Schubert in Warm Mitte

Gazing at the partially blind mirrors in the Mirror Hall of Clärchens Ballhaus. Luisa Splett is playing Schubert for the Sunday morning concert.

This prolific composer was one of fourteen children and of humble background. His Wandern (walking/searching journey) ended at age 31. He wrote his last compositions while being consumed by syphilis in a freezing room...

It is Christmas now and the roses and cherry blossom are in full bloom in Berlin. Birds announce spring. White xmas can be viewed on screen.
The ubiquitous under floor heating of Mitte is keeping all 150m² penthouses at a controlled heatwave temperature. Cosy open fire places in these dwellings recreate the smog of yesteryear. Tropical orchids linger behind windows. The sound ecology is building sites, roaring cars and screaming children.

Humanity's journey or more appropriately race to the bottom is no longer at a wandern/ walking tempo, but is fossil fuel powered.

Berlin Boulevard 'Under the Stumps'

Berlin's centre strip Unter den Linden ("under the linden trees/ Under the Limes) is a boulevard (images) in the heart of the city. The middle strip was once lined with 2000 Linden. Flâneurs enjoyed to wander along the scent of the lime blossom.

Today 54 of the healthy, 60 year old trees are being given the chop. Between Komischer Oper (Glinkastraße) and Staatsbibliothek/ Berlin State Library (Charlottenstraße) fossil fuel machinery is moving in. Per tree it takes them 25 minutes to fell the ancient giants.

Why? The new underground railway U-Bahnlinie 5 is being built there, 20 metres deep The new Berlin building site will go on until 2019

After construction finishes in 2019, the 54 trees will be replaced with 8 to 10 year old trees (Tilia pallida), each costing 108,000 Euro.

There was apparently no protest.

Sources:
Images, Berliner Zeitung
Erste Bäume am Lindenboulevard gefällt, rbb news
Unter den Linden fallen die Linden, Focus online
Berlin's iconic boulevard Unter den Linden ("Under the Limes") have suffered under increasing temperatures recently. Spiegel
Unter den Linden boulevard trees are being killed by traffic fumes, The Telegraph 2001
European lime trees, Kew
Ja, Freund, hier unter den Linden kannst du dein Herz erbaun,.. Briefe aus Berlin. 1822, Heinrich Heine,

Music:
Der Lindenbaum by Franz Schubert, Winterreise , Prof. Scot Weir, tenor, Folkwang Gitarren Duo, video

Image:
Corinth, Lovis Berlin, Unter den Linden 1922 via Zeno

Zeitkunst - Chamber Music and Contemporary Literature

The Festival Zeitkunst für Kammermusik und Gegenwartsliteratur (Contemporary art, chamber music and contemporary literature) is on. An ensemble of chamber musicians actors and authors perform music and texts for two days in Villa Elisabeth, Mitte.

The delightful Ardeo Quartet's performance of György Ligeti: String Quartet Nº 1 Métamorphoses Nocturnes was stunning. (Video)
Bela Bartók was performed by Christoph Ehrenfellner, Sergey Malov

The multilingual texts seem to concern themselves with mental states, family and existential orientations ("Dasein", "Befindlichkeit"). Ubiquitous offspring and prams lingered through the texts . Zeitgeist Mitte?

Update: 7 pm session:
Arnold Schoenberg and unintentional sounds of a toddler sounded incompatible.
Christoph Ehrenfellner, Gustav Mahler and and Anton Webern were performed passionately well.

The collaborate team effort of all and the place provided a good ambiance.

Clearing Berlin Mitte 07 - 08

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More eradicationg trees in 2007

History walk in Berlin, Dorotheen Graveyard

A walk in a graveyard in Berlin, Mitte (the middle of Berlin):
History has its presence there:
The philosophers Fichte, Hegel and Marcuse
The writers Brecht, Mann, Seghers, and actor Weigel
The musicians/composers Dessau, Dohnanyi, Eisler
The German resistance fighters Bonhoeffer and Dohnanyi
The visual artist fighting Nazi Germany with political collages: Heartfield
The industrialist Borsig and the inventor of the ubiquitous free-standing cylindrical advertising columns all over Berlin, Colonne Morris: Litfass
The agriculturist Hartig inventing sustainable forest management in 1790.
And many others

The Dorotheen Graveyard is in Chausseestr.126 next to the Brecht-House/Restaurant (smoky) and opposite the Borsig-house. There is a pleasant, well-kept atmosphere in the place.

Logging Berlin (Mitte) continued...

Unfortunately more of the same: More trees have to go: Weinberg Park,(stumps in 'protected public green space': 080407, trees go whilest more space is privatised) Tieck str.,Acker Str. (2 stumps in front of new development).

Disappearing trees, grave and ambience...Berlin/Mitte

Once there was a green park with sculptures reminding of violence against the Jewish population in Grosse Hamburger street, Mitte. In 1943 the Gestapo ordered the destruction of the cementery. Moses Mendelsohn rested at the park entry. Now the Mendelsohn grave-stone and most mature trees have disappeared.