Английская Википедия:Die Asche von Birkenau

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Italic title Die Asche von Birkenau is a poem by the writer Stephan Hermlin from his cycle Remembrance.[1] It was set to music as a cantata in 1965 by Günter Kochan.

Poem

Файл:Bundesarchiv B 285 Bild-04413, KZ Auschwitz, Einfahrt.jpg
KZ Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1945. Шаблон:Ill, by Шаблон:Ill

It was written in 1949 during a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and published in 1951. It is composed of five twelve-line stanzas. Hermlin deals with the Holocaust. The motifs are remembrance and forgetting.

The last stanza of the poem optimistically states:

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The author expressed himself admonitively at the same time; in a 1979 interview he said:[2]

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Music

Origin

At the time of the still ongoing 2nd Auschwitz Trials, the composer Günter Kochan created The Ashes of Birkenau for alto solo and orchestra (1965). He took his cue from the poem by Stephan Hermlin and divided his work into a total of seven movements, using the 4 stanzas as a basis and composing 3 additional instrumental parts. The key passage is the fourth movement with its Шаблон:Ill.

Movements

  1. Andante rubato
  2. Interludium I (Andante)
  3. Allegro
  4. Grave
  5. Interlude II: Moderato
  6. Vivace
  7. Epilogue: Moderato

Orchestration

soloist voice (alto), 2 flutes, 1 oboe, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, 1 timpani, 1 percussion, 1 celesta, 1 piano, strings

Premiere

The work was premiered on 25 May 1966 by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur in Berlin. It has a duration of approximately 16 minutes.

Importance

Kochan considered the Ashes of Birkenau to be one of his most important pieces. According to his own statements from the 1970s, the work was broadcast by more than seven radio stations.[3] The cantata advanced to become one of the most important musical works dealing with the genocide of the Jews.

Recordings

Reception

The Holocaust survivors Simon Wiesenthal wrote a text on the poem in 1979. In part, it said:[4]

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In 2002, the last section of the poem was engraved by the sculptor Ingo Warnke on a revolving stone column near the Appellplatz at the Шаблон:Ill in Springhirsch.[5] The text was worked into the turning stone in a spiral, so that the visitor is invited to circle the surface.[6]

Further reading

References

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  1. Fritz J. Raddatz: What do the younger ones know of our difficult struggles? In Die Zeit of 14 May 1995.
  2. Шаблон:Ill: Kleine Literaturgeschichte der DDR. Berlin 1999, Шаблон:Pp..
  3. Ursula Stürzbecher (ed.): Komponisten in der DDR. 17 Gespräche. Hildesheim 1979, Шаблон:P..
  4. Heinz Ludwig Arnold: Einigkeit und aus Ruinen. A German Anthology. Frankfurt 1999, Шаблон:Pp..
  5. Trägerverein KZ-Gedenkstätte Kaltenkirchen in Springhirsch.
  6. In playful search for the structures of reality. Observations on the sculptor Ingo Warnke (PDF file; 1.91 MB).