Listening for the Intimsphäre: Recovering Berlin 1933 through Hans Pfitzner’s Symphony in C-sharp Minor

On 23 March 1933 Hans Pfitzner’s Symphony in C-sharp Minor, Op. 36a, an orchestral transcription of his String Quartet, Op. 36 (1925), was premiered in Munich. The concert took place during the very early weeks of the Nazi administration, coinciding with the date the Enabling Act was passed, when Adolf Hitler’s political powers became total. A week later, on 30 March, it was performed again by the Philharmonic Orchestra in Berlin. This article tells the story of that second performance at the Philharmonie, a concert where the effects of new Nazi policy and persecution could be felt in an immediate way, and yet one that has completely slipped from our historical consciousness....