bauhaus music weekend 2023

About the bauhaus music weekend

Bauhaus and music – a combination only few have fully appreciated. And yet, the first guest event at the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1919 was dedicated to music, and many more musical performances followed. When the school opened its doors to the public for the first time in 1923, music played a significant role. Famous composers like Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith and Ferrucio Busoni were invited to the five-day Bauhaus Week in Weimar in 1923 to witness the performance of their works which opened the exhibition.

With its interdisciplinary research project bauhaus music, the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung has been exploring the relationship between the Bauhaus and music since 2021. On 22–24 September 2023, it will present its initial findings during the bauhaus music weekend. To mark the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus Week, a series of concerts, talks, guided tours and a workshop concert will reveal how music influenced the atmosphere of the Bauhaus and how it became a normal part of everyday life among Bauhaus students and staff. The programme focuses on the musical pieces performed in 1923: Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, Hindemith’s The Life of Mary and Busoni’s Work for Piano. The event will also feature music by members of the Bauhaus, e.g. Stefan Wolpe and other prominent musical figures who visited the school, such as Kurt Weill, Paul Arma and the American composer Ruth Crawford Seeger.

The bauhaus music weekend 2023, directed by Michal Friedländer, Karl-Heinz Steffens and Kai Hinrich Müller in cooperation with the Neuer Musikverein Berlin, is made possible with special funding by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. It marks the start of a three-year event series on the topic of the Bauhaus and music.

Ticketing
You can purchase tickets to the events of the bauhaus music weekend through the ticketing system. Participation in the workshop concert and tours is free of charge, please book a free ticket in advance.

Programme
You can download the program booklet for the bauhaus music weekend here.

Friday, 22 September 2023 at the temporary bauhaus-archiv

Workshop concert
12 pm – 1:30 pm: Arnold Schönberg: Pierrot lunaire
In collaboration with alumni of the Barenboim-Said Akademie

Tours
in cooperation with Ticket B

2 pm – 4 pm: Bauhaus-Archiv and Cultural Forum
5 pm – 7 pm: Bauhaus-Archiv and Cultural Forum

Saturday, 23 September 2023 at Meistersaal

Concert 1
3 pm – 4:15 pm: Musical opening and welcome (Annemarie Jaeggi)

Stefan Wolpe: Music for Molière’s ‘The Hypochondriac’
Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, BWV 1051
Paul Hindemith: Chamber Music No. 1 op. 24, 1

The works of the composers Stefan Wolpe, Johann Sebastian Bach and Paul Hindemith serve to represent three of the most important aspects related to musical life at the Bauhaus: a connection with the stage as well as an affinity for the music of the Baroque master and the musical avant-garde of the Bauhaus’s own time. An intriguing programme that introduces us to the musical world of the famous school!

Talks & Music
5 pm – 5:40 pm: Musicians at the Bauhaus
Annette Schwarzer and Kai Hinrich Müller in conversation with Katrina Schulz

5:40 pm – 6 pm: Closing piece featuring Stefan Wolpe’s Works for Piano
Michal Friedländer (piano)

Concert 2
7 pm – 8 pm: Igor Stravinsky: The Soldier’s Tale

Igor Stravinsky’s Tale of the Soldier (L’Histoire du soldat, trans. into German as Geschichte vom Soldaten) could also be heard at the 1923 Bauhaus Week. It is centred around a soldier who trades his violin to the devil for a book that promises wealth. He succeeds in this but does not find happiness. On the contrary, in the end he finds himself bound by a pact with the devil, although Stravinsky leaves the final outcome open. The composer and his music were not unknown at the Bauhaus, as can be recognised in the works of Bauhaus student Heinrich Neuy or in the emphatic statement of architect Max Bill: “picasso, jacobi, chaplin, eiffel, freud, stravinski, edison etc. actually also belong at the bauhaus.”

8 pm: Meet & greet

Sunday, 24 September 2023 at Meistersaal

Concert 3
3 pm – 4:15 pm: Recital: Works by Ferrucio Busoni, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Paul Arma and Johann Sebastian Bach

Piano music could also be heard during the 1923 Bauhaus Week, including works by the composer Ferruccio Busoni, who travelled there in person with his students. The pianist Egon Petri played Busoni’s Toccata: Preludio – Fantasia – Ciaccona, BV 287, his Perpetuum mobile, BV 293 and the first three of his Five Pieces to Cultivate Polyphonic Playing, BV 296 as well as his Prélude et étude en arpèges, BV 297. The piano recital with Matan Porat sets out from this starting point and combines a few of these works with other piano music connected with the Bauhaus – for example music by Paul Arma or Ruth Crawford Seeger who, after visiting Dessau, wrote enthusiastically about the school as a place of freedom.

