Lecture Recitals: "Persecution and Rediscovery"
and other events
2024
(166) 21. September 2024 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Werner-Otto-Saal
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Celebrated as jazz musicians, defamed as Jews: the Weintraubs Syncopators
Exactly 100 years ago in Berlin Charlottenburg a band was formed which quickly became one of the most famous and successful Jazz bands in Germany during the Weimar years: the Weintraubs Syncopators. They excelled as a many-sided and versatile ensemble with a good gift for comedy. They also appeared on the cinema screen, e.g. in "The Blue Angel". Because several of the band members were Jewish they all left Germany in 1933. Their long odyssey finally brought them to Australia.
Pieces written for the Weintraubs Syncopators have been newly reconstructed for this occasion.
Moderation: Wolfgang Jansen. Guests: Christine Bruinier (Aachen) and Michael Fisher (Zurich), descendants of two Weintraubs musicians, and Albrecht Dümling, author of the book "Mein Gorilla hat 'ne Villa im Zoo" (con brio, 2022).
Clarinet & alto sax - James Scannell
Clarinet & tenor sax - Hannes Daerr
Trumpet - Tomás Medina
Trombone - Till Künkler
Piano - Sebastian Weiß
Bass - Fabian Timm
Drums & Arrangements - Hauke Renken
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14.-16. June 2024: Music as resistance against the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia". Three Czech composers who suffered Nazi persecution
In March 1939 German troops took over what was left of the Czech Republic after the Munich Agreement and Hitler named the region "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia". Allegedly, this meant that the Third Reich would protect the country. In fact it deprived its inhabitants of many rights. Most severely it affected the Jews. Jewish musicians were banned from their profession and some time later they were forbidden even to own a musical instrument. The assasination of Reinhard
Heydrich was the most sensational act of resistance. In a more secret way, there was also resistance amongst musicians. This was demonstrated in our four concerts, featuring three different composers.
Kindly supported by: Deutsch-Tschechischer Zukunftsfonds,
Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung and Bareva Foundation
Co-operation partners: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche Berlin
and Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library)
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14. June, 18 h: Concert for organ and choir in Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, Berlin
Leoš Janáček: Solo for organ from Glagolitic Mass
Miloslav Kabeláč: Two Fantasies for organ, Op. 32 (1958)
Four Preludes for organ, Op. 48 (1966)
Six Choruses after Jiří Wolker, Op. 10 (1939-42) and Lullaby (1945) -
World premieres
Petr Eben: from Musica dominicalis (Sunday music) for organ: III. Moto Ostinato - IV. Finale
Sebastian Heindl, organ
Male chamber choir ffortissibros; Benedikt Kantert, conductor
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(163) 15. June, 15 h, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Wilhelm-von-Humboldt-Saal
Lecture recital featuring Rudolf Karel (1880-1945)
Rudolf Karel was part of the political resistance movement. In 1943 he was arrested and he died as a prisoner in the Gestapo prison in Terezín small fortress.
Píseň svobody (Song of Freedom), Op. 41a
Ivo's aria from the opera Ilses Herz, Op. 10 (1906-09)
Tema con variazioni, Op. 13 for piano (1910)
Song cycle In the Glow of the Hellenic Sun (1921),
Lyrics: Josef Svatopluk Machar
Pankrácký valčík (Pankrác waltz), Op. 42c for piano
Pankrácký pochod (Pankrác march), Op. 42a for voice and piano
Žena, moje štěstí (A spouse, my happiness), Op. 41b
Jan Dušek, piano; Ondrej Holub, tenor
Albrecht Dümling talked with Magdalena Živná
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(164) 15. June, 18.30 h, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Wilhelm-von-Humboldt-Saal
Lecture recital featuring Petr Eben (1929-2007)
Petr Eben was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp because of his part-Jewish ancestry. After the war, he returned to Czechoslovakia and became one of the country's leading composers.
Elegy and Toccata from Suita Balladica
for cello and piano
Biblical Fresco
Saul bei der Prophetin in En-Dor
for violin and piano
String quartet Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart
Martinů Quartet: Lubomír Havlák and Adéla Štajnochrová, violins / Martin Stupka, viola / Jitka Vlašánková, cello
Robert Kolinsky, piano; Markéta Janoušková, violin; Simone Drescher, cello
Bettina Brand talked with David Eben
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(165) 16. June, 11 h, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Wilhelm-von-Humboldt-Saal
Lecture recital featuring Miloslav Kabeláč (1908-1979)
Miloslav Kabeláč had studied with Alois Hába and Erwin Schulhoff. He had already been a successful composer when he was banned from his profession because his wife was Jewish. Between 1939 and 1942 he composed six pieces for male chorus on poems by Jiří Wolker which had strong political implications, and several chamber pieces.
Two pieces for violin and piano, Op. 12 (1942)
Music for a Puppet Show for violin, cello, and piano (1944)
Lullaby for violin and piano (1944)
Movement for violin, cello, and piano (1944)
Movement for violin and piano (Slow) (1944)
Sonata for cello and piano, Op. 9 (1941-1942)
Markéta Janoušková, violin; Simone Drescher, cello; Robert Kolinsky, piano
Stefan Lang talked with Elisabeth Hahn
(162) 11. April 2024 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikclub
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"Les portes de la nuit" - the composer Joseph Kosma (1905-1969)
Kosma's most famous song is
Autumn Leaves, in French:
Les feuilles mortes. It could be heard in the movie
Les portes de la nuit, sung by Yves Montand.
Joseph Kosma was born in Budapest, he studied with Béla Bartók and became a proponent of modernism. While living in Berlin he joined the circle around Eisler, Brecht and Weill. In 1933 he emigrated to Paris. He co-operated with the poet Jacques Prévert and together they were formative for the
chanson of their time. During the war under German occupation, Kosma composed music for films, while his name didn't show up in the credits but instead those of some of his friends.
Stefanie Wüst, soprano
Christopher Arpin, piano
Krisztian Palagyi, accordeon
Habakuk Traber talked with Prof. Manuela Schwartz
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation
(161) 11. January 2024 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikclub
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Maria Herz (1878-1950) - Composer between Germany and England
Maria Herz, pianist and composer from Cologne, emigrated to England already around 1900 because of strong anti-semitic tendecies in Germany. In England she organised concerts, sometimes also performing her own music. When WWI broke out she happened to be in Cologne. It was meant to be just a visit but because of the war she could not return, and even after the war she stayed in Germany. When her husband died in 1920 she had to struggle to earn a living but nevertheless resumed composing. For some time she studied with Philipp Jarnach.
In 1935 she fled to England for the second time.
Four Little Pieces for string quartet, Op. 5
String quartet, Op. 6
Asasello Quartet: Rostislav Kozhevnikov and Barbara Streil (violins), Justyna Sliwa (viola), Teemu Myöhänen (cello)
Albrecht Dümling talked with Albert Herz (the composer's grandson) and Heinrich Aerni (Zentralbibliothek Zurich) and Christiane Silber (conductor, Berlin).
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation
2023
(160) 9. November 2023 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikclub
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"A life without compromises". The composer and cellist Joachim Stutschewsky (1891-1982)
"A life without compromises" - that's the title Joachim Stutschewsky gave to his memoirs which have not yet been published.
He was born into a family of Klezmorim in what is now Ukraine, playing the violin from early childhood, but as a teenager he took up the cello. In the 1920's he was a founding member of the Kolisch Quartet and thus stood in the center of the musical avant-garde. He also was the key person in the society for the promotion of Jewish music ("Verein zur
Förderung jüdischer Musik") in Vienna. In 1938 he fled to Palestine. There however he gained little recognition for his uncompromising commitment to Jewish music. In his own music Stutschewsky amalgamated the traditional Klezmer tone with, in places, modernist stylistic elements.
Schir Jehudi / Jewish Song (1937)
Andante religioso (1942)
M'chol kedem / Oriental Dance (1923)
Four Jewish dance pieces for piano (1929)
Israeli Suite (1942)
Joel Blido, cello
Jascha Nemtsov, piano
Jascha Nemtsov talked with Walter Labhart
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation
(159) 26. October 2023 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikclub
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Repeatedly uprooted - the Polish-Jewish composer Jerzy Fitelberg
Jerzy Fitelberg (1903-1951) was born in Warsaw. His father was the conductor and composer Gregorz Fitelberg. Jerzy F. studied in Berlin with Franz Schreker and quickly became one of the most successful young composers in the German capital. He was also connected internationally. His string quartet No. 2 war performed at the ISCM festival in Geneva in 1929, his second violin concerto in Vienna 1932. Also in later years his music was performed at the ISCM festivals several times.
In 1933 he emigrated to Paris and in 1940, just in time before Paris was occupied by the Germans, he fled to New York. He became a citizen of the United States in 1947. In 1951 Jerzy Fitelberg died in New York. 5 string quartets have major importance in Fitelberg's varied, mostly instrumental oeuvre.
String quartet No. 1 (1926)
from String quartet No. 4 (1936): Theme, excerpts from variations No. 1-6, Coda
from String quartet No. 5 (1945): 2. movement
Tema con variazioni and 3. movement
Vivace
Fitelberg Quartet (Krakow): Aleksander Daskiewicz, Nikola Frankiewicz, Paweł Riess, Jakob Gajownik
Gottfried Eberle talked with Christoph Slowinski
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation
(158) 15. June 2023 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikclub
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Bronislaw Huberman - Violinist and campaigner for a united Europe
Bronislaw Huberman (1882 - 1947) started an early international career as a violinist at age 11. He was born in Czestochowa in the Russian Empire (now Poland). The outbreak of WWI meant a great shock to him. He campaigned for the unification of Europe which he considered the only way to achieve peace. Later he made great efforts to rescue German Jews from Hitler. He was influential in founding an orchestra in Palestine which later turned into the world-famous Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
The program of our concert included pieces which had been regularly performed by Huberman. His own violin playing was heard on historical records with music by Schubert, Brahms and Sarasate.
Johannes Brahms: Scherzo c minor WoO 2 (1853, from FAE-Sonata)
Niccolò Paganini: Caprice No. 24, arr. for violin and piano by Karol Szymanowski
Max Bruch:
Kol Nidre (arr. by Huberman)
Ludwig van Beethoven: Andante con variazioni from sonata in A Major, Op. 47 ("Kreutzer sonata")
Judith Ingolfsson, violin
Vladimir Stoupel, piano
Albrecht Dümling talked with Harald Eggebrecht and Habakuk Traber
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation
(157) 19. May 2023 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikclub
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Prodigy, enfant terrible, early completed - the fantastic story of Polish-Jewish composer André Tchaikowsky
André Tchaikowsky has been known mainly as a pianist. Among connoisseurs, his performances of Bach, Chopin and Ravel were legend. When his opera "The Merchant of Venice" received its posthumous world premiere at Bregenz Festival in 2013, people began to recognise Tchaikowsky the composer, too.
He was born Robert Andrzej Krauthammer in Warsaw in 1935. At the age of 5 he and his mother were forced to live in the Ghetto. She perished in the Holocaust, but the boy survived thanks to his daring grandmother, who provided a false identity and secret hiding places for him. After the war, he kept his acquired name Czajkowsky.
Artur Rubinstein, among others, promoted him in the first years of his career as a pianist. Over the years, Tchaikowsky put more and more effort into composing. He produced a small number of impressive works which show some influence from the Second Viennese School and which are steeped in virtuosity, subtle irony and deep melancholy. He died of cancer in London in 1982 at the age of 46.
Sonata for clarinet and piano
Inventions for piano op. 2, No. 1-8, 10
Seven Sonnets of Shakespeare, No. 2, 4 und 5
Katarzyna Wasiak, piano
Ania Vegry, soprano
Ruben Staub, clarinet
Peter Sarkar talked with Frank Harders-Wuthenow and Katarzyna Wasiak
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation
(156) 23. March 2023 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikclub
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Ursula Mamlok and Black Mountain College. To the composer's 100th anniversary
When Hitler came to power in 1933, the multidisciplinary art school "Bauhaus" was forced to disband itself. Many of its former members followed an invitation to the newly founded Black Mountain College in Asheville (North Carolina). From 1944 BMC offered summer classes. Quite a number of the music instructors were immigrants, e.g. Ernst Krenek, Eduard Steuermann, Heinrich Jalowetz, Stefan Wolpe, and the violinist Rudolf Kolisch. The composer Ursula Mamlok (1923 - 2016) who had been born in Berlin, visited the first of these summer classes. There she composed her "Three Part Fugue", under Krenek's supervision. Our concert is dedicated to Mamlok to commemorate her 100th anniversary.
Music by Ursula Mamlok:
Three Part Fugue for piano (1944)
The Birds Dream Six Short Pieces for piano (1944)
Variations for flute solo (1960)
Ernst Krenek: 3. Sonata for piano op. 92/4 (1943), movements 1 and 4
Roger Sessions:
From my Diary for piano (1937-1940)
Stefan Wolpe: Part 1 from
Piece in Two Parts for flute and piano (1960)
Klaus Schöpp, flute
Holger Groschopp, piano
Bettina Brand talked with Habakuk Traber
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation and Dwight und Ursula Mamlokstiftung
(155) 12. January 2023 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikclub
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A survivor from Warsaw. The composer and conductor René Leibowitz
René Leibowitz (b. Warsaw, 1913 - d. Paris, 1972) was one of the key personalities in 20th century music, as a conductor, composer and music theorist. For a short while he lived in Berlin before moving on to Paris by the end of the 1920's. There he met Rudolf Kolisch, who introduced him to the performance style of the Second Viennese School. Erich Itor Kahn taught him the principles of dodecaphony and Paul Dessau conducting. Dessau had also fled to Paris. The three men formed a close partnership which is mirrored in several pieces they dedicated to each other. During the German occupation in France, Leibowitz tightened his ties to Schönberg.
Music by René Leibowitz:
Deux Mélodies (after Fr. Hölderlin and H. v. Kleist),
Piano sonata, Op. 1 (1939)
Picasso-songs, Op. 9 (1943)
Trois poèmes de Georges Bataille (1962)
Trois Études Miniatures for piano, Op. 64 (1965)
Songs on poems by Carl Einstein, Op. 80 (1967).
