Hitler's death announcement music [German national anthem]

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T.K.
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Hitler's death announcement music [German national anthem]

#1

Post by T.K. » 13 Feb 2009, 01:11

[Topic renamed by the host, Ivan Ž.]

Hello,

I know that at the end of the official announcement of Hitler's death by Doeniz there was a piece of classic music, if I remember well Wagner.
Anybody here know which part was exactly?

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Simon K
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#2

Post by Simon K » 13 Feb 2009, 04:51

I thought it was a piece by Bruckner?


J. Duncan
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#3

Post by J. Duncan » 13 Feb 2009, 11:42

The coda music to the Third Reich, the classical piece which signaled the end of Hitler was Anton Bruckner's "Symphony No. 4: The Romantic Symphony"...this information comes from Albert Speer's "Inside theThird Reich".

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T.K.
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#4

Post by T.K. » 13 Feb 2009, 12:07

Thanks.

I have always tought that was Wagner's Gotterdammerung.

Seems strange to me anyway, Bruckner's Romantic is not what I would expect as death announcement music.
BY the way do you know which movement?

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#5

Post by J. Duncan » 13 Feb 2009, 15:20

The last movement. Speer calls it "architectronic"...I will dig out the book sometime today and give you the exact passage, quote, and page number. Some have also said it was Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, but I find Speer to be the more reliable source since he discusses it in his book. Most people think it was "Gotterdammerung" simply because so many documentaries showing the destruction of Germany have used it as a score...plus, the "myth" behind the music drama ("Twilight of the Gods"), where the world ends in a deluge of destruction seems to "fit" mentally with the images of the end of the Reich. Hitler discussed Wagner and Gotterdammerung in his bunker, comparing his own downfall to Wagner's Gotterdammerung, so perhaps he helped create this image as well...but as far as what was played on Berlin Radio, I would go with Bruckner's Fourth. I will find the Speer quote later today. Speer also says that Hitler was just as enamored of Bruckner as he was of Wagner, if not more so because Bruckner was himself a "Wagnerite" and came from Hitler's hometown of Linz, Austria. Another good source for Hitler's love of Anton Bruckner is the book "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics" by Frederic Spotts. (Duncan).

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T.K.
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#6

Post by T.K. » 13 Feb 2009, 15:40

Hello Duncan,

Thanks for reply.
Do you know where I can download that full original TR broadcast?

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#7

Post by J. Duncan » 13 Feb 2009, 23:37

The passage from Speer's "Inside the Third Reich" comes from the chapter "The Thirteenth Hour" page 463:

"When Bruckner's Romantic Symphony is played, it will mean the end is upon us." I told my friends. 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 overcoats....I had ordered Brunhilde's last aria and the finale of Gotterdammerung - a rather bathetic 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 it's architectonic final movement. That was the last music i was to hear for a long time to come."

I guess you were correct too because Speer was reminded of the Gotterdammerung leitmotif as Hellfire rained down on Berlin. But Speer is also not referencing a radio broadcast, which I was quite wrong about. **This was a final concert. I think you may want to order a copy of a CD titled "Ragnarok" - this has Hitler's last broadcast in January 1945 and Goebbel's last broadcast from radio Berlin (broadcast on Hitler's birthday, April 20 1945)...these speeches are in german only but they may have some music too. I have not heard it. (Duncan).

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T.K.
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#8

Post by T.K. » 15 Feb 2009, 18:07

Hello Duncan,

Thanks for your kind reply.
Seems that at the present day we are not sure of which music movement was played by the last TR radio broadcasting (I mean the one with Doenitz speech).

Does anybody here know where would be possible to hear that very same announcement with the ending music as well?

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Grisu
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#9

Post by Grisu » 19 Feb 2009, 23:18

This may not be a popular answer, but the Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart holds a copy of the original speech by Dönitz (shelfmark R 5/001 D 45 1002/131, dated 1 May 1945, duration 6 min. 40 sec.), so theoretically anyone could listen to it and find out.

On the question itself: If I am not mistaken, both Bruckner and Wagner was played at this occasion (one at the beginning and one at the end?).

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T.K.
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#10

Post by T.K. » 20 Feb 2009, 12:28

Hello Grisu,

Yes you are right, I've just been told that both were played.
Seems like the original speaker of that announcement, Mr. Baier, is still alive.

May you give me the link to such record at the archive?

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Grisu
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#11

Post by Grisu » 20 Feb 2009, 18:03

T.K., this is the link to the entry in the online finding aid of the HStAS. At the item with the corresponding shelfmark, you can click the printer-symbol and the additional information opens in a pop-up. All the best for your research.

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#12

Post by AISU » 07 Aug 2009, 00:44

Did anybody find where to listen to the last broadcast, and what two compositions exactly were played?

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#13

Post by Strategic_Art » 16 Aug 2009, 00:47

I read the broadcast was closed with a particularly depressing sounding violin-rendition of the Deutschlandlied in the Dutch book "Zo zong de NSB" by Gerard Groeneveld, a book with a wealth of information of music in the nazi German, Italian fascist and Dutch NSB movements.

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#14

Post by cdumitru » 10 May 2011, 14:29

Quoting from "Daily Mail" of May 2nd, 1945:
THE 90 minutes before its announcement of Hitler's death last night were the most dramatic of the war for the German radio. Stand-by warnings were repeated continuously.

While the world waited in suspense, the solemn music of Wagner rolled out from the last stations of the Reich.

And the "Achtung" interruptions came with fanfares and drum rolls.

From Bremen, in English, listeners were told that an announcement by the German Government would be broadcast at 9pm.

Not since Hitler came to power had that term "German Government" been used over the radio. All major announcements were made "by the Fuhrer".

From 9 until 9.30 Hamburg Radio was putting over Wagner's "Tannhauser" and a piano concerto by Weber.

At 9.40 the "Stand-by" warning was given again. This was followed by Wagner's "Twilight of the Gods".

An announcer came to the microphone, at 9.43, shouting: "Achtung! Achtung! The German broadcasting system is going to give an important German Government announcement for the German people."

More music followed, from Wagner's "Rhinegold." At 9.57 the "Achtung" warning was repeated and the announcer added: "We are now going to play the slow movement of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony" (commemorating the death of Wagner).

Abruptly at 10.25 the music stopped. There came three rolls of the drums — a moment's silence, and then the news of Adolf Hitler's death.

This was followed by the German National Anthem the Horst Wessel song, more drum-rolls, and a three-minutes silence.

All German radio stations scrapped the midnight news bulletin and repeated the announcement of Hitler's death.
I guess this concludes the thread with the answer: Hitler's Death announcement music was the German National Anthem.

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