‘We finished every bottle!’ Berlin's cultural legends on the night the Wall came down
‘The joy and energy was unforgettable’
Daniel Barenboim, pianist and conductor who has lived in Berlin since 1991 and is leader of the Berlin State Opera and its Staatskapelle orchestra.
I happened to be in Berlin recording Così fan tutte with the Philharmoniker. The day after the Wall fell, the orchestra asked if I would do a concert with them on Sunday morning, 12 November. I said yes, on two conditions: it must be free and only for citizens of East Germany.
When I arrived at the hall for a short rehearsal, thousands of people were queueing. Some had arrived at 4am. We played Beethoven’s first piano concerto and seventh symphony and the Così fan tutte overture. The joy and energy of those people and the orchestra was unforgettable. It was much more than an appreciative audience of a wonderful orchestra.
Afterwards, there were a lot of people backstage but I needed to get ready for the next recording session. As I said goodbye, I noticed a lady of about 60 leaning against a wall with a young man of about 30. I asked if I could help her. She shyly gave me a bunch of flowers and thanked me. “I have something to tell you,” she said.
This woman had got married 30 years earlier in East Berlin and had a son. But her husband fled to the west with their baby and she had had no contact with him. She had lit a candle every night. But the day before the concert, a man knocked at her door. “It took me quite a few seconds to realise that he was my son,” she said. They came to the concert to celebrate their reunion. It touched me enormously. I told her I would invite her to come any time I played or conducted in Berlin. She said: “No, Mr Barenboim. I don’t need an invitation. I will just be there.”
After the concert, the Staatskapelle orchestra asked if I would be its director. One
