s_p_o_c
posted a photo:
Artist: Gerhard Nordström
Title: They Loved Mozart, 1982-1984
Installation with Grand Piano, Portraits, etc.
Courtesy Ystads Konstmuseum
The picture was taken at Malmö konsthall in conjunction with an exhibition featuring works by Gerhard Nordström.
On the wall, next to the work, is the following text by Gerhard Nordström:
A grand piano is a musical instrument. On this instrument there are arranged a group of portraits depicting top leaders within the Third Reich. There is also a briefcase with an SS-uniform cap. Behind the grand piano hangs the portrait of Adolf Hitler.
During the war tribunal in Nürnberg after the Second World War it was made clear that these top Nazis all considered themselves irreproachable civil servants.
On the wall across from the grand piano there are a number of portraits of some of the millions of people who disappeared in the Nazi death camps. Some of the commandants of these camps confessed that not only alcohol but also music helped them to endure their loathsome handling. Among the prisoners of the concentration camps were some of the world’s foremost musicians and soloists. They were forced to be included in the orchestras that the Nazis put together in the camps and were made to entertain the commandants.
Executioners and victims were united in their love for Mozart. The Nazis were said to love music especially the Vienna classics. This installation is about this absurd meeting between executioners and victims in the world of music.