Music, War and Revolution – Music in the Time of the Great War

Synopsis

When the First World War broke out in 1914, the musical world did not remain unaffected. Artists inevitably became involved, either as soldiers at the front or as composers of patriotic music or musical memorials to a lost world. The three-part documentary series investigates the (un)known, overt and hidden connections between music, war and revolution. The first part focuses on the enthusiasm for the war in the musical world: when musicians and composers became fervent patriots and soldiers. How did the composers and musicians such as Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Maurice Ravel and Béla Bartók handle these times of war? How did their experiences at the battlefront affect their composing? What do the compositions reveal of this era and its spirit, believes and artistic changes of this age? The documentary combines important historical locations in the lives of the composers and musicians: such as the original battlefront of Verdun with the Voie Sacrée and the old Vienna with the Wiener Musikverein.

Additional Info

• No: 9528
• Production year: 2018
• Run time: 00:55:00
• Director: A film by Andreas Morell
• Producers: Accentus Music in co-production with WDR, in association with ARTE, supported by Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung
• Format: HDTV 16:9