Paul Dessau:
Guernica for piano (1938) - dedicated to René Leibowitz
Erich Itor Kahn: Bagatelle for piano (ca. 1940) - dedicated to René Leibowitz
Peyee Chen, soprano
Jan Marc Reichow, piano
Albrecht Dümling talked with Walter Nußbaum
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation
2022
(154) 9. November 2022 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Werner-Otto-Saal
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Genius and modesty - Ignace Strasfogel in Berlin and New York
Ignace Strasfogel was born in Warsaw in 1909. He grew up in Berlin and showed extraordinary gifts as a musician early on.
Franz Schreker took him as a student of composing at the age of 14. Strasfogel also joined Leonid Kreutzer's piano master class, and he studied conducting with Julius Prüwer. For 2½ years he worked at Berlin State Opera, but in 1933 he was dismissed. In December 1933 he found a new home in the United States and he was lucky to find a good position: He joined the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as Official Pianist (1935-1945). 1946 he made an attempt to re-establish himself as a composer, but he didn't get any response. Thus he continued to work chiefly as répétiteur and conductor, at Metropolitan Opera (1951-74) and later in Strasbourg. Only in 1983 he began to compose again, after 35 years of silence. In 1991 Kolja Lessing initiated Strasfogel's re-discovery as a composer.
Duet for Violin and Piano (1991, dedicated to Kolja Lessing and Rainer Klaas)
Prélude and Elegie for guitar (1946) from:
Prélude, Elegie and Rondo for guitar (dedicated to Andrés Segovia)
Rondo (Variations) for piano (1988/89)
Variations on a Well-known Tune (A Child's Day) (1946, dedicated to Ian Strasfogel)
Franz Schreker:
Wiegenlied der Els (from the opera
Der Schatzgräber),
Piano transcription by Ignace Strasfogel (1926)
Performers:
Kolja Lessing, piano
Daniella Strasfogel, violin
Johannes Monno, guitar
Kolja Lessing, Ian Strasfogel and Johannes Monno talked with Peter Sarkar.
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation
(153) 22. October 2022 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Werner-Otto-Saal
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"... I owe Webern my purpose in life ..." - The composer Philip Herschkowitz
As a private tutor he was most sought after - in the 1980's his apartment in Moscow became a place to go for musicians like
Elisabeth Leonskaja, Dmitri Smirnov or Elena Firsova.
Philip Herschkowitz was born in Iași (Romania) in 1906. After finishing his studies at the conservatory in his home town he moved to Vienna. Anton Webern made a huge impression on him in those years in Vienna. After the Austrian
"Anschluss" in 1938, the Romanian authorities refused to let him move back into his country under the pretext that he was a Jew who had been living abroad. The following odyssey brought him as far as Tashkent. After the war, he settled in Moscow.
Since his music didn't conform to the doctrine of "Socialist Realism", he was nearly completely excluded from public musical life. He had to earn a living giving private lessons. Finally, in 1987, he was allowed to move to Vienna, but a few months later he died there. Most of his compositions have never been published.
Arnold Schönberg:
Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19
Ph. Herschkowitz:
Klavierstücke in vier Sätzen (1969)
Anton Webern: Sonata for cello and piano (1914)
Ph. Herschkowitz: Three pieces for cello and piano
Elena Firsova:
Two Inventions for flute solo (1977)
Dmitri Smirnov:
The Music of the Spheres, Op. 86 for piano (1995)
Elena Firsova:
Meditation in the Japanese Garden, Op. 54 for flute, cello and piano (1992)
Elisabeth Leonskaja, piano
Ulrike Anton, flute
Friedemann Ludwig, cello
Elisabeth Leonskaja, Ulrike Anton and Elena Firsova talked with Bettina Brand.
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation and by ExilArte (Vienna)
(152) 26. May 2022 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Kleiner Saal
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Escape in the very last moment: Hans Heller (1898-1969), a pupil of Franz Schreker
The German-Jewish musician Hans Heller could no longer pursue his career as a pianist when he got injured in WWI. Thus he decided to become a composer. He studied as a private pupil with Franz Schreker. He made quick progress, as can be seen in his piano sonata, written in 1926 for the pianist Inge Eichwede who later became his wife. Together they escaped the Nazi regime to Paris. Here Heller composed a couple of major works, despite unsatisfactory living conditions. When France fell under German rule he was interned and coerced to forced labour. In the very last moment he escaped being deported to a termination camp. After the war the Hellers lived in the US but returned to West Berlin in 1955.
Piano sonata Op. 3 (Berlin 1926)
Vom kleinen Alltag op. 8. Four songs after Anton Wildgans (Berlin 1930)
Les Aveugles (Charles Baudelaire) for mezzo-soprano and piano (Paris 1938)
Little Suite for piano (New York 1951)
Performers:
Jascha Nemtsov, piano
Tehila Nini Goldstein, soprano
Albrecht Dümling talked with Wolfgang Eichwede, the composer's nephew, and Jascha Nemtsov
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation
(151) 10. March 2022 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Kleiner Saal
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The Austrian Victor Urbancic's (1903-1958) key role to Iceland's music scene
When Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, Victor Urbancic tried in vain to emigrate to Switzerland or the US. In his desperation he took a post in Iceland. In the end he stayed there for the rest of his life. In these 20 years he played an important role in different fields of music in Iceland, e.g. by conducting the first opera performances at the newly founded National Theatre of Iceland. Through his teaching he formed a full generation of Icelandic composers.
From Trio A major (1921):
movements no. 1 and 5
Selection of songs:
Elisabeth, 3 poems by Hermann Hesse, Op. 8 (1936)
"Ebene im Vorfrühling", "Ist alles zu lernen" and
"Blume auf dem Acker meines Herrn" on lyrics by Melitta Grünbaum/Urbancic
Performers:
Trio Magos
Maxi Hennemann, clarinet
Sebastian Hennemann, cello
Goun Kim, piano
Kristín E Mäntylä, voice
Manami Honda, piano
Melina Paetzold talked with Sibyl Urbancic, the composer's daughter
This concert was supported by Bareva Foundation
(150) 6. January 2022 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus Berlin, Kleiner Saal
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Ödön Pártos - one of the founders of Israeli art music
Ödön Pártos, born in Budapest in 1907, studied with Jenö Hubay (violin) and Zoltán Kodály (composition). At the age of 20 he moved to Berlin. There he founded a string quartet ensemble. Being Jewish, he didn't get any concert engagements from 1933. Thus he enrolled as concertmaster of the newly founded orchestra of the "Kulturbund Deutscher Juden". Bronisław Huberman invited him to join the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, so Pártos played solo viola in this orchestra from 1938 to 1956. Composing was of equal importance to him. In his music Pártos intended to merge European avantgarde with oriental tonality.
Yizkor (in memoriam) for viola and piano (1946)
Trauermusik (Oriental Ballad) for viola and piano (1955)
Agada for viola, piano and percussion (1962)
Kina for viola solo (1973).
Performers:
Itamar Ringel (viola), Thomas Hoppe (piano), Henrik Magnus Schmidt (percussion)
Habakuk Traber talked with Albrecht Dümling.
This concert was supported by:
2021
(149) 22. October 2021 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Grunewaldkirche Berlin-Wilmersdorf
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Ernst Bachrich (1892-1942) - a strong voice in the 2. Viennese School
The Second Viennese School was a cornerstone within the multitude of musical tendencies of the 1920's. The Schoenbergians did share some fundamental beliefs but they were individualists nevertheless. Ernst Bachrich, who studied with Schoenberg 1916-19, was one of them. In the following years Bachrich played a vital role in Schoenberg's "Society for Private Musical Performances" (as pianist and secretary). As a composer of songs, chamber and piano music he found his own voice. He conducted at the Vienna Volksoper and later (1928-32) in the Rhineland. In 1932 he returned to Vienna and contributed to the city's musical life as pianist, conductor and co-organiser of the concert series "Musik der Gegenwart". In 1938 he was blacklisted but he continued composing and promoting his music. He was deported to Izbica Ghetto (Poland) in May 1942 and killed in Majdanek concentration camp a few weeks later.
Psalm op. 10,1 (Lyrics: Emil Arnold Holm)
Osterblüte op. 10,2 (Greta Bauer-Schwind)
Portraits: Three piano pieces op. 6
- Vivace impetuoso
- Lento con abandono
- Improvisation on an American folk tune
L'Angelus (folk tune from Brittany)
Three songs op. 3
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Bestimmung (Christian Morgenstern)
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Schlummernd im schwellenden Grün (Friedrich Hebbel)
-
Winter (Theodor Däubler)
Piano sonata op. 1
Die frühen Verse op. 15 (Melodrama, Emil Arnold Holm)
Anna Christin Sayn, soprano
Alexander Breitenbach, piano
Frank Harders-Wuthenow, Anna Christin Sayn and Alexander Breitenbach talked with Peter Sarkar
Supported by the Harald Genzmer Foundation
(148) 10. September 2021 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Grunewaldkirche Berlin-Wilmersdorf
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A difficult legacy: the Czech-German composer Hans Winterberg (1901-1991)
After WW I the Austro-Hungarian Empire broke apart and in 1918 the Czchoslovak Republic was founded. 9 million Czechs ans Slovaks and 3 million Germans lived within its borders. Not all of them wanted to become Czchoslovak citizens. Viktor Ullmann remained Austrian, whereas Hans Wintergberg's family chose the Czech citizenship, although they were Jewish and spoke German. In 1944, Winterberg was divorced from his non-Jewish wife and subsequently he was deported to Terezin. After the war he settled in Bavaria. Peter Kreitmeir, the composer's grandson, talked with Albrecht Dümling about Winterberg's difficult legacy and the recent rediscovery of his music.
Adagio from piano sonata No. 1 (1936)
Theresienstädter Suite 1945 for piano
Sonata for cello and piano (1951)
From
Impressionistic Suite for piano (ca. 1973):
1. Prestissimo leggiero molto
2. Con moto moderato (alla gondoliera)
Performers:
Adele Bitter (cello) and Christophe Sirodeau (piano)
Peter Kreitmeir talked with Albrecht Dümling
Supported by the Harald Genzmer Foundation
(147) 10. Mai 2021 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Ballhaus Walzerlinksgestrickt, Berlin-Kreuzberg
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Irma and Stefan Wolpe's Odyssey
This concert is available on youtube:
[
https://youtu.be/QxcqacIKBQU]
The composer Stefan Wolpe, born in Berlin, was endangered in three ways after the transfer of power to the National Socialists in 1933: as a Jew, communist and composer of degenerate music.
His wife Irma Wolpe Rademacher was one of the most important interpreters of his compositions. She performed in Bucharest, Berlin, Paris and Palestine and was internationally highly regarded. Both were active members of the left-wing cultural organisation "Novembergruppe". The couple lived in Berlin until March 1933, when the Nazis made a large-scale raid. Being Jewish, Irma was aware of the danger. Her political foresight and her network saved her husband's and her own life. The odyssey of their escape took them through Cheb (Czechoslovakia), Bucharest, Vienna and Zurich, as far as to Jerusalem, and finally to New York. In our days both musicians are little noticed in the music history.
This concert has been dedicated to the memory of
Austin Clarkson (*1932 - 13. March 2021). He was musicologist, professor at York University, Toronto, and chairman of the Stefan Wolpe Society. He had studied with Wolpe and became his friend. Clarkson dedicated his life to editing and analyzing Wolpe's music.
Music by
Stefan Wolpe
Tango for Irma (1927) for accordion
from:
Cinque marches caractéristiques op. 10 (1928-1934) (piano)
- Andante tranquillamente / Marcia Funebre / Vivo e sereno
from:
Two Songs for Alto and Piano from the Song of Songs op. 24 (1937)
- Smolo Tahat Roshi (His left hand is under my head)
"If it be my fate" (1938) Hebraic: from Rachel; English: Hilda Morley
"Epitaph" (1938) Hebraic: anonymous; English: Hilda Morley
Palästina-Notenbuch (piano/accordion), 1939
- Turque
- Yemenite dance No. 1
- Yemenite dance No. 2
- Yiddish wedding
- Lullaby
- Hora
from:
Two Pieces for Piano (1941): Con fuoco
from:
Toccata (1941), dedicated to Irma Wolpe:
Too much suffering in the world
Form IV (1969) for piano
Ursula Mamlok: Variations for flute solo 1961
Performers:
Irmela Roelcke, piano solo
Brynne McLeod, mezzo-soprano
Klaus Schöpp, flute solo
Ina Henning, accordion
Moderation: Bettina Brand
Guest: Nora Born, expert and editor of the correspondence between Irma and Stefan Wolpe
Kindly supported by:
Dwight und Ursula Mamlok-Stiftung [
www.mamlokstiftung.com/]
Stefan Wolpe Society
[
www.wolpe.org]
and our hosts
Ulrike and Jojakim Balzer [
https://walzerlinksgestrickt.de/kultur]
(146) 10. April 2021 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Ballhaus Walzerlinksgestrickt, Berlin-Kreuzberg
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"Text und Musik von mir". Willy Rosen (1894-1944), cabaret artist, pianist, composer.
This concert is available on youtube:
[
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i0nORz7p88]
Willy Rosen was born in Magdeburg, his name at birth was Wilhelm Julius Rosenbaum. As a solo entertainer at the piano he travelled all round the world. In 1924 he settled in Berlin and performed in various theatres, finally ending up in the "Kabarett der Komiker". When he was banned from the stage in 1933 he started peforming together with Max Ehrlich in the Jewish Cultural Association (Jüdischer Kulturbund). He emigrated to the Netherlands and founded there the "Theater der Prominenten" in 1936. He was deported to Terezín in 1944 and killed in Auschwitz.
Ensemble Zwockhaus: Maria Thomaschke and Andreas Jocksch, voices
Nikolai Orloff, piano
Timofej Sattarov, accordeon
Volker Suhre, double bass
Winfried Radeke (dir.) and Klaus Völker (guest expert).
2020
(145) 6. October 2020 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Werner-Otto-Saal
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Ruptures in the history of the Julius-Stern-Institute. Julius Stern's 200. anniversary
170 years ago, the Musikschule für Gesang, Klavier und Komposition (Music school for voice, piano and composition) was founded in Berlin. Julius Stern was one of the founders. In 1857 the institution was renamed Stern'sches Konservatorium. Stern also founded the choir Stern'scher Gesangverein, which together with the court orchestra (Königliche Kapelle) had its first appearance 1851 at the "Schauspielhaus" (which is nowadays Berlin Konzerthaus).
In 1935 Stern'sches Konservatorium was "Arianised" by ejecting all Jewish teachers and students. Some of them then founded the Jüdische private Musikschule Hollaender on their own premises. There Ruth Schonthal, Ursula Mamlok and other gifted youths could continue their musical education, even in the field of composing.
Julius Stern: Variations op. 42 on Sanctissima! - Sizilianisches Schifferlied
Simon Zhu, violin; Klemens Elias Braun, piano
Ruth Schönthal: "Manchmal" and "Eine rote Rose" from Wildunger Liederzyklus
Julius Stern: "Tröstliche Verheißung" and "Dein auf ewig" from Gesänge für hohe Stimme op. 26
Aiko Christina Bormann, soprano; Maria Rumyantseva, piano
Ursula Mamlok: From My Garden
Elias Sturm, viola
Erwin Schulhoff: Sonata for flute and piano, 1st movement
Dascha Schuster, flute; Maire-Claire Indilewitsch, piano
Bettina Brand talked with Prof. Anita Rennert and Dr. Cordula Heymann.
(144) 10. September 2020 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Werner-Otto-Saal
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Toch, Hindemith, Ullmann. Nazi-persecuted composers and their publisher Schott music
Quite a number of composers who were published by Schott were hit by the persecutive measures against musicians of Jewish descent. For example, Ernst Toch lost his income because his music would not be performed any more in Germany. Like him Paul Hindemith was driven into exile.
In his talk with Albrecht Dümling Peter Hanser-Strecker explained how his long-standing publishing house reacted to the pressure from the Nazi regime and why, later, they made an effort to publish and to distribute Viktor Ullmann`s music.
Ernst Toch: The Juggler for piano solo, op. 21 (1923) and four songs from: Neun Lieder op. 41 (1928)
Paul Hindemith: Sonata for Oboe and piano (1938)
Viktor Ullmann: Abendphantasie after Friedrich Hölderlin for Soprano and piano (1943) and first movement of Piano sonata No. 6, op. 49 (1943).
Performers: Anna Maria Pammer (soprano), Viola Wilmsen (oboe) and Holger Groschopp (piano).
Albrecht Dümling talked with Peter Hanser-Strecker
(143) 20. February 2020 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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A multi-talented musician: Ingolf Dahl (1912-1970)
In the music community of Los Angeles everybody knew Ingolf Dahl, who was a composer, pianist and conductor. But only his wife knew his true identity: He was Jewish German and his birth name was Walter Marcus. Dahl was born in Hamburg and studied with Philipp Jarnach in Cologne. He became assisting conductor at Zurich Stadttheater at the age of 26. In 1939 he emigrated to Los Angeles. There he became one of the formative personalities in the avantgarde music scene. As professor at the University of Southern California he gave lectures on Igor Strawinsky, on music for film and radio et al. Michael Tilson Thomas coined the phrase "musicians' musician" for his teacher Dahl.
Sonata Pastorale (1959) for piano
Divertimento for Viola and piano (1948)
Five Duets for Clarinets (1970)
Carolin Krüger, viola
Imke Lichtwark, piano
Melina Paetzold and Vanessa Klöpping, clarinets
Melina Paetzold talked with Volker Ahmels
2019
13./14. December 2019
Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung Berlin, Curt-Sachs-Saal
Symposium and concerts
Torso eines Lebens. Gideon Klein (1919-1945), composer and pianist
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Symposion
Friday, 13. December 2019, 14-18 h and
Saturday, 14. December, 10-18 h
Lectures with David Fligg, Wolfgang Rathert, Paul Schendzielorz, David Vondracek, Lubomir Spurny, Jascha Nemtsov, Michael Beckerman, Lukas Michaelis, Beatrix Borchard, Wolfgang Rüdiger, Gottfried Eberle, Albrecht Dümling, Winfried Radeke.
"Gideon Klein. Portrait of a composer" for three speakers and string quartet (EA). Original texts and music, arranged by David Fligg
Friday, 13. December 2019, 20 Uhr
Speakers: Blanche Kommerell,
Carolin Kipka and Robin Bohn
Music by Klein, Mozart, Janáček and Hindemith, performed by Martinů Quartet.
Concert containing chamber music, songs, madrigals and the piano sonata by
Gideon Klein
Saturday, 14. December 2019, 20 Uhr
Jascha Nemtsov, piano
Tehila Nini Goldstein, soprano
Martinů Quartett
Sara Saviet and Ernst-Martin Schmidt, Duo violin-viola
Vocal ensemble: Joachim Buhrmann, Susanne Langner, Anja Petersen, Hildegard Rützel and Andrew Redmond.
This
musica reanimata project is a collaboration with Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung Berlin and Martinů Quartet.
Kindly supported by
and
.............................................................
Media partner:
(142) 21. October 2019 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Edvard Moritz (1891-1974) and the saxophone - a search for traces
Eduard Moritz, son of a mearchant from Hamburg, settled in Paris at an early age to study with Louis-Joseph Diémer (piano) and George Enescu (violin). He resumed his tuition in Berlin with Georg Bertram (piano), Carl Flesch (violin) and Paul Juon (counterpoint). Moritz had a promising start: In 1919 the Berlin Philharmonic premiered his "Burleske" op. 9, conducted by Arthur Nikisch. His rise came to an abrupt halt when all his activities were confined to the "Jüdischer Kulturbund" after 1933. In 1937 he escaped to the US, but he had to start anew. Our lecture concert presented early piano pieces and works written for saxophonist Cecil Leeson in New York.
Four piano pieces op. 1 (1917)
Three Intermezzi for piano op. 12 (1918)
Sonata for E flat alto Saxophone and Piano op. 96 (1939)
Intermezzo for E flat alto Saxophone and Piano op. 103 (ca. 1940)
Christoph Enzel, saxophone
Holger Groschopp, piano
Albrecht Dümling talked with Christoph Enzel
(141) 12. September 2019 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Walking upright. Hanning Schröder - although defamed himself, he rescued a persecuted couple
Hanning Schröder and his wife Cornelia (born Auerbach), who had studied with Max Reger and who was the first woman in Germany to get a PhD in musicology, had common interests in music: neoclassicism, historically informed performance, music for amateurs and the working classes. The Nazis found justification to ban him from his profession in nothing more than his inclination towards the left. Schröder sent his Jewish wife and their daughter to the countryside, away from Berlin. Meanwhile, in his Berlin home, he gave shelter to a Jewish couple, who could therefore survive. After the war, the Schröders worked in the eastern part of Berlin but were cut off when the wall was erected. In his later days Schröder adopted the twelve-tone technique and he became a paternal friend of the network "Gruppe Neue Musik".
Sonata for violin and piano (1922)
"Letters" after Christian Morgenstern for Soprano and piano (1931)
Suite for piano (1927)
Excerpt from "Music for 4 Instruments in memoriam: Lied der Moorsoldaten" (1953)
Seven Miniatures for string quartet (1971)
Akos Quartet: Alexis Gomez and Aya Murakami, violins;
Théo Delianne, viola; Cyrielle Golin, cello
Yvonne Friedli, soprano
Fidan Aghayeva-Edler, piano
Nele Hertling, the composer's daughter, talked with Gottfried Eberle.
(140) 25. June 2019 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Stateless, chased, deported. The musicians Paul Hermann and Géza Frid
Our concert featured two Jewish Hungarian composers and instumentalists who studied with Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály: the cellist Pál Hermann (1902-1944, picture above) and the pianist Géza Frid (1904-1989, below). At first, each of them started an international career, but it was cut short when the Nazis came to power in 1933. Pál Hermann found refuge in Brussels and in Paris, but in 1944 he was interned in Drancy concentration camp and deported to a place somewhere in the baltic states, which were occupied by Germany at the time. Here his track gets lost. Géza Frid survived in a hideout in the Netherlands. After the war, he could continue composing and conducting. His son Arthur Frid and Pál Hermann's daughter Corrie Hermann gave testimony to their parents' life and work.
Paul Hermann: Andante for piano trio (1924); Allegro (1920) and Toccata (1935) for piano
Géza Frid:
Capriccio concertante for Flute and piano (1930), piano trio op. 27 (1947)
Eleonore Pameijer, flute
Burkhard Maiß, violin
Bogdan Jianu, cello
Andrei Banciu, piano
Arthur Frid and Corrie Hermann talked with Bettina Brand
Kindly co-funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands
(139) 21. February 2019 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Expelled from Frankfurt conservatory: Bernhard Sekles and Mátyás Seiber
Bernhard Sekles studied at Hoch's Conservatory in
Frankfurt, and later, in 1924, he himself was appointed director of the same institution. He inaugurated a class for jazz, which was taught by
Mátyás Seiber. One of the students in this class was Walter Würzburger. When the Nazis came to power, all three composers' careers where quickly disrupted.
Bernhard Sekles: Hafis-Songs op. 11, Suite for piano op. 34, Little Shimmy
Mátyás Seiber : Rhythmical studies, 2 Songs
Walter Würzburger: 2 jazz quartets for 4 french horns
Jascha Nemtsov, piano
Jörg Gottschick, voice
Horn quartet: Cristiana Neves Custódio, Rebecca Luton, Christopher Williams, Ricky Lee
Albrecht Dümling talked with Jonathan Wipplinger
(138) 10. January 2019 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Defamed as a forger: The violinist Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler was famous not only as a violinist, but also as a composer. With some of his pieces he played a game of camouflage and declared them rediscovered pieces by Couperin, Boccherini or Dittersdorf. The nazis blamed him for this, saying that he deliberately deceived the public. Harald Eggebrecht, author of the benchmark publication Große Geiger ("Great Violinists"), talked with Albrecht Dümling to explore the less well known sides of Kreisler's story. Judith Ingolfsson and Vladimir Stoupel played music by Kreisler and also Rachmaninov's sparkling arrangement of "Liebesfreud" for piano solo.
Judith Ingolfsson, violin
Vladimir Stoupel, piano
Albrecht Dümling talked with Harald Eggebrecht and Vladimir Stoupel
2018
(137) 4. October 2018 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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A new start after the "Anschluss"? Vally and Karl Weigl
After the Annexation of Austria in 1938, according to the racist law Vally and Karl Weigl were labelled "jewish".
They found refuge in New York. Until then, Karl Weigl's (1881-1949) music had received regular performances by famous conductors and ensembles.
While in exile, he continued composing, but did not succeed in starting a new career in the US.
Vally Weigl (1894-1982) composed with increasing intensity and created an extensive ouvre.
Vally Weigl:
New England Suite for flute, cello and piano
Bird of Life for flute
Karl Weigl:
Pictures from Childhood for flute and piano
Sonata in G for cello and piano
Rosy Wertheim:
Trois Morceaux for flute and piano
Performers: Ulrike Anton, flute
Friedemann Ludwig, cello
Russel Ryan, piano
Ulrike Anton talked with Bettina Brand
This concert has been supported by Karl Weigl Foundation (San Rafael, California) and Österreichisches Kulturforum Berlin:
(136) 13. September 2018 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Committed to Jewish music. The composer Hans Krieg in Holland
Hans Krieg was born 1899 in Haynau (Silesia, now Poland). He studied in
Leipzig and Berlin. In 1928 he moved to Breslau to conduct the choir at the synagogue and different workers' choirs. In 1933 he fled to Amsterdam,
but he was arrested in 1943, together with his wife and the two daughters
Susanne and Mirjam. They were deported to Westerbork and later to Bergen-Belsen. They were among the few survivors of the "Lost Transport" to Terezín which was liberated by the Red Army after a 13-day-odyssey through Germany. The Kriegs returned to the Netherlands. Hans Krieg made a career as composer, singer, choirmaster and musicologist.
He died in Amsterdam 26. November 1961. Mirjam Krieg became a prominent singer. She talked about her father and their shared experiences.
Preghiera for violin and piano op. 38 (1923)
Kennst Du das Land, wo die Kanonen blühn? op. 39/2
(Erich Kästner)
Ohne Himmel und Erde op. 41/2 (Hans Seiffert)
Ein unvollendetes Thema op. 39/5 (Christoffer Rex)
Purim-Ballade for piano (1937)
Tsaddik katamar op. 63 (Psalm 92, 13-16) (1936)
Een lied van heimwee op. 57/1 (Pieter G. Buckinx) (1937)
Waar bleven de Joden van ons Amsterdam (Lyrics and music: Hans Krieg 1947)
Jiskor for piano (1949/50)
Abendtrauer op. 8/1 (Stefan Zweig) (1946)
Suite for violin and piano (1948), 1. Satz: Adagio
Georg Streuber, baritone
Katja Kulesza, violin
Johanne von Harsdorf, piano
Mirjam Krieg, the composer's daughter, talked with Peter Sarkar
(135) 21. June 2018 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Werner-Otto-Saal
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Building bridges with music: The German-American composer Samuel Adler
Samuel Adler was born in Mannheim, his father was hazzan at the synagogue. At the age of ten he fled to the US in 1938. He came back to Germany in 1951, wearing the uniform of the US Army. He founded the 7th Army Symphony
Orchestra and contributed thus to the German-American reconciliation. Adler is one of the most prominent composers and teachers of composing in the United States. He was our guest in the year of his 90th birthday.
"Songs of Innocent Love" for soprano, violin and piano, on poetry by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (2016)
Sonata for violin and piano No. 4 (1989)
Choral Trilogy for choir and organ or piano (2012)
Sabine Goetz, soprano
Noah Bendix-Balgley, violin
Phillip Moll, piano
Vokalensemble sirventes berlin, conductor: Stefan Schuck, piano: Patrick Walliser
Albrecht Dümling talked with the composer.
(134) 3. May 2018 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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A Jew from Vienna in Buenos Aires: Guillermo Graetzer (1914 - 1993)
Musical life in both northern and southern America benefitted from the expulsion of Jewish musicians from central Europe, especially if they had the chance
to become fully integrated. This was the case with Wilhelm Grätzer (Guillermo Graetzer in Argentinia). He had studied with Ernst Lothar v. Knorr and Paul Hindemith in Berlin, and later with Paul Amadeus Pisk in Vienna. 1938 he fled, together with his close family, to Buenos Aires. He became an influential teacher and a well respected composer. His music encompasses different styles from Post-Hindemith to serialism.
No. 3 from 3 toccatas (1938) for piano
Grave for violin solo (1945)
5 bagatelas (1946) for piano
Sestina for violin and piano (1976)
Epitafio para J. J. Castro for clarinet and piano (1982)
Melina Paetzold, clarinet
Clemens Linder, violin
Holger Groschopp, piano
Carlos Graetzer (the composer's son, himself a composer) and Antonio Spiller (Argentinian born violinist) talked with Peter Sarkar
(133) 8. March 2018 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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"It was a beautiful fairy-tale - now it's over". Paul Abraham's (1882 - 1960) fate
Paul Abraham from Hungary spent just about three years in Berlin. In this short time he became the most popular composer of operettas, e.g. "Blume von Hawaii",
"Ball im Savoy", "Märchen im Grand Hotel", "Viktoria". When he fled from Nazi Germany he finally arrived at New York. But he could never gain ground in the US, he fell ill and became mentally deranged, a "tragical king of Operetta" - this is the title of Klaus Waller's biography on Abraham.
Ensemble Zwockhaus: Maria Thomaschke and Andreas Jocksch, voices · Nikolai Orloff, piano · Karola Elßner, saxophone · Sven Kalis, percussion · Volker Suhre, double bass
Winfried Radeke talked with Klaus Waller
This concert was sponsored by: GEMA-Stiftung
(132) 25. January 2018 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Pioneer for modern music in Sweden: Composer Hans Holewa (1905-1991)
When the proto-fascist Austrian government forbade the Social Democratic Party in 1934, Holewa lost most of his income, because he had been conducting Socialist choirs. So the reason for his flight to Sweden, long before Austria became part of Nazi Germany, was not due to his Jewish ancestry, but to politics. In Sweden Holewa had a difficult start, but later he made an impressive career as one of the country's foremost composers of modern music (mainly chamber and orchestral). Still, he is hardly known in Germany.
Three pieces op. 3 No. 1 for 2 violins (1931)
Suite No. 1 for violin and piano (1945)
Sonata for violin and piano (1985)
Duo Gelland: Cecilia and Martin Gelland, violins
Ute Gareis, piano
Albrecht Dümling talks with Michael Kube
2017
(131) 26. September 2017 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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From Saarbrücken to Tel Aviv. The composer Tzvi Avni (*1927)
Tzvi Avni (*2.9.1927), honorary citizen of both his birthplace Saarbrücken and his later home
Tel Aviv, is one of the most famous Israeli composers. Together with his parents he arrived there in 1935, fleeing from Nazi persecution. Now, at the age of 90, Tzvi Avni is still active in different fields: he is composing, teaching and building bridges between Israel and Germany.
Dedication for piano solo (2016), German premiere
Echoes From The Past for clarinet solo (1970)
Kol for violin solo (2011),
dedicated to Kolja Lessing
Gesharim (Brücken) for 2 violins (2004)
Kolja Lessing, violin and piano
Holger Koch, violin
Melina Paetzold, clarinet
Tzvi Avni talks with Bettina Brand and Kolja Lessing.
(130) 29. June 2017 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Oscar Straus - from "Überbrettl" to Hollywood and back
The composer Oscar Straus (1870-1954) kept travelling from Vienna to Berlin and back. Together with Ernst von Wolzogen he founded the Cabaret theatre
"Überbrettl" in Berlin (1901). Quite a number of these "Überbrettl"-songs have not been performed ever since.
Straus, who was Jewish, escaped from Nazi Germany to the US. When he finally returned to Austria in 1948, he had an American passport.
Valse Hypermoderne (Instr.)
Altes Ghettoliedchen / lyrics: Hugo Salus
Der lustige Ehemann / Otto Julius Bierbaum
Radlers Seligkeit / Richard Dehmel
Müde / Detlev Freiherr von Liliencron
Das Herz in der Linde / Otto Julius Bierbaum
Das Blumenmädel / Leo Heller
Didel - Dudel - Dadel / Rideamus
Das nüchterne Mädchen / Rideamus
Herr Duncan / Georg Kleinecke
Der Äppel-Seppel / Rideamus
Moderne Treue / Marie Madeleine
Das Kamm-Lied / Rideamus
Couplet Schnidibumpfel / Rideamus
Donnerwetter / Rideamus
Ensemble Zwockhaus: Maria Thomaschke, Andreas Jocksch (Voices)
Olaf Taube (xylophone, percussion) · Volker Suhre (double bass) · Nikolai Orloff (piano)
Dr. Stefan Frey (Munich) talks with Winfried Radeke.
(129) 6. April 2017 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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The composer Konstanty Regamey (1907-1982) in Warsaw and his part in the Anti-Nazi underground
When Poland was occupied by the Germans in WWII, all cultural activities by Poles were prohibited (except the most trivial ones). Still, there were a number of "illegal" concerts in private homes. In one of them, the great
Quintet for clarinet,
bassoon, violin, cello and piano by Regamey received its first performance. The conposer was also active in the resistance movement. After the Warsaw Uprising Regamey was imprisoned in Stutthof concentration camp, but because he was of Swiss descent, he was released and sent to Switzerland. There he worked in the fields of indology, linguistics and music. At the university of Fribourg he met the musicologist Jürg Stenzl.
modern art ensemble:
Helge Harding, clarinet · Alexander Hase, bassoon
Jean-Claude Velin, violin · Anna Carewe, cello · Yoriko Ikeya, piano
Prof. Dr. Jürg Stenzl talks with Peter Sarkar.
This concert was sponsored by Harald Genzmer Stiftung and Pro Helvetia
(128) 16. March 2017 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Exile as rescue and dead end.
The composers Leopold Spinner and Julius Schloss portrayed by Juan Allende-Blin
Until the moment when Leopold Spinner had to flee to London in 1939 he took lessons from Anton
Webern. In London he entered the publishing company Boosey & Hawkes, and over the years he advanced to Chief Editor. Julius Schloss, who had studied with Alban Berg, was less lucky. His career in exile ended in a blind alley. He was imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp for a couple of weeks, then he managed to find exile in Shanghai (1939) and later in the United States (1948). He did survive, but never gained a remarkable position as a musician after 1938.
Juan Allende-Blin is one of the pioneers in the field of research on exiled musicians. He described these two most different biographies and gave an introduction to the music.
Julius Schloss: String quartet in one movement (1928)
Leopold Spinner: Sonatina for piano op. 22
Tomas Bächli, piano
Ensemble Zeitlos: Claudia Sack and Wolfgang Bender, violins · Kirstin-Maria Pientka, viola · Gabriella Strümpel, cello
Albrecht Dümling talks with Juan Allende-Blin.
2016
(127) 22. November 2016 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Escaped - fallen silent - rediscovered. The composer Berthold Goldschmidt
Berthold Goldschmidt's career began promising.
In 1932 his opera "Der gewaltige Hahnrei" was premiered successfully in Mannheim. When his music was banned in 1933 he fled
from Berlin to London. Some time after the war he fell silent as a composer for many years and he nearly fell into oblivion. In 1987, the music festival "Berliner Festwochen" gave him the stage for a great comeback. Not only did he achieve international acclaim for his pre-war compositions, he also composed new works which were performed by young musicians.
Little Legend for piano (1923/57)
Time for voice and piano (1943)
Two songs after Chr. Morgenstern op. 27 (1933): Nebelweben / Ein Rosenzweig
Piano sonata op. 10
Kolja Lessing (piano)
Martin Bruns (baritone)
Bettina Brand talks with Kolja Lessing and Albrecht Dümling
(126) 20. October 2016 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Ernst Krenek - A creator of "degenerate" music
Ernst Krenek's opera "Jonny spielt auf" (1927) was an immediate success, but it also provoked severe reactions from Nazis. Jonny, the protagonist, a coloured jazz musician, was shown on the posters of the Nazi exhibition "Entartete Musik" in 1938 as epitome of
"Rassenschande". When Austria was taken over by the Germans, Krenek fled to the United States, although he was not jewish. During his long life (which evoked the saying "one-man history of 20th century music"), he dealt with all tendencies in contemporary music.
Ernst Krenek: Tanzstudie op. 1b for piano (1920)
Excerpts from Italienische Balladen op. 77b (1934): Il Cavalier di Francia und La Monachella e il Demonio
Kafka-Songs op. 82 (1937/38)
The Flea op. 175 after John Donne (1960)
Piano sonata No. 7 op. 240 (1988)
Gladys Krenek: Zeit XXIV (after Renata Pandula) (1976)
Holger Groschopp (piano)
Anna Maria Pammer (soprano)
Albrecht Dümling talks with Prof. Claudia Zenck
(125) 23. June 2016 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Even Paris was no longer safe. Alexandre Tansman between Poland, France and the USA
Alexandre Tansman left his native Poland at the age of 22. He had just won the national composer's competition. He found a new home in Paris and got in contact with the "Groupe des Six". In 1932/33 he toured the world, including East Asia. When German troops invaded France, Tansman fled to the USA. In response to anti-semitism and the loss of his French citizenship he looked into the Jewish tradition. He spent five years in California, earnich his living through music for the movies. In 1946 he returned to Paris. A special feature of his rich musical output are huge chords ("Skyscraper-chords") and a pronounced feeling for rhythm, which shows some influence from Strawinsky.
Suite pour Trio d´Anches
Sonatina for bassoon and piano (1952)
Frederique Brillouin (oboe) | Susanne Pudig (clarinet)
Wolfgang Bensmann (bassoon) | Petra Schnier (piano)
Winfried Radeke talks with Andrea Brill
(124) 14. April 2016 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Avantgarde and worker's song - How Imre Weisshaus turned into Paul Arma
Imre Weisshaus, born in Budapest in 1904, studied there with Béla Bartók (piano and composing). Henry Cowell invited him to the US in 1927 to introduce the European avantgarde piano music to the American public. Cowell labelled Weisshaus' own music "abstract". In 1930 Weisshaus settled in Berlin. In those final years of the Weimar Republic he got involved with the workers' music movement, and for some time he worked as Hanns Eisler`s assistant. 1933 he fled to Paris and changed his name to Paul Arma. He stayed in France and died there in 1987.
Deux Recitatifs for violin solo (1925)
Transparence for piano (1928)
Das Rote Saar-Lied (1933, Erich Weinert)
Song vom Strick (1933, Fritz Hoff /Louis Aragon)
Sonate for violin and piano op. 138 (1949) ** World premiere **
Judith Ingolfsson (violin)
Vladimir Stoupel (piano)
Jörg Gottschick (Baritone, recitation)
Albrecht Dümling talks with Tobias Widmaier
(123) 3. March 2016 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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forbidden - persecuted - dispossessed. The dramatic story of Edition C. F. Peters
One of the most famous music publishers is C. F. Peters, founded in Leipzig in 1800, and it is one of the eldest which still exist. In 1900 Henri Hinrichsen became director of the company. During Nazi rule the Hinrichsen family was disowned and the company "Arianized". Walter Hinrichsen fled to the United States, his brother Max to London. Both founded new publishing houses there. Henri Hinrichsen was killed in Auschwitz in 1942.
Irene Lawford-Hinrichsen, Henri's granddaughter, was our guest. She talked with Bettina Brand about the changeful history of the family-owned enterprise which finally returned to its original building in Leipzig in 2013. Albrecht Dümling and Ursula Mamlok also contributed to the discussion.
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Variations concertantes for cello and piano op. 17 (1829)
Arnold Schönberg: Phantasy for violin with piano accompaniment op. 47 (1949)
Hanns Eisler: Piano sonata No. 3 (1943)
Ursula Mamlok: Panta Rhei (Time in flux) for violin, cello and piano (1981)
Johanna Pichlmair, violin
Adele Bitter, cello
Holger Groschopp, piano
Irene Lawford-Hinrichsen, Ursula Mamlok and Albrecht Dümling talked with Bettina Brand.
(122) Thursday, 28. January 2016 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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He refused to play in Nazi Germany: The violinist Adolf Busch
For numerous musicians the establishment of Nazi rule in central Europe meant a severe blow to their career. One of them was Adolf Busch (1891-1952), but his is an exceptional case. He was not forced to leave Germany, because he was neither a jew nor a communist nor a modernist. But after he witnessed the planned riots against jewish-owned shops in Berlin (1. April 1933) he cancelled all his concerts in Germany, and in 1938 he stopped performing in Austria and Italy, too. In 1939 he left Europe for the United States.
Busch was a prolific composer. He studied composition in Cologne with Fritz Steinbach. Later Max Reger had a great influence on his style. Chamber music has a prominent place in his output, but he also composed for organ, for orchestra and for vocal ensmbles.
Serenade for string quartet op. 14, (1st movement)
Suite for viola solo op. 16a (movements 1 and 4)
String quartet in b minor op. 29
No. 1-3 from Nine pieces for string quartet op. 45
Ensemble Zeitlos:
Claudia Sack and Julia Prigge, violins· Francesca Zappa, viola · Gabriella Strümpel, cello
Carlos María Solare, Viola (Suite op. 16a)
Prof. Dominik Sackmann (Basel/Zurich) and Julia Prigge talked with Peter Sarkar
2015
(120, 121) 24. and 25. November 2015 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Werner-Otto-Saal
25 years of musica reanimata
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Artur Schnabel - Composer and performer
The famous teacher Theodor Leschetizky once said to his pupil Artur Schnabel: "You will never become a pianist - you are a musician". This was not meant as criticism, but as a compliment. Throughout his life Schnabel found composing his most rewarding activity. He disapproved of musical narrowness and, like few others in his time, retained the unity of composer, teacher and performer as it had been common in the 19th century.
musica reanimata paid respect to this eminent artist who had been expelled from Berlin in 1933. Albrecht Dümling and Stefan Litwin moderated the concerts together.
24. November
Artur Schnabel: Piece in seven movements (1936/37)
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata for piano and cello D major, op. 102, No. 2
Artur Schnabel: Quintet for piano, 2 violins, viola and cello (1915/16)
Stefan Litwin, piano
Mario Blaumer, cello
Irmela Roelcke, piano
Bennewitz Quartet (Prague): Jakub Fišer, violin · Štěpán Ježek, violin ·
Jiří Pinkas, Viola · Štěpán Doležal, cello
25. November
Franz Schubert: Trio in E flat for piano, violin and cello (Notturno) D 897
Four songs (
Im Frühling, Der Einsame, Die Sterne, Der Wanderer)
Artur Schnabel: Notturno (Richard Dehmel) for low voice and piano (1914)
Franz Schubert: Sonata No. 1 D major for violin and piano D 384
Artur Schnabel: Sonata for violin and piano (1935)
Lena Neudauer, violin
Mario Blaumer, cello
Frank Wörner, voice
Irmela Roelcke, piano
Stefan Litwin, piano
Co-operation partners: Akademie der Künste Berlin and Hochschule for Musik Saar
(119) 1. November 2015 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Werner-Otto-Saal
25 years of musica reanimata
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Master of all styles. Erwin Schulhoff, the inexhaustible
Erwin Schulhoff, born in Prague, won quite a reputation in the German "Weimar Republic" through his varied chamber music and pieces inspired by jazz. Following the establishment of Nazi rule in 1933, none of his compositions were performed in Germany any longer. In 1942 he died in an internment camp in Bavaria.
In recent years, a substantial part of Schulhoff's output has been rediscovered, but his numerous songs have remained neglected up to now. Things may change soon, because a complete edition of Schulhoff's songs is under the way.
Zigeunerlieder op. 12, WV 10
1. Rings ist der Wald
2. Als die alte Mutter
Five songs from the early years
1. Ida (Hermann Hesse) op. 13,4, WV 11
2. Lass mich an deinem stillen Auge (Max Dauthendey), WV 12a, (World premiere)
3. Sommerabend (Otto Falckenberg), op. 14,2, WV 12
4. Tanzlied (Otto Julius Bierbaum) op. 19a, WV 15, (World premiere)
5. Sonnenschein! 2. Version (Hans Steiger), WV 19a, (World premiere)
Five pieses for string quartet "à Darius Milhaud"
Four songs for baritone and piano op. 9 on words by Hans Steiger, WV 26,
(World premiere)
1. Freude hab ich geschlürft
2. Wir gehen im lauten Novemberwind
3. Tiefblau funkelnde Sommernacht
4. Das alles wieder
5 "Gesänge" with piano accompaniment(author of the lyrics unknown), Werk 32, WV 52
1. Langsam wandle ich dahin
2. Lass mich, da ich glauben will
3. Ruhe der Fläche
4. Schmerz, der lastend liegt
5. Nun versank der Abend
String quartet No. 1, WV 72
Performers:
Hans Christoph Begemann, baritone
Klaus Simon, piano
Klee-Quartet: Naoko Senda and Emi Otogao, violins; Jun Ohta, viola; Ruri Kuroda, cello
Moderation: Gottfried Eberle
The
radio station Deutschlandfunk will broadcast this concert on 14. March 2016 at 21.05 h (in "Musik-Panorama")
This concert was sponsored by: Harald-Genzmer-Stiftung
(118) 3. June 2015 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Expelled to the underground. The fate of the Dutch composer Rosy Wertheim (1888-1949)
Rosy Wertheim was born into a well-respected jewish family in Amsterdam. She studied composing in her home town and, some years later, in Paris. Her Paris home quickly became a meeting-point, Ibert, Jolivet, Messiaen and Milhaud were among her guests.
After returning to Amsterdam in 1937 she started a promising career as a composer. But when German troops occupied the Netherlands in 1940, all her public apperances came to a standstill. She did survive in hiding, but after the war she didn't get the chance to continue as sucessfully as before. She died in 1949 after a brief yet severe illness.
In addition to music by Wertheim our concert contained a piece by Leo Smit (1900-1943), a dutch composer who knew her since his studies. Smit was murdered in Sobibór concentration camp.
Rosy Wertheim: Trois Morceaux for flute and piano
Two songs: "Es rauscht and rauscht...", "Die Insel der Vergessenheit"
Six Morceaux for piano
Trois Chansons after Li Tai Po for soprano, flute and piano
Leo Smit: Sonata for flute and piano
Irene Maessen, soprano / Eleonore Pameijer, flute / Andrei Banciu, piano
Eleonore Pameijer and Dr. Mathias Lehmann talk with Bettina Brand.
(117) 5. March 2015 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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"Heute nacht oder nie...". Mischa Spoliansky's (1898-1985) years in Berlin
Mischa Spoliansky was born in the eastern part of Poland which was then ruled by Russia. When he was a child the family moved to Vienna; later he improved his abilities as a pianist and a composer in Dresden. At the outbreak of WW I he moved to Berlin. There he did further studies and earned himself a living by playing in coffee houses. 1919 he was invited by Friedrich Hollaender and Werner Richard Heymann to join them in the famous Berlin cabaret "Schall and Rauch".
Spoliansky's pieces were performed widely, especially those on texts by Marcellus Schiffer: Alles Schwindel, Es liegt in der Luft, Wie werde ich reich and glücklich, Zwei Krawatten ... just to mention a few. 1933 he went into exile in England. He acquired British citizenship and never returned to Germany.
Songs by Mischa Spoliansky from movies, revue and operetta
Ensemble Zwockhaus:
Maria Thomaschke and Andreas Joksch, voices
Volker Suhre, double bass
Nikolai Orloff, piano
Olaf Taube, vibraphone and percussion
Winfried Radeke talks with Boris Priebe
(116) 15. January 2015 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Marcel Rubin and Karl Alwin in Mexico, the only country that welcomed exiles
When Germany annexed Austria in 1938, only on country protested officially: Mexico. In the following year the left-wing Mexican governement gave exile to communist and socialist refugees from Europe, especially those who had fought in the Spanish civil war, and also to a smaller number of Jews. Alwin arrived in Mexico in 1940, after having spent some months in the USA. Rubin had lived in France, before he came to Mexico in 1942. They both worked at the opera in Mexico city.
When Rubin embarked in Marseille for Mexico, he already had made an odyssey: Right on the day when Hitler marched into Austria (12. March 1938) Rubin fled to his sister who lived in Paris. In September 1939 he was interned as "enemy alien", together with thousands of other Germans and Austrians, regardless of them being persecuted by the Nazis or not. In one of the camps he composed three songs on poems by Jura Soyfer. One of them was the "Dachau-Lied", but Rubin didn't know that it had already been set into music by Herbert Zipper. When the internment camp was closed down, Rubin found his way back to his sister´s family, who then lived near Marseille.
Karl Alwin had also left Vienna in 1938. He died in Mexico in 1945. Rubin returned to his native Austria in 1947, where he was active as a composer and music critic and in cultural politics.
Marcel Rubin (1905-1995): Piano sonata No.2 (1927, 3. and 4. movement)
Sonatina for oboe and piano
Winter (1940, words: Jura Soyfer)
Wenn der Himmel grau wird (1940, words: Jura Soyfer)
aus:
Nocturnes. Seven songs by Josef Luitpold (1962):
Nr.1 Hier lebt ein Mensch
Nr. 3 Erlebnis
Nr. 2 Harlemer Nachtlied
Dachau-Lied "Arbeit macht frei", words: Jura Soyfer
Music: 1. stanza
Herbert Zipper (1904-1997), 2.-4. stanza
Marcel Rubin
Karl Alwin (1891-1945): Three songs after Heinrich Heine (1914)
Vergiftet sind meine Lieder...
Lieb' Liebchen
Nachtstück
Performers:
Daniel Wohlgemuth, oboe
Jörg Gottschick, baritone
Holger Groschopp, piano
Richard Schnell, recitation of texts by Rubin
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Krones talked with Peter Sarkar
2014
(115) 4. December 2014 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Puccini's rival: The opera composer Alberto Franchetti (1860-1942)
Alberto Franchetti's start as a composer was promising: Giuseppe Verdi conveyed a commission for an opera celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America to him. Only one other opera was as successful as this one, Germania, premiered in 1902 (this opera was staged again a few years ago at Deutsche Oper Berlin). But in general, his achievements were overshadowed by the enormous success of Puccini. Thereafter, Franchetti composed only a small number of pieces. In 1938 Italy took over the racial laws from Germany, thus Franchetti was forced to go into inner emigration.
Arias and excerpts from the following operas:
CRISTOFORO COLOMBO (1892):
È la luna! (Guevara) /
Dunque ho sognato? (Colombo) /
Si,cosi, vicina sul tuo capo veglierò (Isabella/Colombo) /
M`odi! L´estrema è questa ora della mia vita (Colombo)
GERMANIA (1902):
Studenti! Udite (Federico)
Ferite, Prigionier (Worms)
GLAUCO (1922):
Un´alba serena (Scilla) /
È una fanciulla della mia Sicilia (Glauco) /
Splendan per te nel cielo dell´ebrezza (Circe/Glauco) /
Avevi un usignuolo (Pastorello) /
Morta! No! Tu non sei morta, è vero (Glauco) /
No! Piange ancora! (Pastorello)
ASRAEL(1888):
Quando lo sguardo mio nel volto tuo si bea (Loretta/Asrael)
DON NAPOLEONE (1941):
Mi voglion´ tanto bene (Don Geronimo)
Performers:
Kristin Ebner, soprano
Angelo Raciti, tenor
Jeongwhan Sim, baritone
Scott Curry, piano
Gottfried Eberle talked with Helmut Krausser (author of a double biography of Franchetti and Puccini) and Richard Erkens (musicologist, author of a detailed study on Franchetti).
(114) 23. October 2014 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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"The world's most forgotten composer of the 20th century": Ernst Toch (1887-1964)
During the Weimar Republic, few composers were as widely performed as Ernst Toch, but in 1933 he had to flee from Berlin because he was Jewish.
Via Paris he emigrated to Los Angeles: There he felt isolated and bereft of his audience. His string trio, written in 1936, was the central piece in our concert.
Habakuk Traber and Albrecht Dümling shed a light on this eminent artist, who remained neglected and who regarded himself as "the world's most forgotten composer of the 20th century". Ernst Toch died in California in October 1964.
Burlesques for piano op. 31 (1923)
String trio op. 63 (1936)
Selected movements from the Impromptus op. 90 a/b/c for solo instruments (1963).
Performers:
Vladimir Stoupel (piano)
Tanja Becker-Bender (violin)
Itamar Ringel (viola)
Mikayel Hakhnazarian (cello)
Albrecht Dümling talked with Habakuk Traber
(113) 26. June 2014 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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"Good to have friends everywhere." Brigitte Schiffer - Correspondent of modern music
Brigitte Schiffer was forced to leave Germany im 1935 because she was Jewish. She had studied composition with Heinz Tiessen and ethnomusicology with Curt Sachs in Berlin. She spent more than 20 years in Cairo, after that she settled in London and reported for "Melos" and other music magazines from there. Prominent musicians like Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt, Carla Henius, Wladimir Vogel and Hermann Scherchen exchanged letters with her over a long period.
Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt: Expression Violett for piano (1919/21)
Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt: March of Alexander the Great over Hamburg's bridges for piano (1919/21)
Heinz Tiessen: Weltstadtrhythmus op. 45b for piano (1939)
Brigitte Schiffer: String quartet
Performers: Gottfried Eberle (piano)
Klee-Quartet: Naoko Senda and Emi Otogao (violins), Jun Ohta (viola), Ruri Kuroda (cello)
Blanche Kommerell and Bernd Neunzling read letters to and from B. Schiffer
Prof. Dr. Dörte Schmidt talked with Dr. Matthias Pasdzierny (UdK Berlin)
(112) 24. April 2014 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Deported to Australia as "enemy aliens": Felix Werder (1922-2012) and Walter Würzburger (1914-1995)
The two composers both left Germany as early as 1933. Werder went to London, Wuerzburger to Singapore via Paris. When WW II broke out, both were arrested and sent to Australia as "enemy aliens". They were kept behind barbed wire for over a year. But there, in internment, they emerged as composers. Felix Werder became one of the leading figures in the realm of modern music in Australia, whereas Walter Wuerzburger was active in England.
Boas Bischofswerder (1895-1946): Phantasia Judaica for violin and piano (written 1940 on "Dunera", excerpts)
Walter Würzburger: Streichtrio Nr. 1 for 2 violins and cello (1940/41, St. John's Island and Tatura camp)
Walter Würzburger: Vereinsamt (F. Nietzsche) for voice and piano (1941, Tatura camp)
Walter Würzburger: For Anne Gregory (W. B. Yeats, 1948); The Art of Losing (Emily Jackman, 1991); Elevation (Franz Werfel, 1993)
Felix Werder: Fantasias for String Trio (1956)
Performers:
Kristin Ebner, soprano; stefanpaul, piano
Members of Ensemble Zeitlos:
Claudia Sack, violin; Julia Prigge, violin and viola; Gabriella Strümpel, cello
In conversation with Albrecht Dümling: Manfred Manasse, Hannah and Irmela Würzburger.
(111) 9. January 2014 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Eduard Steuermann (1892-1964) - Piano genius and unrecognised composer
Steuermann is one of the most prominent performers within the Second Viennese School. His legacy as a composer, however, is mostly unknown. Since Schoenberg, Eisler and other composers entrusted him with the first performances of their piano music, Steuermann had made a name for himself before he had to emigrate to the United States in 1936.
