1923

The year 1923 was a crisis year like this year 2023. Is it because of the magic prime number 23? Germany was in the midst of hyperinflation and there was a 7.9 earthquake in Tokyo that killed 140,000 people.

For music, 1923 brought enormous innovations!

There were three pioneering and significant events:

1) Arnold Schoenberg founded his theory of twelve-tone composition. It is one of the most influential music-historical developments in 20th century Western music.

2) The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM – IGNM) was officially founded in London. Béla Bartók, Paul Hindemith, Arthur Honegger, Zoltán Kodály, Darius Milhaud, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Maurice Ravel, Ottorino Respighi, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky and Richard Strauss were among the founding members.

3) The first German broadcasting  “Funk-Stunde Berlin”, went on the air. The Radio Symphony Orchestra of the MDR in the same year and RSO two years later are established.

1923 marked the beginning of widely accessible broadcasting of classical and new music, which was now available in every living room! It is no overstatement to say that this amounted to a cultural revolution. The worldwide musical landscape has changed completely since then.

Literature specialist Prof. Dr. Christine Frank has organised an elaborate lecture series at the FU in Berlin.

 Scientists and artists will be facing with the question of whether there are parallels from the past to current societal problems and the economic

 consequences of climate change, pandemics and the war in Ukraine.

 If so, the possible effects of this crisis will be considered.

In this context, If so, then we will look at the possible effects of this crisis.   

I take part in a panel discussion on 19 April.