Thomas Sanderling, the conductor, was asked by Dmitri Shostakovich to give the German premieres of his Thirteenth and Fourteenth Symphonies after Shostakovich heard him conduct.
Composer Biography
Karl Weigl, the composer, was born in Vienna in 1881 and was the son of a bank official and an art-appreciating mother.
Compositional Technique
The Fifth Symphony begins with a theatrical gesture where musicians tune on stage, and the conductor cues three trombones and a tuba positioned on a raised platform.
Composer Biography
Weigl worked under Gustav Mahler, the renowned composer and conductor, at the Vienna Opera as a répétiteur and vocal coach, describing it as 'the most instructive period of my life'.
Historical Context
As a Jew and a socialist, Weigl suffered under Nazi cultural policies in the 1930s, leading to performances of his works drying up and his name being removed from publisher's catalogues.
Composition History
Weigl's Fifth Symphony, the 'Apocalyptic', was composed in 1945 during World War II and is inscribed 'in memory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt', who died in April 1945.
Composer Biography
Weigl studied composition with Robert Fuchs, who also taught Mahler, Wolf, Schreker, and Franz Schmidt, and musicology under Guido Adler, a fellow student of Anton Webern.
