The last Bruckner concert in the Third Reich
"That final concert took place on the afternoon of April 12, 1945. The Philharmonic Hall was unheated and everyone who wanted to hear this last concert in the imperiled city sat huddled in over-coats (...) I had ordered Brunhilde's last Aria and the Finale of 'Götterdämmerung' - a rather pathetic and also melancholy gesture pointing to the end of the 'Reich'. After Beethoven's Violin Concerto came the Bruckner Symphony, dear to me especially for its architectonic final movement. That was the last music I was to hear for a long time to come. (Albert Speer. « Inside the Third Reich » , Chapter : « The Thirteenth Hour » ; page 463.) | ||||||
