In studies of memory politics in post-war Germany, the role that music played in responding to the Allied bombing of Dresden on 13–14 February 1945 has been overlooked. This article examines one of the first musical reactions to this traumatic event: Rudolf Mauersberger's mourning motet Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst (How Deserted Lies the City, 1945). I argue that Mauersberger, who served as cantor of the world-famous Kreuzchor from 1930 until his death in 1971, used allegory rather than testimony to formulate a response to the firebombing that resonated with historical customs familiar to the city's residents. When premièred in the bombed-out Kreuzkirche, Mauersberger's music provided a communal setting to confront the effects of the air war, transforming a space of destruction into one of contemplation and mourning. Both his compositional process and the performance transformed rubble (the material aftermath of the attack) into a ruin (an aesthetic object).

中文翻译：

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德累斯顿的音乐遗迹

在战后德国的记忆政治研究中，音乐在应对 1945 年 2 月 13 日至 14 日盟军轰炸德累斯顿时所起的作用被忽视了。这篇文章探讨了对这一创伤性事件的第一个音乐反应：鲁道夫·莫尔斯伯格的哀悼颂歌Wie liegt die Stadt so wüs​​t(这座城市多么荒凉, 1945)。我认为，从 1930 年到 1971 年去世期间一直担任举世闻名的 Kreuzchor 的指挥员的毛斯伯格使用寓言而不是证词来制定对与城市居民熟悉的历史习俗产生共鸣的燃烧弹的反应。Mauersberger 的音乐在被炸毁的 Kreuzkirche 首演时，提供了一个公共环境来对抗空战的影响，将破坏的空间转变为沉思和哀悼的空间。他的作曲过程和表演都将瓦砾（袭击的物质后果）变成了废墟（审美对象）。