Music and Power – The Power of Music
The main theme of the 2010 festival
Throughout the centuries, how have composers dealt with the powers surrounding them? What kind of power does music have?
Music and Power – this multi-faceted relationship is reflected in the equally multifarious programmes of the 2010 Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival.
One thing is for sure - had those in power not made it possible, there would be much less exciting music. Today, there are foundations and cultural institutions; in the old days there were the church, kings, princes and rich patrons who asked for feature works to be written, adorning themselves with the fine chamber music works dedicated to them and basking in the glory of the artists they were supporting. Thereby, they were paying and paving the way for a lot of developments in music which often led to complicated relations between the musicians and their patrons – and this interdependence was a fertile ground for the most beautiful sonatas, quartets and solo pieces.
A certain extent of the festival will also be dedicated to the seamier side of music and power.
“Surrounded by good powers, faithful and still” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his family in 1944, even though he was in the concentration camp, exposed to the cruellest powers raging in Europe. With his poems, the theologian and participant in the German Resistance movement demonstrated that creativity does not cease to exist even at places of inhumanity. Even and especially in times of oppression men and women continue to write poetry, they act in plays, make music and compose.
Gidon Kremer and his fellow musicians will therefore dedicate a lot of concerts to composers persecuted or even killed in dictatorships worldwide. Those artists “only” banned from working were at least able to compose for themselves, but any public display of their work was strictly prohibited. As a result, instead of going into “inner exile”, a lot of them chose emigration. Composers under no direct threat used their music for protesting against the prevailing political conditions. So we will also hear politically motivated music, written against those who abused their powerful positions - inasmuch as the power of music is a power of change.
Let us not forget the power of the audience. The audience at Lockenhaus has always been one of the good, faithful powers which may be felt again at the 2010 festival.
List of the composers featured at the 2010 festival
Music and Power – this multi-faceted relationship is reflected in the equally multifarious programmes of the 2010 Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival.
One thing is for sure - had those in power not made it possible, there would be much less exciting music. Today, there are foundations and cultural institutions; in the old days there were the church, kings, princes and rich patrons who asked for feature works to be written, adorning themselves with the fine chamber music works dedicated to them and basking in the glory of the artists they were supporting. Thereby, they were paying and paving the way for a lot of developments in music which often led to complicated relations between the musicians and their patrons – and this interdependence was a fertile ground for the most beautiful sonatas, quartets and solo pieces.
A certain extent of the festival will also be dedicated to the seamier side of music and power.
“Surrounded by good powers, faithful and still” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his family in 1944, even though he was in the concentration camp, exposed to the cruellest powers raging in Europe. With his poems, the theologian and participant in the German Resistance movement demonstrated that creativity does not cease to exist even at places of inhumanity. Even and especially in times of oppression men and women continue to write poetry, they act in plays, make music and compose.
Gidon Kremer and his fellow musicians will therefore dedicate a lot of concerts to composers persecuted or even killed in dictatorships worldwide. Those artists “only” banned from working were at least able to compose for themselves, but any public display of their work was strictly prohibited. As a result, instead of going into “inner exile”, a lot of them chose emigration. Composers under no direct threat used their music for protesting against the prevailing political conditions. So we will also hear politically motivated music, written against those who abused their powerful positions - inasmuch as the power of music is a power of change.
Let us not forget the power of the audience. The audience at Lockenhaus has always been one of the good, faithful powers which may be felt again at the 2010 festival.
Susanne Bánhidai
List of the composers featured at the 2010 festival
