies.  On Wednesday I’m plunged into panic by a surge of new unemployment claims, only to be confused on Thursday by a surging stock market that seems decoupled from economic reality.  On Friday, I regain some ground from statistics that show most cases are very mild, but on Saturday I’m overwhelmed by first-person narratives of nurses and doctors who have been infected and nearly escaped death.  On Sunday, I throw up my hands and surrender to the consciousness-invading microbial army which has once again won the weekly skirmish for my serenity.  I’m so beaten down that I can’t answer the simple question, “How are you doing?” The fact is, I’m one of the walking wounded.  You, too?  

So it was on May first, when my cell phone pinged to tell me that the Berliner Philharmoniker’s thirtieth annual Europakonzert was starting in five minutes.  I turned away from the bad news, none of which, unfortunately, is fake.  I turned on our new smart TV (which my husband presciently convinced me we should buy), clicked on the Digital Concert Hall icon, and settled in for the unexpected.  Within minutes, to my surprise and shuddering relief, I had tears streaming down my face, tears that had been searching for an exit for weeks and had finally found one.   

It was a catharsis, which Merriam-Webster defines as a purification or purgation of the emotions (such as pity and fear) primarily through art that brings about spiritual renewal or release from tension, eliminating an exaggerated reaction to or preoccupation with a subject or situation by bringing it to consciousness and affording it expression.  Which pretty much sums it up.  That day, ten days ago, the Berliner Philharmoniker fought the battle for my serenity with music and won.  It’s a musical metaphor with interesting historical notes.

The Berliner Philharmoniker was founded on May 1, 1882 by 54 musicians.  According to Wiki, the orchestra continued to perform throughout World War II, and its final wartime concert was on April 12, 1945, just four days before the commencement of the Battle of Berlin (April 16 to May 2, 1945).  This battle-to-the death between the Red Army and German troops decided the war and resulted in an inconceivable loss of life on both sides.  It is estimated that between 92,000 and 100,000 German soldiers were killed and 220,000 were wounded in the Battle of Berlin, and that 125,000 civilians lost their lives and more than 5,000,000 lost their homes.  Soviet estimates at the time counted 81,000 Red Army soldiers dead and 280,000 wounded.   

The Battle of Berlin culminated in Germany’s unconditional surrender 75 years ago on May 8, 1945, and Hitler’s suicide by cyanide.  Interestingly, per Wiki, the orchestra’s last wartime program that April included Brünnhilde’s last aria and the finale from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (the Twilight of the Gods).  Hitler Youth are reported to have distributed cyanide pills to the audience for those who wished, by death, to escape the imminent arrival of the Red Army. 

Not that I was contemplating biting down on a cyanide capsule that day as I sat down on the couch to listen to the concert, but I did find in the music a tremendous release into another world.  That psychic exhalation began with the introductory message from Frank-Walter Steinmeier (above), the President of the German Republic, who addressed the digital audience from the empty concert hall.  It’s so inspiring and different from what we hear from the American president that I will quote it in full:

I bid you all a warm welcome from the Philharmonie in Berlin.

There is a strange atmosphere here in this wonderful building, which is known around the world and held in great affection by all music lovers; this venue where otherwise many guests from across the globe come together. Today it is completely silent. There is no audience to experience what a small Berliner Philharmoniker ensemble will play today.

Perhaps there are one or two purists who will especially appreciate being able to listen to music undisturbed by any coughing or clearing of throats. But if we are honest, we would all like to sit in the midst of a large audience again.

What we will have the pleasure of experiencing on our screens today is the European Concert of the Berliner Philharmoniker. It was actually supposed to be staged in Tel Aviv during my state visit to Israel to mark the anniversary of the country’s independence: Yom Ha’atzmaut. Like so many other things, this visit and the concert had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I very much regret that and I am quite certain that many people in Israel who were looking forward to the concert feel the same way!

However, no matter where this concert takes place, it will show you that Europe has a wealth of great music. It is part of our European culture and therefore our shared treasure trove!

We speak so many different languages on our continent and we have so many different ways of life. But we can only master the difficulties we all face today and in future if we stand together. That is particularly true at the current time, which is so hard for all of us. Europe is our shared home – and it is virtually impossible to express this better than with music, this distinctive shared European language. Especially today, however, this gift presents us with a task.

