Music, War and Revolution

Season 1, Episode 3: “Music and Power”

The great seminal catastrophe of 1914 was not merely a historical upheaval for politics and society. Music had also lost its political innocence. But can music be political? Already in the 19th century, an increasing number of composers and musicians had started to adopt political agendas, and to this day many musicians position themselves politically. “Power and Music”, the series’ 3rd part embarks on a search for the political aspects of music, combining historical examples with the present. The film itself thus deals with various standpoints of music’s political moments and starts a dialogue with renowned artists such as conductor Valery Gergiev, Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero or the German-British cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, one of the last survivors of the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz.