For my final project I chose to write this essay analyzing the piece Symphony No. 1 (In Memoriam Dresden, 1945) by Daniel Bukvich. There are several aspects that drew me to this piece. I originally heard this piece last summer at a concert performed here at UNI when I came to visit. I have always been intrigued by history and this song portrayed a very deep historical meaning. For this reason, I chose to analyze this piece not only musically but through a historical lens.
Imagine a horrible firestorm of death and destruction now imagine that scene put into music. This is exactly what Symphony #1 by Daniel Bukvich attempts to do. He uses music in a way to portray a picture that many of us cannot even imagine. Hours of listening and studying
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The bombing of Dresden took place during the second world war between February 13 and 15, 1945. Prior to this time Germany had held a practice of bombing British cities to create chaos and to break the British Moral in hopes of forcing the British to surrender. This approach had not been successful up until this point. Both the allied and axis powers soon took up the bombing of industrial cities. The main goal of these bombings was for the most part to disrupt communication, and production of materials necessary for the war. The secondary objective was to disrupt moral of the people hoping that they would push back against the government pressuring them into surrendering. Dresden was a major cultural and geographical epicenter. During this time Dresden was a major center for refugees fleeing the on pushing Soviet Union. The bombing of Dresden helped to prove to the Soviet Union that the rest of the allied powers would support them with air support. However, the controversy of Dresden arises from the fact that the allied powers claimed Dresden was a major industrial center with major production centers for war goods. However, Germany claims that Dresden had no industry whatsoever. The issue arises that there is no definitive proof either way. The issue that arises from this is the claim that the allied powers bombed Dresden for the sole purpose of murder of citizens for morale reasons. In 1945 Dresden had become a major center for refugees fleeing from the Russian army. The bombing in theory would cause massive chaos among civilians disrupting troop advancements to and from the front. Either way the Bombing of Dresden was massively destructive killing many people. On the thirteenth two waves of bombers dropped bombs on the city. The first wave used high explosive to uncover the wooden frames to buildings. Once the wood was exposed a second wave of bombings used incendiary bombs to burn the wood. This
In this essay I will assess the significance of strategic bombing of Germany. I will do this by evaluating four key areas of the German war effort. This will include German and British moral, German economy, its effect on the outcome of the Eastern Front and the results of the preparation for D-Day. Overall allied bombing did not have a significant impact on the outcome of the war as for the majority of the war bombing techniques and technology were primitive and so had little effect. It only became a threatening tool latter on in the war, when the allies had effectively won.
When British and American forces raided the city with firebombs, Vonnegut and his fellow captives were saved due to their underground imprisonment. The bombing killed more than 135,000 people, most of whom were innocent civilians, more than the deaths of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. After the bombing, Vonnegut was given the morbid task of carrying the corpses from Air-Raid shelters, including women, children, and the elderly; dead from concussions, fire, or suffocation. In a letter to his father, Vonnegut described his job and the reaction of the locals, “Civilians cursed us and threw rocks as we carried bodies to huge pyres in the city,” (Boomhower). His distressing internment in Dresden not only furthered his anti-war sentiments, but also established a reoccurring theme in his books: the irrationality of government and the senselessness of war. Vonnegut saw the bombing of Dresden and the slaughter of innocents as wasteful and meaningless. He could not comprehend the purpose of destroying a “beautiful” and fully functional civilization (Wiswell 5). The annihilation of the city and lives of the innocent affirmed his views of war as a waste, and even lead to his feeling that, “civilization ended in World War I” (Vitale). This view indicated Vonnegut believed World War II was a meaningless act committed by the uncivilized.
In 1978, Daniel Bukvich composed a piece named “Symphony No. 1 (In Memoriam Dresden, 1945)”. The composition depicts the 1945 allied bombings of Dresden, Germany. Mr. Bukvich needed to compose a song for his master’s thesis dealing with contemporary notation, he chose to base it off of the bombings of Dresden. The four different movements describe four different stages of the bombings. Different sounds and notations are also used to recreate the setting of the panic and fear that was felt at the time.
Germany withdrew from the Geneva disarmament conference, which meant they refused to support a British proposal that air bombing be banned. Dresden was also a very important rail centre for moving troops, concentration camp prisoners and war material but it would be no good if the allies destroyed the buildings and factories, because if there will be, still human’s; they can rebuild it. The war factories of Dresden employed around 10,000 people, many of which lived in the very centre of the city.
