Berlin - a frozen city warmed by good music...
Berlin 1970 - Nissman debuts
Wednesday, 28 January 1970, 8:00 p.m., Konzertsaal
Bundesallee 1-12
Recognized today as an outstanding concert pianist,
Barbara Nissman's first European tour was that of an unknown. She
would arrive on her own in a strange city, make her way to the concert
hall, pour her heart into her performance, and then find her own way to something to eat and
then exhausted sleep. On to the next stop the next morning, in many
cases. Her Berlin booking agent even spelled her name as "Nissmann"
in U-bahn interior car cards in the belief that more Germans would attend
if they thought she was German-American. Many of those attending
her Berlin debut were music students with complimentary tickets.
Nevertheless, even less musically-educated members
of the audience, including a colleague from G-2 Division of Berlin Brigade
and myself, recognized her strong start. We were charmed by the fire that
went into her performance. In the depths of an especially bitter
winter, it would have been easy for her to wonder what the heck she was
doing on this tour, with no guarantee of success. By staying home,
she could have headed into a comfortable career and domestic life.
For two GI's listening to her, aware of the strutting East Germans' seeming
"success" with the Berlin Wall, feeling forgotten at home due to the attention
paid to the war in Vietnam, knowing that our peers were getting established
in careers and home life, and with no guarantee of success in our military
mission, we could identify with her struggle for her music. For a
wonderful evening, we were all in a better world.
Here is the advertised program:
Klavier-Abend
Mozart - Adagio h-moll [B
minor]
Beethoven - Rondo a capriccio op. 129
Brahms - Sonate fis-moll op. 2
[F-sharp minor]
plus pieces by Franck, Chopin, Ravel, Debussy,
Liszt
Click here to find out what Barbara Nissman has accomplished since that cold night.
While this
young American's music career was beginning on the West side of the Wall,
another's was coming to a close on the East side.
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Berlin 1969.