Talks & Music
5 pm – 5:40 pm: The Bauhaus Week from 1923
Astrid Bähr in conversation with Kai Hinrich Müller

5:40 pm – 6 pm: Closing piece featuring Alma Mahler’s Songs
Tehila Nini Goldstein (mezzosoprano), Michal Friedländer (piano)

Concert 4
7 pm – 8 pm: Paul Hindemith: The Life of Mary (extracts)
Lieder by Kurt Weill and Stefan Wolpe

Paul Hindemith’s The Life of Mary is based on an eponymous series of poems by Rainer Maria Rilke. It is one of those works which exist in a twilight realm of musical history: we know it, on the one hand, but we also hear it far too infrequently – in any case, this song cycle played at the 1923 Bauhaus Week is among the 20th century’s most important. The bauhaus music weekend will feature excerpts from the original version of 1923, combined with contemporary works by Stefan Wolpe and Kurt Weill, who also attended the Bauhaus Week.

8 pm – 9 pm: Finale featuring jazz by the Bauhaus band

Not only classical but also popular music and jazz played a role in the musical culture surrounding the Bauhaus. This is exemplified by the Bauhaus Kapelle (ensemble). Founded around 1923, various members of the Bauhaus belonged to it. Centred around popular music, including dance music, that featured a great deal of improvisation, the group was also known beyond the confines of the school. While no recordings have been preserved, it is possible to reconstruct basic features of their music with the help of other sources. The 2023 bauhaus music weekend will conclude by providing an initial glimpse inside the ensemble’s repertoire and the jazz music of its time.

Artistic directors

The bauhaus music weekend is directed by Michal Friedländer, Karl-Heinz Steffens and Kai Hinrich Müller in cooperation with the Neuer Musikverein Berlin.

The pianist Michal Friedländer made her debut at Carnegie Hall at age 15 with a piano trio at the invitation of Isaac Stern. Chamber music and accompaniment have remained the focus of her multifaceted career ever since. Born in Geneva and raised in Israel, she studied at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem under Benjamin Oren and Ilona Vince-Kraus. She later completed her studies under Patricia Zander at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Michal Friedländer has regularly performed as a soloist with orchestras in Europe and Israel.

Karl-Heinz Steffens received his musical training at the Stuttgart University of Music. In 2000 he was chosen as the solo clarinettist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2008 Steffens made his official debut as conductor of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. In December 2009 he was appointed head conductor of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Rhineland-Palatinate. Under his direction, the orchestra received numerous awards, including the ECHO Klassik for Best Orchestra. In 2016 he was appointed musical director of the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. From 2019 to 2022 he served as musical director of the Prague State Opera. In 2019 Steffens was presented with the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his outstanding musical achievements.

PD Dr Kai Hinrich Müller is a member of the Institute of Historical Musicology at the University of Music and Dance in Cologne. He received numerous fellowships, earned his PhD in 2013, followed by his habilitation in 2022. As a recipient of the Thomas Mann Fellowship, he will take up residence at the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles in late 2023/early 2024. He heads various research projects in Germany and abroad, including Musica non grata and bauhaus music. He has served as artistic director of the Terezín Summer Academy at the former Theresienstadt concentration camp since 2021.

Venues

the temporary bauhaus-archiv
The temporary bauhaus-archiv is located in Haus Hardenberg, a historical landmark constructed in 1955 - 1956 by the architect Paul Schwebes. Today, it is considered one of the most extraordinary office buildings of modernist architecture built in post-war West Berlin. The temporary bauhaus-archiv is currently operating as an interim venue and project space while the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung is being renovated and expanded. It offers a varied programme of exhibitions and educational events on the collection of the Bauhaus-Archiv and current design, architectural and social issues. As we await the grand opening of the new museum, we remain engaged in dialogue with our audience and regularly test new formats for our future activities.

Meistersaal
The Meistersaal is the centrepiece of the Greater Berlin Builders’ Association building, constructed in 1913 at Köthener Straße 38. The name “Meistersaal” (Master Hall) refers to the ceremony held there when finishing tradesmen received their master craftsman certificates. In the 1920s the Meistersaal assumed greater artistic significance. George Grosz’s gallery opened for business on the ground floor, along with the Malik Verlag, which hosted a reading by Kurt Tucholsky in the Meistersaal in 1921. Today, the location is legendary, not least of all for Hansa Studio 2 which operated there in the 1970s. This is where David Bowie wrote “Heroes” and U2, Iggy Pop, Depeche Mode and Nick Cave produced their music.

Please note:

- Tickets cannot be cancelled.
- The tickets are not personalised.
- There are no seating reservations; you may choose your seats freely.
- Tickets can only be purchased online; neither venue sells tickets on site.
- The bar in the Meistersaal only accepts cash; payment by card is not possible.
- Filming and photography will take place during all events.

Also keep in mind that the Berlin Marathon will be taking place on 24 September 2023, which means that some streets around the venues may be closed over the weekend.