Das brennende Herz (1929)

The young composer Georg Wittig has developed an ether-wave instrument that is set to revolutionize the music scene, enabling it to produce sounds beyond the capabilities of the human voice. While preparing for his first concert, he falls in love with the young singer Dorothee, whom he met at the cemetery. The young woman has just completed her vocal studies and, to support herself, performs at a second-rate cabaret called the “Odeon.” Ashamed of her poverty and her gigs at a cheap music hall, Dorothee tells Georg she works as a postal clerk. Out of pity, a real postal clerk, Inge Keller, covers for Dorothee’s white lie to Georg. Wittig quickly realizes that the young woman he has fallen in love with has a beautiful, clear singing voice, and asks Dorothee to sing at his upcoming concert. He has already dedicated his newly composed symphony, “The Burning Heart,” to her. Before Dorothee can perform, however, Wittig happens by chance one evening to enter the very nightclub where Dorothee entertains the unsophisticated audience night after night. He is following his foster mother, an alcoholic who has ended up at the “Odeon” while looking for a bottle of schnapps. In a mixture of anger and disappointment, he confronts the young artist, who is also being chatted up by a baron at the same time, and reproaches her harshly. They eventually fall out. Dorothee rushes outside, paying no attention to traffic. A car hits her, injuring her. Lying in the hospital, she waits in vain for Georg to visit. Meanwhile, the composer realizes why Dorothee had not told him the truth about her real circumstances: his foster mother had strongly advised her against it, the older Wittig admits. On the evening of Georg Wittig’s concert, when he is about to demonstrate the full tonal power of his ether-wave instrument for the first time, the maestro is extremely nervous. His strength is failing. Then the decisive concert solo begins. Dorothee’s voice rings out from the audience: she has secretly come to his performance, and her contribution makes both Wittig’s concert and his ether-wave instrument a resounding success.