Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on the Precipice

January–May 2024

The centerpiece of Carnegie Hall’s 2023–2024 season is a powerful exploration of one of the most complex and consequential chapters in modern human history: Germany’s Weimar Republic of 1919–1933. Even with a progressive new constitution and the adoption of democracy, Germany emerged from World War I into a period of overwhelming economic hardship, social inequality and unrest, political polarization, and extremism. These challenges paved the way for the opportunistic rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, ultimately leading to the outbreak of World War II and the horrific devastation and genocide that followed.

Yet despite the turmoil and upheaval of the Weimar period, the arts and culture flourished as artists sought bold and innovative avenues for creative expression and sociopolitical commentary. At the same time, a thriving and decadent nightlife provided desperately needed escapism from the struggles of daily life, becoming an essential part of the social fabric.

Join us on a thought-provoking journey through artistic movements in classical music, jazz, cabaret, opera, art song, and more as we investigate the forces that led to the fall of the Weimar Republic— and the many lessons about the fragility of democracy that can be gleaned from its extraordinary collapse.

PART OF: FALL OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC, DANCING ON THE PRECIPICE

This podcast was inspired by Carnegie Hall’s 2022 citywide Afrofuturism Festival.