View source for Miserae

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'''''Miserae''''' is a [[symphonic poem]] by the [[Germans|German]] [[composer]] [[Karl Amadeus Hartmann]].

Composed in 1933–34, it was written in response to the plight of (and dedicated to) those who died in the first [[Nazi]] [[internment camps]]. As the title suggests (''miserae'' is [[Latin]] for 'wretched' or 'miserable') the work reflects not only Hartmann's [[humanism|humanist]] credentials but his early awareness of what was starting to happen in Germany at the time.

The dedication on the autograph manuscript reads

<blockquote>My friends, who had to die a thousand times over, who sleep for all eternity – we shall not forget you.<ref>Quoted by Andreas Jaschinski (trans. C. Williams), liner notes to EMI CD 5 56468 2 (1997)</ref></blockquote>

The work lasts around fourteen minutes. Cast in four brief sections, the two outer sections are quiet, lyrical passages. The two interior sections are quasi-march pastiches, almost parodying [[goose-stepping]].

It was premiered at the 1935 festival of the International Society for New Music in [[Prague]], where it was chosen as the opening work.<ref>http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/collections/moldenhauer/2428130.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> The conductor was Hartmann's mentor and champion [[Hermann Scherchen]].

Until 1950, Hartmann used several titles for ''Miserae'', including 'Symphonische Dichtung', Symphony No. 1 and ''Symphonie Miserae'', until he withdrew it. Before then, it had rarely been performed owing to Hartmann's ambivalent attitude towards the relevance of his pre-[[Second World War|war]] works. What had been an earlier Cantata for alto and orchestra ultimately became his [[Symphony No.1 (Hartmann)|First Symphony]] in 1955.

==References==
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{{Karl Amadeus Hartmann}}
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[[Category:1934 compositions]]
[[Category:Compositions by Karl Amadeus Hartmann]]
[[Category:Symphonic poems]]