The anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is about as apt an occasion as any to ever so briefly commemorate this momentous event in German and European history.
On 9 November 1989, due to an administrative-political mishap, freedom of movement across the German-German border in Berlin was restored (see this clip).
A little later, one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, Leonard Bernstein, came to Berlin, Germany, to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra playing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Entitled ‘A Celebration of Freedom’, musicians and singers from both Germanies as well as musicians from France, the USSR, the UK and the US staged one of the most iconic pieces of prose and music of all times: Friedrich von Schiller’s ‘Ode to Joy’, but on that joyous occasion, that ‘poem that sings exultantly of the brotherhood of man’: ‘Alle Menschen werden Brüder’ (Every man becomes a brother, in William F. Wertz’s very good translation).
Note, in particular, the following statement by the TV presenter (at 1:09) in this recording available at Youtube.
‘For this performance…Leonard Bernstein feels authorised “by the power of the moment”, as he puts it, to make a significant change in the poem. Instead of the word “Freude” (Joy), the choir will each time sing “Freiheit” (Freedom), so this becomes in word as well as deed, the Berlin Freedom Concert.’
Spare a moment on this busy day to think about it.
Spare a little over twelve minutes (at 1:05:57 in the above recording) to listen to this ‘Ode to Freedom’.
Spare little over 93 minutes to take in the entire performance.
And then think about our present condition.
Where did we go from celebrating freedom and liberty to planet lockdown?
And, more importantly, how do we restore freedom and liberty?