"I Only Felt Pity For Them"; Christoph von Dohnányi Talks About The Nazis Who Murdered His Father

Christoph von Dohnányi talks to Norman Lebrecht about the sham Nazi trial that sentenced to death his father Hans, jurist, Resistance fighter, rescuer of Jews, Righteous Among the Nations.

Maestro von Dohnányi, in that charming accent of his, also spoke to Uncle Normy about lighter subjects: his grandfather playing for Brahms, his first job in music, his invitation at Bayreuth by Wieland Wagner ("I would never go back... this family business is disgusting for me"), Georg Solti's character, Fritz Reiner being a d0uche, Lenny on Mahler ("He is an end, not a beginning", he told CvD), George Szell ("He was a teacher, people don't like teachers very much"), about having the "education" to resign from an orchestra post to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest (quite lollersome by today's standards!), about how a forte is not a fortissimo and if you play it as forte people will think you're boring, and the notion of success in the music world ("If you make a lot of money, people think you're great").

Three days left to listen (or, you know, download the podcast) so hurry up.

Comments

[A Real Cad]

Good man. A gentleman of Old Europe, a dying breed. They went to the right schools, were brought up by the right nannies, hung out with the right people. Wonderful education, flawless manners. Now you're lucky when younger conductors don't scratch their a$$ crack in public.

[coccodrillo]

He banged Anja Silja when she was young, you know. Respect.

[dze]

LOOOOhohohoOOOL! @ coccodrillo's comment

[Renee]

What a beautiful interview. What an impressive, honest man of true nobility. Thanks for posting the weblink, OC!

I so hope he will preserve his painful and authentic knowledge of Nazi- and wartime Germany in a written memoir for younger generations.

For those among us who grew up in freedom and democracy, a first-hand account like that would open up a true window into a dark time in Central Europe not long ago, where it was life-threatening to do the right thing, and where parents could not speak their true minds in front of their own children, for fear of political persecution. Even listening to a foreign radio station was high treason punishable by death, for crying out loud!

For now I hope that a written transcript of this interview will be made available somewhere. (Tried to download the podcast, but failed miserably.)