Michael Gielen, internationally renowned conductor and composer, and Eduard Steuermann's nephew, and the composer Ursula Mamlok, who studied with Eduard Steuermann in the 1940s, contributed their recollections to our lecture concert.
Arnold Schoenberg: Pieces for Piano op. 11
Eduard Steuermann: Piano sonata (1926)
Hanns Eisler: 3rd Sonata for Piano (movements 1 and 3)
Michael Gielen: Excerpts from Piano Piece in 7 Movements: recycling der glocken
Performers:
Stefan Litwin, piano
In conversation with Bettina Brand: Michael Gielen, Ursula Mamlok and Stefan Litwin.
2013
(110) 20. November 2013 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Deported: Leo Kestenberg in Prague and Tel Aviv
Leo Kestenberg had a formative influence on musical life in the Weimar Republic like few others. He was dismissed from his post as consultant for music in the Prussian Ministry for Culture and Eduction in 1932. A year later, he was labelled a "cultural bolshevist" and expelled from Germany. In Prague and later in Tel Aviv he continued to strive for his pedagogic and political visions. Excerpts from Kestenberg's writings from this time were discussed by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Mahlert (UdK Berlin). This was supplemented by performances of music by composers who were close to Kestenberg:
Ferruccio Busoni: "Erscheinung aus Elegien" (1908); Sonatina seconda (1912)
Franz Schreker: Chamber Symphony (1916), 1st part (piano arrangement by Ignace Strasfogel)
Heinz Tiessen: Duo-Sonata for violin and piano op. 35 (1925)
Performers:
Antonis Anissegos (piano)
Judith Ingolfsson (violin) and Vladimir Stoupel (piano)
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Mahlert spoke with Dr. Albrecht Dümling
(109) 10. October 2013 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Escape to Sweden in a fisherman's boat: Werner Wolf Glaser
The composer Werner Wolf Glaser left Germany already in April 1933. After living in France for one year, some friends helped him to emigrate to Denmark. In 1943 he became Danish citizen, shortly before he had to move on: in the course of the rescue of Danish Jews he was brought to Sweden, together with his wife and three children. There he was active in many fields. He composed, managed the music school in Västerås, and worked as a music therapist.
Piano sonata No. 1, first movement (1933)
Sonata for saxophone solo (1936)
Sonata for violin solo (1971)
Ricordo IV for violin solo (1991)
Performers:
Kolja Lessing, violin and piano
Frank Lunte, saxophone
Jo Svend Glaser, the composer's son, and Kolja Lessing talked with Peter Sarkar.
(108) 16. May 2013 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Piano music by composers from the Berlin "Novembergruppe": a dadaistic and futuristic provocation
Artists from different fields met in the "Novembergruppe"; the composers in this group were among the most audacious and most talented within interwar Germany. They committed themselves to the social revolution after WW I. Pianist Matt Rubenstein rediscovered the music of these composers from Berlin, who suffered Nazi persecution.
Max Butting: "Berlin im Licht"-Blues op. 36 (1928)
Heinz Tiessen: No. 1, 2, 4 and 6 from: Six Pieces for Piano, op. 37 (1926-28)
Eduard Erdmann: No. 4 and 5 from: Five Small Pieces for Piano, op. 6 (1915-1918)
Wladimir Vogel: No. 1 and 3 from: Dai tempi più remoti (1921)
Philipp Jarnach: Sarabande, op. 17 no. 2 (1924)
H.H. Stuckenschmidt: Der Champagner Cobler and die Grüne Sonne (1921)
Stefan Wolpe: from Six Marches, op. 10 (1928-34): March No.1, Gesang, weil ich etwas Teures verlassen muss, March No. 3
Performers:
Matt Rubenstein, piano
Prof. Dr. Nils Grosch talked with Bettina Brand.
(107) 18. April 2013 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Exile in Japan: Chances to survive in Far East
Japan was allied with Nazi Germany, but the Japanese did not follow Germany's racial policy. Thus a number of musicians, who suffered persecution as Jews in Germany, could find refuge in Japan: Manfred Gurlitt, Joseph Rosenstock, Klaus Pringsheim and Leonid Kreutzer. Together with Josef Laska, who had arrived there earlier, they made a substantial contribution to Japan's musical life.
Joseph Rosenstock: Sonata for piano, 1. movement
Manfred Gurlitt: Piano Quintet, 2nd movement
Pieces by Klaus Pringsheim and Josef Laska
Performers:
Wolfgang Bender and Gisela Bender, violins
Christiane Buchenau, viola
Maria Magdalena Wiesmaier, cello
Antonis Anissegos, piano
Irene Suchy, musicologist from Vienna and expert on this subject, talked with Peter Sarkar
(106) 28. February 2013 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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"Fallstudien" (case studies): Moritz, Siegfried, Leo and Richard Fall, a family of composers
Our program featured the military music composer Moritz Fall (1848-1922) and
his three sons: Siegfried (1871-1943), who studied with Max Bruch and who composed operas and songs. He had to earn his living by writing the piano scores for his more successful brother Leo's operettas (1873-1925). Richard (1882-1945) composed popular songs, his most famous lyricist was Fritz Löhner-Beda.
Siegfried died in Theresienstadt (Terezín), Richard in Auschwitz.
Siegfried Fall: Three songs for baritone and piano op. 10
Leo Fall: Songs from the operettas "Der süße Kavalier" and "Die Straßensängerin" / Die drei Mieter der Frau Schlüter / Die Ballade von der Knopfsammlung im Louvre von Paris
Richard Fall: (Six) Songs after Löhner-Beda
Moritz Fall: Polka Wirrwarr! / "Wehe! Wehe!"
Performers:
Ensemble Zwockhaus: Maria Thomaschke and Andreas Jocksch, voices
Nikolai Orloff, piano / Timofej Sattarov, bajan / Volker Suhre, double bass
Guest: Stefan Frey (Munich)
Moderation: Winfried Radeke
(105) 24. January 2013 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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A look at Germany from beyond: Paul Dessau in exile
Paul Dessau fled from Germany already in 1933, denounced by a fellow musician. His first place of exile was France, where he devoted himself to his Jewishness, to socialism and to the musical avant-garde more strenuously than before. This can also be seen in his compositions. Pieces with mass impact like Thälmannkolonne are accompanied by complex piano pieces such as Guernica. The most influential personalities for Dessau were Bertolt Brecht and Arnold Schoenberg; once he had finally arrived in Los Angeles, he co-operated directly with them. They also crystallised his view of Germany.
Two Songs for Bass and Piano after Langston Hughes (1934)
Guernica for piano (1938)
Jewish Dance for violin and piano (1940)
Three pieces for violin with piano accompaniment(1941/42)
"Deutschland" and "Das deutsche Miserere" (Brecht, 1943) for voice and piano
Eleven Jewish Folk Dances for piano (1946)
Performers: Holger Groschopp, piano
Max Simon, violin
Johannes Schwärsky, baritone
Guest: Maxim Dessau, the composer's son
Moderation: Albrecht Dümling
2012
(104) 18. October 2012 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Lost and nearly forgotten: The composer Norbert von Hannenheim
Only a few months after the end of World War II, in September 1945, Hannenheim died of heart failure in the hospital for euthanasia in Obrawalde. From early childhood, life had not been easy for him, but he finally made his way as a composer, producing more than 200 works. In the 1930s he was quite successful and he won several prizes. But because he had studied with Arnold Schoenberg in Berlin, the Nazis obstructed his career. Thus he was hard-pressed for money, and this may have led to his mental disorder that in 1944 caused his committal to the lunatic asylum in Obrawalde.
Suite for viola and piano
Piano sonatas No. 6 and No. 3
4 songs after different poets:
Die Türen (Ernst Lissauer)
Glück (Ernst Collin Schonfeld)
Mohn, roter Mohn (Jenny Boese)
Zeitgeist (Friedrich Hölderlin)
4 songs after Rainer Maria Rilke
Performers: Moritz Ernst, piano
Irena Troupová, soprano
Jean-Claude Velin, viola
Gottfried Eberle talked with Albert Breier
(103) 28. June 2012 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Will Eisenmann: Avowed Pacifist and Anti-Fascist
Will Eisenmann (1906-1992) despised National Socialism. He attended the anti-war conference in Amsterdam in 1932, after which he did not return to Germany but went to Paris to study composition with Paul Dukas and Charles Koechlin. Romain Rolland had helped him to get a scholarship. For the rest of his life, Eisenmann mainly lived in Switzerland, where he was supported by Hermann Scherchen and Hermann Hesse.
Duo concertante for alto saxophone and piano, op. 33
From "Rubaiyat" for voice and and piano: Cycle I, op. 35 (1939-42), and II, op. 35b (1942/43), after poetry ("Sprueche der Weisheit") by Omar Khayyam
Suite der Gegensätze for piano, op. 51 (1949/51)
Ballade I, op. 53 (1952) and Ballade II, op. 74 (1964) for flute and piano
From "Haiku" for voice and piano: Cycle I, op. 64 (1960)
Capriccio for tenor saxophone and piano, op. 92 (1977)
Nevermore for alto saxophone and piano, op. 28 (1940)
Performers:
Detlef Bensmann, saxophone and Yoriko Ikeya, piano
Olivier Eisenmann, piano
Kristina Naudé, mezzo-soprano
Verena Steffen, flute
Hanna Eisenmann and Olivier Eisenmann talked with Albrecht Dümling
(102) 24. May 2012 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Aldo Finzi: A Master of Musical Refinement
When the young composer Aldo Finzi (1897-1945) from Milan was just 24 years old, renowned Italian publishers began printing his music. In 1938 he wrote an opera for a competition at La Scala, which was accepted. But the performance never took place, because fascist Italy began ostracising Jews in this year.
Five songs:
Rondini (1920)
La voix de Sélisette (1920)
C´era una volta (1919)
Barque d´or (1921)
Serenata (1922)
Four piano pieces:
Valzer lento Nos. 1 and 2 (1920)
Tempo di marcia (1938-1939)
Tempo di Fox-trot (1930-1937)
Sonata per violino e pianoforte (1919)
Performers:
Dörthe-Maria Sandmann, soprano
Susanne Zapf, violin
Holger Groschopp, piano
Gottfried Wagner talked with Gottfried Eberle
8. May 2012: Charity concert for the funding of the restoration of the church organ in Terezín
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche Berlin
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Organized by
musica reanimata in co-operation with the Hans Krása foundation Terezín
Music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Ilse Weber, Viktor Ullmann, Hans Krása, Gideon Klein, Franz Schreker Jaroslav Krček and K. Penderecki
Performers:
- Simon Roturier (violin), Barbara Buntrock (viola), Jakob Spahn (cello)
- Ensemble Zwockhaus, cond. Winfried Radeke
- Cantica Bohemica from Litoměřice
- Martin Maxmilian Kaiser, organ, and Edita Adlerová, mezzo-soprano
- Berliner Cappella, cond. Kerstin Behnke
Patron: Norbert Lammert, president of German Bundestag
(101) 29. March 2012 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Joseph Horovitz: Escape to the Island of Rescue
In 1938, the twelve-year-old Joseph Horovitz fled from Vienna to England, together with his family. He studied in Oxford, London and Paris, and from 1961 taught composition at the Royal College of Music. Horovitz's String Quartet No. 5 was written 1968/1969 in remembrance of the artists and intellectuals who had sought refuge in England 30 years before.
Sonatina for clarinet and piano (1981)
Adagio from Violin Concerto (1951), arrangement for violin and piano
String Quartet No. 5 (1969)
Performers: Ensemble Zeitlos: Claudia Sack, Philip Douvier, Friedemann Wollheim & Gabriella Strümpel
Tatjana Blome, piano / Matthias Höfele, clarinet
Joseph Horovitz talked with Albrecht Dümling
(100) 15. February 2012 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Werner-Otto-Saal of Konzerthaus Berlin
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in memoriam Georg Kreisler: Composer, Emigrant
Georg Kreisler was known for more than 50 years as the undisputed master of political cabaret. Less well-known is that the poet, satirist, author and composer of prose, verse, plays and musicals also composed two successful operas, that he and his family fled Vienna to Los Angeles in 1938, and that as an American soldier he interviewed Germans in preparation for the Nuremberg Trials. Entirely unknown is the fact that he composed chamber music while living in New York around 1950.
Georg Kreisler had planned to take part in the event on 29 October and was looking forward to it immensely. An unexpected
illness, which caused the concert to be postponed, led to his death on 22
November.
5 Bagatelles (1953)
Sonata for Piano (1952)
3 Piano Pieces (ca. 1947)
Performer: Sherri Jones, piano
Guests: Barbara Kreisler-Peters, the composer's widow, Hans-Juergen Fink (author of Kreisler's biography), and Jürgen Keiser (music producer)
Moderation: Albrecht Dümling and Albrecht Riethmüller
2011
(99) 15. September 2011 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Werner Richard Heymann: "Das gibt's nur einmal ..."
Werner Richard Heymann (1896-1961),
was the most successful composer for film music in the Weimar Republic. Some of his evergreens are still quite well known, for example
Das gibt's nur einmal, das kommt nicht wieder.
Even before Heymann wrote his famous songs for the "Comedian Harmonists" and many famous actors, he had created an impressive career as a composer of cabaret songs. Our lecture recital focussed on these less well-known songs.
