OPUS 45

OPUS 45 was founded as part of a Berlin orchestra project: Johannes Brahms’ “A German Requiem” (Opus 45) was on the program and has since given the ensemble its name. The wind quintet, consisting of musicians from the Hamburg State Opera, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, and the NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Hannover, has been exploring new, interdisciplinary paths for some time now in collaboration with actorRoman Knižka. This has resulted in eight literary concerts that are unique in the German-speaking concert scene—such as the program on resistanceto the Nazis titled “Give the Nazis a resounding slap in the face!” or the staged reading on the history and present state of right-wing violence in Germany, titled after the Primo Levi quote“It happened, and therefore it can happen again ….”

With their latest, eighth program, Roman Knižka and OPUS 45 turn their attention to the dramatic final phase of the Weimar Republic:“Germany, Can’t You See It? – The Downfall of the Weimar Republic (1929–1933).”

The title draws on a powerful line from Kurt Tucholsky’s poem “Germany, Awake!” (1930) —a sharply worded warning against radicalization, violence, and the collapse of democratic norms. Texts by Erich Kästner, Mascha Kaléko, Kurt Tucholsky, Viktor Klemperer, Sebastian Haffner, and Dorothy Thompson are paired with music by Hanns Eisler, Kurt Weill, Erwin Schulhoff, Paul Juon, and Jean Françaix—as well as swing and popular songs by Cole Porter and the Comedian Harmonists. The program explores the political and social decay of that era, as well as its cultural flourishing, and poses the question:What lessons can we draw today from the downfall of Germany’s first democracy?

Organizer: State Agency for Political Education of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern No tickets are required; seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.