We have to help each other – and we will help each other.

The musicians who will play for us today led by Kirill Petrenko represent more than themselves. When I thank them for the special concert they are performing for us, I am also thinking of the many freelance artists, indeed our entire cultural life that is under particular threat due to this crisis. The livelihoods of many are at risk. They are dependent on assistance and I very much hope that the help provided will go where it is needed.

Art and culture which we can enjoy together are not expendable trivialities. We are rediscovering this at present. Perhaps more now than at other times we appreciate what we miss: we see that art and culture are indeed food for the soul.

I am looking forward to what will certainly be a very special concert – and I am looking forward to the time when we can again listen to music together in a concert hall.

All the best to you. And look out for each other.

And so the concert began.  The musicians, Kirill Petrenko, the soprano soloist, and the orchestra’s lighting and sound technicians had all been tested prior to going on stage.  To accommodate social distancing rules, instead of the full orchestra, a chamber group of 15 assembled.  The musical offerings consisted of a haunting funereal piece by Arvo Pärt called Fratres, followed by György Ligeti’s Ramifications, and then Samuel Barber’s soaring Adagio for Strings, often played at memorial services.  After the intermission, the chamber orchestra was joined onstage by soprano Christiane Karg, for Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, scored for chamber orchestra by Erwin Stein in 1921.  

As befit the Europakonzert on the eve of the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, Pärt was born in Estonia and Ligeti, a Jew, was born in Hungary.  Both had studied in Berlin.  Continuing around the World War II globe, Barber was born in the U.S., Mahler in what is today the Czech Republic, Petrenko in Russia, and Karg in Germany.  Stein, also a Jew, fled Vienna and died in London.  But for France, all the Allied Powers and the Austro-Hungarian /Prussian Empires were represented on stage!  The program was highly emotional and Petrenko (below) was visibly moved by the music.  I swear I saw him cry.  You can access the concert here:  Europakonzert 2020.

The reviews were glowing.  The Süddeutsch Zeitung (Germany’s New York Times) said (via Google Translate, so bear with me):

Fifteen musicians, even if they are the best of the Berliner Philharmoniker, are not the Berliner Philharmoniker, but a chamber music ensemble. But because Kirill Petrenko, the chief conductor of the Berlin, was there, because Gustav Mahler's fourth symphony (in chamber ensemble) celebrating the music and its miraculous power was played, this matinee became a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic. It is the most important concert in Petrenko's life to date, because it has become a beacon of hope against the increasing epidemic of epidemics and because it shows a way how classical concerts could look in the near future.

Finally, the soprano Christiane Karg expressed Mahler's vision of the heavenly power of music on the other side: darkly present, quietly emphatic, elegantly irrefutable. All musicians donated their fees to the refugee children stuck at the European borders under the most unworthy conditions, who are now even more forgotten by European politicians and populations than before in epidemic conditions. In this way, the Berlin Philharmonic achieved what can be expected from the leading and best-known orchestra in Germany: They showed a way how the classical music can deal with this crisis and at the same time positioned themselves politically against xenophobia and inhumanity. And thanks to Kirill Petrenko, all of this was formulated on an artistically brilliant level.

The New York Times was equally enthusiastic and welcoming of the effort: 

It’s hard to overstate what a departure from the norm [above] this setup represented. Normally, musicians in chamber ensembles and orchestras try to sit as close together as possible without getting in each other’s way, to add cohesion to the overall sound and help players hear each other.

Yet though the seating arrangement was strange — and it was momentarily odd to see a conductor and concertmaster bow to each other rather than shake hands — it was also inspiring to see musicians trying to find some way, however awkward, to keep making live art. And the program chosen by Kirill Petrenko, the Philharmonic’s music director, spoke to this moment of disruption and fear; plumbed spiritual realms; and offered consolation.

You can read the full review here:  NYT Review.

As Mr. Steinmeier said, “Art and culture which we can enjoy together are not expendable trivialities.”  Indeed.  They are essential weapons in the fight against the pandemic darkness that threatens to turn us into fearful, selfish beasts.  On May first, music was the conquering army that beat back the virus with its charms and soothed my savage breast.  If only for a few hours, it fed my battered soul. 

Keep it real!  Wear your mask!

Marilyn