Das Leibregiment (1922)
lyrics: Kurt Tucholsky
Der Umzug (1921/23)
lyrics: Leo Heller
Kellerleute (1921/23)
lyrics: Leo Heller
An den Kanälen (1921/23)
lyrics: Walter Mehring
Die Knöpfelschuhe (1921/23)
lyrics: Leo Heller 1921/23)
Der Glockenturm (1922)
lyrics: Klabund
Die älteren Jahrgänge (1952)
lyrics: Robert Gilbert (from "Professor Unrat")
Mit´m Zopp (1921/23)
lyrics: Klabund
O hätt´ ich doch mein Kind verkauft (1952)
lyrics: Robert Gilbert (from "Professor Unrat")
Die große Sensation (1921/23)
lyrics: Walter Mehring
Die Kälte (1921/23)
lyrics: Walter Mehring
Schattenfox (Dur-moll-Fox) (1922)
lyrics: Hans Brennert
Heut´ gefall´ ich mir (1952)
lyrics: Robert Gilbert (from the movie "Alraune")
Ach Maxe (1925)
lyrics: Armin Robinson
Des Huhnes Morgengesang (1921/23)
lyrics: Walter Mehring
Die Arie der großen Hure Presse (1921/23)
lyrics: Walter Mehring
Irgendwo auf der Welt (1932)
lyrics: Robert Gilbert and Werner Richard Heymann (from the movie "Ein blonder Traum")
Performers: Ensemble Zwockhaus: Maria Thomaschke and Andreas Jocksch (voices)
Olaf Taube (vibraphone/percussion), Volker Suhre (double bass), Nikolai Orloff (piano)
Moderation and arrangements: Winfried Radeke
Guest: Elisabeth Trautwein-Heymann, the composer's daughter
(98) 26. May 2011 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Musikclub des Konzerthauses Berlin am Gendarmenmarkt
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More than just the "Concerto Popolare": For the centenary of Franz Reizenstein
Many people know Reizenstein's Concerto Popolare, in which he staged a fight between the Tchaikovsky and Grieg piano concertos for Gerard Hoffnung's Music Festival in 1956. But who is the man behind this splendid parody? Franz Reizenstein, being Jewish, fled from Berlin in 1934, where he had studied composition with Paul Hindemith and piano with Leonid Kreutzer. During the war he was interned in England as an "enemy alien", but later he became a British citizen and gained a professorship at the Royal College of Music in London. Nevertheless, in spite of its quality his ample musical output remained unjustly neglected. David Wilde, pianist and one of Reizenstein's pupils, talked about the life and music of his teacher and played some of Reizenstein's piano music.
3 Concert Pieces for oboe and piano op. 10 (1937)
Sonatina for oboe and piano op. 11 (1937)
Prelude in B major, from: Preludes and Fugues op. 32 (1955)
Sonata for violin solo op. 46 (1968)
Performers: David Wilde, piano
Ingo Goritzki, oboe
Kolja Lessing, violin
Albrecht Dümling talked with David Wilde and John Reizenstein
(97) 24. February 2011 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Exile as a source for art: The composer Ruth Schönthal
Ruth Schönthal was born in Berlin to a Jewish family, and at the age of five she became the youngest pupil at the Stern Conservatory. In 1935, under the Nazi regime, she had to leave the conservatory, so she took private lessons with the composer Walter Hirschberg, among others. In 1938 the Schönthals fled from Germany, first to Stockholm, then, in 1941, to Mexico City, where Ruth continued her studies. She has had considerable success as pianist and as composer. In 1946 she met Paul Hindemith and went to study with him at Yale University, until 1948.
The outstanding feature of her music is the fusion of different stylistic elements from the traditions of Europe, Mexican folk music, and aleatoric and minimalist music.
Reverberations - Nachklänge (1967-1974)
Sonata in Two Movements for cello and piano (1989)
Excerpts from: Sonatina(1939)
Variations in Search of a Theme (1976)
The Canticles of Hieronymus (1986)
Performers: Adina Mornell, piano
Johanna Kotschy, cello
Bettina Brand talks with Adina Mornell
2010
(96) 16. December 2010 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Constancy to Vienna: The composer and musicologist Egon Wellesz
Three sketches for piano, op. 6 (1911)
Kirschblütenlieder, op. 8 (1912)
Two pieces from: Sechs Klavierstücke, op. 26 (1917-18)
Lieder aus Wien (H.C. Artmann), op. 82 (1959)
Studien in Grau for piano, op. 106 (1969)
Performers: Margarete Babinsky, piano
Martin Vacha, baritone
Nora Lentner, soprano
Axel Bauni, piano accompaniment
Albrecht Dümling talked with Dr. Bojan Bujic (Oxford)
(95) 28. September 2010 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Between dreams and misery: Exile in Los Angeles
Lecture recital with Walter Arlen, Los Angeles
Los Angeles and the Hollywood Dream Factory gave refuge to many artist who fled from Hitler Germany and other facist countries. One of them was the Jewish born Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who arrived here in 1939. He composed music for over 250 movies but also concert music. Besides, he taught composing. He and Walter Arlen, born in Vienna in 1920, became lifetime friends in California.
Performers: Gráinne Dunne, piano
Ensemble Zeitlos: Claudia Sack and Susanne Walter (violins), Chang-Yun Yoo (viola), Gabriella Strümpel (cello)
Albrecht Dümling talked with Walter Arlen
26. September 2010
Special concert "Chamber music from Terezín"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Program:
Gideon Klein: piano sonata, string trio
Hans Krása: songs op.4, Passacaglia and Fugue for string trio
Viktor Ullmann: Hölderlin-songs, piano sonata No. 6
Siegmund Schul: Chassidic dances
Pavel Haas: four songs after Chinese poetry
Karel Reiner: piano trio
Performers: Holger Groschopp, piano
Katharina Göres, soprano
Jonathan de la Paz Zaens, baritone
Gottfried Eberle, piano accompaniment
Trio Quodlibet (Rainer Johannes Kimstedt, violin; Regine Pfleiderer, viola; Katharina Maechler, cello)
(94) 23. September 2010 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Theresienstadt, die schönste Stadt der Welt - Chansons and satires
Recently rediscovered songs and lyrics by Leo Strauss, Felix Porges, Walter Lindenbaum and others, including "Kasernenlied", "Die gelben Fleckerln" and "Bad Blockhaus". The music is complemented with two short scenes depicting bizarre incidents in the ghetto.
Performers: Maria Thomaschke and Andreas Jocksch, voices
Manfred Schmidt, piano
Timofej Sattarov, bajan
Martin Genschow, db.
Conductor, moderation, arrangements: Winfried Radeke
Guest: Helga Kinsky (Vienna), Terezín contemporary witness ("Room 28")
(93) 17. June 2010 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Last resort Shanghai. Composers Wolfgang Fraenkel and Julius Schloß in exile
J. Schloß: String quartet in a single slow movement (1928, dedicated to Alban Berg); selection from "23 Studies for Piano in twelve tone style" for chuldren (1958)
W. Fraenkel: 1. movement from "Music for String Quartet" (to A. Schönberg for his 75. birthday); 3 preludes for piano (composed 1945 in Shanghai)
Sang Tong (who studied with Fraenkel and Schloß): "In a remote place" for piano (1947)
Performers: Gottfried Eberle, piano
Ensemble Zeitlos: Claudia Sack and Susanne Walter (violins), Chang-Yun Yoo (viola), Gabriella Strümpel (cello)
Moderation: Dr. Ursula Krechel
Guests: Sonja Mühlberger and Christian Utz.
(92) 20. May 2010 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Insinuation and resentment. Heinrich Kaminski and the Nazi regime
Prelude and fugue for piano from "Klavierbuch III" (1934/35)
Quartet a minor (1912) for piano, clarinet, viola and cello
Music for cello and piano (1938)
Performers: Maria Wiesmaier, cello
Wolfgang Bender, violin
Christian Vogel, clarinet
Antonis Anissegos, piano
Dr. Manfred Peters talked with Bettina Brand.
(91) 18. February 2010 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Expelled in spite of all his success. The composer and academy director Hans Gál
1. and 3. movement from Sonata for violin and piano b flat minor, op. 17 (1920)
1. movement from Sonata for violin and piano D major (1933)
24 preludes for piano op. 83 (1960): No. 3, 4, 7, 15, 16, 23, 24
Performers: David Frühwirth, violin
Gottlieb Wallisch, piano
The composer's daughter Eva Fox-Gál talked with Albrecht Dümling.
2009
(90) 10. December 2009 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Space and series. Wladimir Vogel and his piano music
Nature vivante (1917 - 1921)
Trepak (1919)
Miniatures from exile:
Ein wenig klagend (1933)
Musette (1936)
Passac'aglina (1938)
In modo cantico (1941)
Bells:
Ad usum nativitatis (1947)
Russian Bells (1978)
Intervals (1980)
Epitaffio per Alban Berg (1936)
Performer: Kolja Lessing, piano
Habakuk Traber talked with Kolja Lessing.
(89) 15. October 2009 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Persecuted as a Gypsy. Oskar Siebert, violinist and jazz-guitarist from Berlin-Wedding
Oskar Siebert's father belonged to a Rom family. He was a violin maker and has his own workshop, where he had Nazis among his customers. Oskar's mother was Russian Jewish. He wanted to become a professional violinist, but the Nazis arrested him as a "Gipsy" and deported him to Mauthausen and other camps. Music saved his life - he had to play for the guards.
After the liberation, Oskar Siebert performed in the US as a jazz-guitarist. Later, he returned to Germany to play in different bands (e.g. at the RIAS in Berlin) and to write arrangements.
4th movement from string quartet (1963/1983)
Preludes for guitar
Music for the liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp for string quintet, 2007 (First performance)
Performers: Accordo string quartet
(Nicola Borsche and Tassilo Kaiser, violins; Sabrina Briscik, viola; Regine Zimmermann, cello)
Martin Genschow, double bass
Jacek Ansgar Rabinski, guitar
Winfried Radeke talked with Mathias Ulbricht and Tassilo Kaiser
8.-10. October 2009
Berlin Academy of Arts, Studio Hanseatenweg
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In Search for Jewish Music: Composers in the Jewish Cultural League Berlin (Jüdischer Kulturbund Berlin)
Concerts, documentary and panel discussion
Co-operation with Berlin Academy of Arts
Thursday, 8. October, 20 h: Concert I
Jakob Schönberg (1900-1956)
2 Yiddish songs for soprano and piano
Chassidic Suite for piano
2 hebraic songs for soprano, violin and viola
6 hebraic songs for voice and piano
Quartet for violin, viola, cello and piano
Friday, 9. October, 17 h: Film
"Es waren wirklich Sternstunden. Der Jüdische Kulturbund 1933-1941"
Documentary ba Henryk M. Broder and Eike Geisel (BR u. SFB 1988).
Friday, 9. October, 20 h: Concert II
Arno Nadel (1878-1943)
Sabbat-Suite for string trio (with soprano)
"Der Alef-Bejs". Study on Warschawski's folk song for soprano and string trio
Jewish folk-song-arrangements for voice and piano
Karl Wiener (1891-1942)
songs from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" for voice and piano
Two pieces for piano left hand op. 9
Intermezzo
Impromptu
Three songs op. 37 on words by Arno Nadel
Saturday, 10. October, 16 h: Panel discussion
Panel: Wolfgang Trautwein, Volker Kühn, Jascha Nemtsov, Albrecht Dümling,
Thomas Lackmann (chairman)
Saturday, 10. October, 20 h: Concert III
Oskar Guttmann (1885-1943)
Hafis, 13 songs for soprano and piano
Alfred Goodman (1919-1999)
Three Meditations on Israel for piano
Hebrew folk-song-arrangements for voice and piano (Berlin, 1937-1938)
Quartett for violin, viola, cello and piano (Berlin 1938)
Performers: Jascha Nemtsov, piano and conception
Verena Rein, soprano
Sergey Malov, violin
Jan Grüning, viola
Jakob Spahn, cello
Mathias Eysen, recitation
Moderation: Jascha Nemtsov and Albrecht Dümling.
(88) 28. May 2009 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Returning to a foreign Homeland: Friedrich Hollaender
Hollaender's fate is characteristic for many of those who fled from the Nazi regime and returned to Germany after the war.
He was a celebrated cabaret artist, composer and pianist in the 1920's, he worked together with Tucholsky,
Klabund and Mehring at the cabaret "Schall and Rauch", and he had his own stage named "Tingel-
Tangel". One of his most famous titles was Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt. He emigrated in
1933. In Hollywood he failed to re-establish his "Tingel-Tangel" in 1934, but he succeeded as a composer for the movies. In the 1950's he returned to Germany. But was he well received? The lecture recital focused on Hollaender's experience as a "remigrant" in postwar Germany.
- Wenn der Mond, wenn der Mond
- Tauentzienmädel
- Nass oder trocken
- Du bist die Frau
- Münchhausen (Lügenlied)
- An allem sind die Juden schuld
- Trinkgeld
- Ja, wenn die Musik nicht wär
- Das ist zu machen, mein Schatz
- Emigrantenballade (excerpts)
- Ich ruf Sie an
- Totale Verfremdung
- Wie man sich unsichtbar macht
- Der Song vom Stottern
- Da lumpada lumpa
- Spötterdämmerung
Performers: Maria Thomaschke and Andreas Jocksch - voices
Manfred Schmidt - piano
Olaf Taube - vibraphone/percussion
Martin Genschow - double bass
Winfried Radeke - Arrangements, moderation and conception
Volker Kühn talked with Winfried Radeke.
(87) 6. April 2009 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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"Mediterranean music": Max Brod (1884 - 1968) as a composer
Max Brod is best known as a writer, as Franz Kafka's editor and as a translator for Janáček.
Widely unknown is his musical output, although he composed around 40 works. In his early years he wrote mainly songs. Shortly before German troops occupied Prague he escaped to Palestine. Until his death he was dramatic adviser at the national theatre Habimah. In Palestine he also resumed his career as a composer. Now he strived for a synthesis of European and oriental music in a "Mediterranean Style".
Music by Max Brod:
Sankt Nepomuks Vorabend (Goethe) (1916)
126. Psalm (1921)
"Tod und Paradies" after Franz Kafka op. 35 (1951)
Halil, from: La Méditerranée - Rhapsodie for piano op. 28 (1945)
from: Acht Lieder aus Goethes "Chinesisch-Deutschen Jahres- and Tageszeiten" op. 32 (1949)
I. Moderato: Sag, was könnt uns Mandarinen
II. Zart, nicht schleppen, frisch: Weiß wie Lilien, reine Kerzen
IV. Langsam, ruhig: Dämmrung senkte sich von oben
VII. with Heftigkeit: Hingesunken alten Träumen
Music by Tzvi Avni:
From There and Then. Prelude and Passacaglia for Piano (1998)
Performers: Katharina Göres, soprano
Holger Groschopp, piano
Prof. Tzvi Avni (Tel Aviv) and Prof. Dr. Reinhard Flender (Hamburg) talked with Dr. Albrecht Dümling.
