Konzerthausorchester Berlin

Joana Mallwitz, conductor; Hans Werner Henze Sinfonia N. 9

Musikfest Berlin – Schriftzug Musikfest Berlin

Hans Werner Henze was an avowed antifascist. His Symphony No. 9, a harrowing memorial to fascism and war – an “apotheosis of terror and pain”, which he described as the “summa summorum” of his creative works –, was created out of his preoccupation with the Nazi past of Germany. Originally composed in response to a commission by the Berliner Festwochen, this “poetic drama without scenic action” can now be experienced during the anniversary year of the Berliner Festspiele, additionally marking the centenary of the birth of the composer who died in 2012. Joana Mallwitz will be conducting the Konzerthausorchester Berlin alongside the Rundfunkchor Berlin.

“My Ninth Symphony” Hans Werner Henze affirmed “is focused on the German homeland – as I can recall it as a young man, both before and during the war.” Instead of singing of “schöner Götterfunken” [“beautiful spark of the gods”], the work invokes the “reckoning with a despotic and unpredictable world which was turning on us” at a time “of horror and persecution” – and is also an “expression of overwhelming reverence” for those “who displayed resistance during the period of Nazi terror” (Henze). Right from the first movement of this symphonic monument with texts by Hans-Ulrich Treichel based on the novel Das siebte Kreuz [The Seventh Cross] by Anna Seghers, focusing on the escape of seven inmates from a concentration camp, audiences are transported into the nightmarish situation of individuals “pursued by dogs and the SS” (Henze). The bleak, violent and breathless music communicates an unabating fear of death which soon develops into agony and powerlessness. The choral symphony illustrates an entire palette of the horrors of war, persecution and destruction – even though the percussion in the relentless march Bericht der Verfolger [The Persecutors’ Report] should be reminiscent “of the sounds of a (police) office typewriter (operated by an amateur)”. Henze’s Symphony No. 9, premiered by the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1997 during the 47th Berliner Festwochen, is dedicated to the “heroes and martyrs of German antifascism”. At this year’s Musikfest Berlin, Joana Mallwitz will be conducting the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Rundfunkchor Berlin – which will be taking on this challenging choral part as in the first performance of the work.

Hans Werner Henze (1926–2012)   

Sinfonia N. 9 (1995–97) 

for mixed chorus and orchestra

text by Hans-Ulrich Treichel after the novel Das siebte Kreuz by Anna Seghers

Dedicated to the heroes and martyrs of German antifascism

Commissioned by Berliner Festwochen in 1997

I The escape 

II With the dead 

III Report of the persecutors 

IV The plain tree

V The plunge 

VI The night in the cathedral

VII The rescue

Artists/Collaborators: Rundfunkchor Berlin, Florian Helgath (Einstudierung), Joana Mallwitz (Leitung)

An event by Konzerthaus Berlin in cooperation with Berliner Festspiele / Musikfest Berlin

Work introduction

19:10, South Foyer

Next date:

• Date Friday, 04/September/2026 20:00
• Venue Philharmonie Berlin
• Address Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1, 10785 Berlin-Tiergarten