German Symphony

Oh Germany, pale mother! In an impressive compositional process spanning 1935 to 1959, composer Hanns Eisler responded to contemporary German history and placed his musical work at the service of politics. From his Moscow exile, he wrote to his intellectual partner Bertolt Brecht in 1935: “I have a very interesting compositional plan, namely I want to write a large symphony, which will have the subtitle Concentration Camp Symphony .”