The Allies endeavoured to damage German morale enough so that the troops did not want to fight against the Allies, and a future possible uprising against the Nazi Party. But to a large extent, this did not occur. This point deserves greater emphasis because it would beneficially alter the future for Germany and as Stalin said, ‘the only way to break German morale is by bombing.’ One main aspect of harm caused to morale is due to a distraught civilian population. In March alone 1942, there were 305,000 deaths, 1.8million homes destroyed and 20 million deprived of basic utilities from raids at Nuremberg, Lubeck, Augsburg and Munich. February 1943 saw the damaging bombing of Dresden whereby buildings were obliterated and over 150,000 civilians were killed. Likewise, on the 27th July 1943, Hamburg was bombed killing women, children and leaving 30,000 people for dead. People’s lives were forever changed, 5 million people were evacuated in 1942, water supplies were ruined when the allies dropped ‘dam-busters’ and many restaurants and services were closed. Despite greatly impacting the population, people continued to fight the war and get revenge on the Allies for what they caused which shows that the aim of disillusioning people from fighting for Germany. The mentality of the generals changed when 23% of the Luftwaffe
The technological developments that assisted bombing, the impact of bombing on the German economy, the impact of bombing on the German civilian morale and also the effects on the German war effort all help explain why the Allied strategic bombing of Germany during the Second World War was significant to quite a far extent. Each of the following paragraphs will analyse the impacts of the Allied strategic bombing on different aspects of Germany and also what factors assisted the Allied bombing campaign in creating a significant impact on Germany during the Second World War.
The bombing of Dresden was not the only campaign during World WarⅡ, there was the battle of Britain, night of the black snow, and the famous atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All theses sites were military targets that were threatening to the opposing side. Each one was planned but not to the best ability, which caused many accidents and problems within the campaigns. Due to all the accidents and problems that were surfaced, civilians paid the biggest priced including deaths, destruction and etc. This is the main component of the antiwar sentiment in Slaughterhouse-five, humans do not see the consequences of their actions after they are done. The linear time that humans follow make it harder to see the existence as a whole. Which is
The symphony is in four very powerful and entertaining movements. The first movement begins in the pianissimo tone with the strings section, but quickly enters the fortissimo tone with the introduction of the woodwind, brass and percussion sections. The dynamics of the musical melody varies throughout the movement moving from crescendo to decrescendo modes. The first movement reminds you of a raging storm from soft blowing winds to thunder and lighting. The audience is mesmerized by this first movement of the sonata.
The main occurrence in the novel was the nonsensical bombing of the culturally enriched and beautiful city in Dresden, Germany. On February 13, 1945 amidst World War II this city was attack
Many people were baked alive in this raid. About 873 bombers were bombing the German city. Dresden did not have any military or industrial targets that opposing countries would have wanted to destroy; it became known as a terror bombing by the British because it was not a target. The raid caused many unwanted deaths and destroyed a small city. The casualties that occurred in these events would not have happened if it were not for the new and improved aircraft.
Thesis: Wolfgang Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor has been admired and analyzed numerous times. Although it has been criticized by many, I believe deeply interpreting this piece will aid in a better understanding of the music during the Classical
For my first paper, I chose to write about Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6 conducted in Rome by Claudio Abbado in F Major. I chose this symphony based on the description of the symphony which is a program symphony that transfers the listener to an outdoor setting. I had not listened to Classical music since taking music class back in the sixth grade, but I am almost certain we covered Beethoven’s symphonies. Upon hearing the first fifteen seconds of the piece, I was transported back into both my middle school class and a setting where I felt like I was actually immersed in most of the feelings described in Beethoven’s words of his symphony. The symphony is a Sonata form which we learned is work written as absolute music written for a specific combination
Most of the fighting remained limited only to the armies and concerned harbours and munitions sites. Although events like the Allied bombing of Dresden, a two-day raid by almost 2,400 bombers that destroyed the city and perhaps killed 135,000 civilians broke this condition and could be seen as not justified, the overall causes and results proved to be justifiable (Bitesize 2). The first world war ended with an unjustifiable cause, causing mistakes in the aftermath of the war, and lead to the second world war. The power Hitler obtained from the Nazi party before World War II allowed him to desire world domination and thus, he could not be stopped. World War II brought the most casualties compared to any other war in history, however, its results prevented another world war from breaking upon
When the performance will upcoming, no one walk around, no one to eat and chat, no one use the cell phones. On the stage, performers were wearing black clothes and shoes. They debug with instruments by themselves, or sit quietly wait for the show to start. And then the conductor makes a short description about the performance. As for this concert paper I would like to focus on Symphony No. 1 in C Major. It was Beethoven 's first symphony genre works, and linking the romantic and classical styles. It built in 1800. The main melody is based on the flute and oboe. The first movement is Adagio molto - Allegro con brio. Beginning with slow teases. The first theme of a dance, vice theme is beautiful oboe and flute repartee. After the beginning, the melody change to powerful and variation. It only a little of melody do not have harmony. In general, violin and viola play first, and then it will add flute and oboe. The second movement is Andante cantabile con moto. It is built around a simple theme of the sonata allegro musical form of development and expansion. There are a lot of decorations in main theme. The third
After a minor wobble of the director stand, a few adjustments and giggles, Symphony No.1 in D major began. The first movement started off with an eerie introduction, with the first two notes morphing into a birdcall as well as main theme but a very magical sound. It made for a very soothing, romantic time. Throughout the piece I felt as if it told a story as most music does, what I came to believe it was a love story. The Allegro begins in the cello with the second Wayfarer song, “Ging heut morgen Ubers Feld,” (I Walked this Morning over the Field). With a light and happy tone in the beginning as if two lovers had just met, this was the main theme of this movement. Suddenly there was a deep, heavy part maybe one of despair in paradise but that only lasted for a short period as it came to a victorious ending of happily ever after. (Kahn)