Fifth Symphony

Music piece by:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Testimony by:
anonymous
Experience in:

I like all classical music, particularly Beethoven and Mozart. I listen to it all day on Radio Esperanza, on the bus I drive. The passengers like it.

But listening to classical music reminds me of what happened in prison and it produces a short circuit in me.

When we were in the prison yard, the loudspeakers would play Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and other pieces of classical music which I have trouble identifying.

I think that perhaps there was a subliminal message behind the use of these works. I see it as a form of intimidation, perhaps because of the dark and dense atmosphere that this music can sometimes have.

In fact, when I listen to it, it reminds me of movies and images about the Jewish Holocaust.


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Published on: 13 January 2018


Related testimonies:

  • Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)  Luis Madariaga, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1974 - 1976

    In prison, we would sing the 'Ode to Joy' when a comrade was released or sent to exile.

  • Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)  Amelia Negrón, Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 31 December 1975

    Preparations for that Wednesday night became more intense. It would be a different night. We women prisoners had secretly organised ourselves, but more importantly, we had also coordinated with the male prisoners.

  • Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)  Renato Alvarado Vidal, Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, 1975

    Once upon a time, there was a good little wolf. … No. That’s another story.

  • Sinner, come to sweet Jesus (Pecador, ven al dulce Jesús)  anónimo, Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, September 1973

    One time, a group of male and female evangelicals came to Teja Island to preach. They were taken to the visitors’ yard.

  • Three White Lilies (Tres blancos lirios)  Domingo Lizama, Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, 9 October 1973

    They arrested me at my workplace in October 1973 . I was 31 years old and worked as a porter at a logging business in Chumpullo, near Valdivia.