(86) 12. February 2009 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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The blackbird's song: Heinz Tiessen (1887-1971) as composer, publicist and teacher
Only very few composers who were defamed by the Nazis could at the same time stay in their professional position.
Heinz Tiessen was one of them. He held his position as Professor for composition at the National Academy of Music (Staatliche Hochschule für Musik) Berlin through the Third Reich, but he was assaulted for his closeness to the avantgardistic "Melos" circle with Hermann Scherchen and for having founded a worker's choir.
After the war he was director of the famous Stern Conservatory and later resumed his post as Professor for composition at the National Academy of Music. He also became head of the music department of the Berlin Academy of the Arts. As a composer he was most prolific in the 1920's. His style was expressionistic, he also used jazzy rythms, and he was fascinated by the musical accomplishment of the blackbird.
Song: "Die Amsel hat gesungen" (Max Dauthendey) op. 22,2 (1915)
Elegy for viola and piano, op. 30,2 B (after "Hamlet-Suite" op. 30)
"Blackbird-Septet" for flute, clarinet, horn, 2 violins, viola and cello in G major, op. 20 (1915)
Performers: WORK IN PROGRESS-BERLIN ensemble for contemporary music:
(Katrin Plümer, flute; Matthias Badczong, clarinet; Aki Yamauchi, horn; Kathrein Allenberg and Biliana Voutchkova, violins; Karen Lorenz, viola; Marika Gejrot, cello)
Gerhardt Müller-Goldboom, conductor
Andreas Jocksch, baritone / recitation
Gottfried Eberle, piano
Guests: Marianne Koch-Höffer, Nele Hertling
Conception and moderation: Winfried Radeke
2008
(85) 11. December 2008 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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A strange connection: Heinz Tietjen and Leo Blech
Heinz Tietjen was general manager of Berlin Opera and artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival, so he was one of the mightiest personalities in the Third Reich's cultural life. He achieved an astounding degree of independence in aesthetic and artistic matters, a bit like Gustaf Gründgens. Until now, it is still a secret how he managed to keep Leo Blech, a "Non-Aryan",
as general music director of the State Opera, and also how exactly Tietjen helped Blech to escape from Riga, when Latvia was occupied by the German army in 1941.
Songs by Leo Blech (1871-1958)
Aus der Ferne in der Nacht (Otto Julius Bierbaum) op.9a Nr.2
Tausend Sterne (Wolfgang Hammann) op.20 Nr.1
Trennung (W. Hammann) op.20 Nr.2
6 Chansons from Der galante Abbé op.17 (Emmy Destinn)
Selection from Liedchen (Großen and kleinen Kindern vorzusingen) opp. 21, 22, 27 and 27
Performers: Sabine Hill, soprano
Stefan Paul, piano
Bernd Ludwig and Dominik Stein, speakers
Prof. Dr. Dietrich Steinbeck talked with Dr. Albrecht Dümling.
(84) 9. October 2008 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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The buried work of someone who was expelled three times:
The conductor Paul Kletzki (1900-1973) as a composer
The Polish composer Pavel Klecki studied in Warsaw and Berlin. Here he changed the spelling of his name in order to avoid wrong pronunciation. He had a promising start as conductor and as composer of songs, chamber music and symphonies. Furtwängler supported his career during the Weimar Republic. After WWII Kletzki became quite famous as a conductor in Israel, USA and Switzerland. But he had given up composing. He said that Hitlerism had damaged his volition to compose. Also he believed his manuscripts lost, because he had to leave them behind in a hotel in Italy which was bombed during the war. When the chest containing his music was found in 1965 he didn't dare to open it. But in fact all was intact.
String quartet No. 1 a Minor, op. 1 (1923)
String quartet No. 2 c Minor, op. 13 (1925)
Performers: casalQuartett
Rachel R. Späth and Daria Zappa, violins
Markus Fleck, viola
Andreas Fleck, cello
Habakuk Traber talked with Karl Schüpbach (former member of Bern Symphony Orchestra) and Markus Fleck.
(83) 26. June 2008 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Synagogal depth - Modern architecture of sound: The composer Samuel Adler (*1928)
From Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano (1956): Allegro moderato
From Close Encounters for violin and cello (1989): Slowly and lyrically
Canto X for cello (1979)
Trio for violin, cello and piano (1964)
Performers: Tatjana Blome, piano
Wolfgang Bender, violin
Maria Wiesmaier, cello
Moderation: Bettina Brand
(82) 22. May 2008 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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In Terezin with a guitar: Ilse Weber (1903-1944), poet and singer
Ilse Weber intended to bridge the gap between the different cultures in the Czechoslovak Republic with theatre plays, articles and radio programs. Under the German occupation this was no longer desired. Shortly before she was deported to Theresienstadt she managed to get her elder son evacuated to Sweden. In the ghetto she wrote numerous songs and poems. She was killed in Auschwitz in 1944, together with her younger son Tommy.
All existing songs
Selection of poems
Fairytale: "Riwke bäckt Barches"
Performers: Maria Thomaschke and Andreas Jocksch: voices
Kathrin Redlich, guitar
Timofey Sattarov, Bajan
Volker Suhre, double bass
Winfried Radeke, cembalo
Guest: Rahel Rosa Neubauer
Arrangements and moderation: Winfried Radeke
(81) 10. April 2008 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Banned from his profession because of a mixed marriage: Justus Hermann Wetzel (1879-1973)
The composer Justus Hermann Wetzel taught at the Academy for Sacred and Educational Music in Berlin until the Nazis banned him from his profession and forbade performances of his music. Just because he refused to be divorced from his Jewish wife. After the war he became professor for composition at the Academy of Music.
Songs on poems by Hermann Hesse:
- Gute Stunde
- Meinem Bruder
- Die Kindheit
- Jugendgarten
- Immerzu
- Flötenspiel
- Geist der Liebe
- Im Nebel
- Zusammenhang
Songs on poems by Herbert Roch:
- Der schwere Traum
- Im Felde
From Dritter Liederkreis for 1-2 voices and piano, op. 13 after Joseph Freiherr v. Eichendorff:
- Elfe
- Wanderschaft
- Morgenständchen
- Der Student
- Das zerbrochene Ringlein
- Treue
- Andenken
Performers: Ute Beckert, soprano
Jörg Gottschick, baritone
Ulrich Wildenhof, recitation
Gottfried Eberle, piano and moderation
Guest: Ruth Ruiz-Pipó (geb. Wetzel)
(80) 7. February 2008 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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At first celebrated, then expelled: The composer Richard Mohaupt (1904-1957)
The premiere of Mohaupt's opera Die Wirtin von Pinsk in Dresden (under Karl Böhm) received great acclaim - albeit it took place only by special permission from the Reichsmusikkammer. Mohaupt was under pressure because his wife was Jewish and Russian. He escaped to New York in 1939. Several conductors in America promoted his music, e.g. Fritz Reiner, Dimitri Mitropoulos and Leopold Stokowski. After the war Mohaupt reactivated his connections to theatres in Germany. He spent the last two years of his life in Austria.
Passacaglia of the Refugees (1939)
Overture to the opera "Die Wirtin von Pinsk" (1937)
Radio melodrama "Der Pilot im Paradies" (1935, excerpt)
Stadtpfeifermusik for orchestra (1949, hist. record)
Lyrics of the finale of the unfinished opera "Morituri" (1939/1955)
Dr. Antibioticus' aria from the opera "Double-Trouble" (1954)
Arrangements: Winfried Radeke
Performers: Andreas Jocksch, baritone and recitator
Vokalensemble "Quintessenz!"
Manfred Schmidt and Cristian Peix, piano duet
Winfried Radeke talked with Prof. Dr. Friedrich Geiger
2007
(79) 22. November 2007 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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The Scorned Instrument: Sigurd Rascher (1907-2001), Pioneer of the Saxophone
Music composed for Sigurd Rascher
Wolfgang Jacobi: Sonata for alto saxophone and piano
Edmund von Borck: Introduction and Capriccio op. 11
Paul Hindemith: Concert piece for two saxophones
Paul Dessau: Suite for saxophone and piano
Bernhard Heiden: Sonata for saxophone and piano
Performers: Harry White and Frank Lunte, saxophone
Tatjana Blome, piano
Albrecht Dümling talked with Harry White and Frank Lunte
(78) 11. October 2007 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Composer, Ethnologist and University lecturer: Walter Kaufmann (1907-1984)
Walter Kaufmann owed his artistic and academic skills to Franz Schreker and Curt Sachs, his teachers in Berlin. When he moved to India in 1934 his talents enabled him to become an intermediary between Indian and European music. Later in his life he worked in Canada and finally, for decades, at Indiana University in Bloomington. Celebrating Kaufmann's 100th anniversary, we pay tribute to his worldwide engangement.
"In meines Vaters Garten" (1933)
Seven songs on poems by Heinz Politzer
Scherzo f minor (1924)
Meditation for piano (1924)
"Mondnacht" (1930)
Sonatina for piano
Piano sonata (1948-1951)
Performers: Christfried Biebrach, baritone
Friederike Haufe, piano
Volker Ahmels, piano
Michael Dasche talked with Agata Schindler
(77) 7. June 2007 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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The Multilingual. Early works by Erwin Schulhoff
Few composers equalled Schulhoff in their ability to absorb all the different tendencies of the time. Schulhoff adopted jazz as well as the atonal style of the Second Viennese School. He gave every piece its own stilistic hue. This is especially true for the songs and violin music from the early years of his career. Some of them, like the Wilde songs, are impressionistic, on the other hand Schulhoff adopted Czech folk music.
Two Gypsy melodies (Adolf Heyduk)
Three songs for alto with piano accompaniment, op.15 (Oscar Wilde)
Suite for violin and piano, op.1
Folk Songs and Dances from Schlesisch-Teschen (selection)
Drei Stimmungsbilder for soprano, violin and piano, op.12
Performers: Olga Černá, mezzo-soprano
František Kůda, piano
Jan Jouza, violin
Gottfried Eberle talked with Olga Černá
(76) 26. April 2007 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Left out - Life as ellipse.
The composers Karl Rankl (1898-1968) and Georg Tintner (1917-1999)
They both were famous conductors from Vienna, who had studied with distinguished composers:
Rankl with Arnold Schönberg and Tintner with Joseph Marx. National Socialism interrupted their promising careers as conductors. Both fled to England and later they moved on to New Zealand, Australia and Canada. As composers, they took different paths. Rankl tended more and more to tonality, whereas Tintner developed towards radical expressionism.
This can be observed for example in his piece The Ellipse for soprano and string quartet, which reflects life in exile through combining German and English lyrics. The title refers to the geometrical form as well as to the linguistic term (which denotes leaving out parts of a sentence).
Songs by Karl Rankl:
"Schließe mir die Augen beide" (Theodor Storm)
"Abendständchen" (Clemens Brentano) 1922
Three songs from his middle period (Oxford 1942):
"A Girls Mood" op.7,1 // "Gather ye Rose-birds" op.7,5 // "Coming and Going" op. 7,7
Two late songs:
"Wiegenlied" (Detlev von Liliencron) // "Gottes Segen" (Joseph v. Eichendorff) 1964
Songs by Georg Tintner:
"Junge Liebe" (1935 - 1940):
1. Dämmerstunde (Theodor Storm)
2. Der Vogel (Otto Julius Bierbaum)
3. Schließe mir die Augen beide (Theodor Storm)
4. Mondnacht (Georg v. Kuh)
5. Liebeslied (Rainer Maria Rilke)
"Frühling" (Hermann Hesse) 1936
Georg Tintner:
"The Ellipse" for soprano and string quartet (1955-1959)
Performers: Katharina Göres, soprano
Gottfried Eberle, piano
Koehne quartet (Vienna):
Joanna Lewis, violin
Anne Harvey-Nagl, violin
Elaine Koene, viola
Mara Kronick, cello
Albrecht Dümling talked with Matthias Wurz (Vienna) and Tanya Tintner (Halifax/Kanada)
(75) 8. February 2007 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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The young trumpeter in Theresienstadt: What has become of Paul Aron Sandfort
Nearly everbody in Theresienstadt knew Hans Krása's children's opera Brundibár. Paul Aron Sandfort played the trumpet in many performances. He had been deported to Terezin ghetto from Denmark in 1943, where he had found refuge in 1935 together with his mother. After the war he returned to Copenhagen. He became a writer and also a composer.
In later years, he wrote the melodrama Nachschub and the theatre play Der Besuch. These are examinations of the unfathomable subject "Theresienstadt" - based on personal experience, in later reflection and with the everlasting question: why?
"Nachschub" ("Replenishment") for speaker, string quartet, flute and trumpet (words 1947, music 2001)
Excerpts from "Der Besuch" ("The visitation") (2005)
Performers:
Sören Linke, trumpet
Antje Schurrock, flute
Cornelia Dill and Ulrike Töppen, violins
Amalia Aubert, viola
Werner Klemm, cello
Bernd Ludwig and Dominik Stein, voices.
Gottfried Eberle and Winfried Radeke talked with Paul Aron Sandfort
2006
(74) 26. October 2006 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Berlin - New York - Berlin. The Composer Ursula Mamlok (*1923)
Ursula Mamlok was born in Berlin. In 1939 she escaped to Ecuador together with her parents. At the age of 17 she won a scholarship for Mannes School of Music, so she moved to New York, just her, without her parents who could follow only later. In the US she studied with Stefan Wolpe, Roger Sessions, Ralph Shapey, and others. For 40 years she taught composing at Manhattan School of Music and became one of the most distinguished American composers. Recently Ursula Mamlok returned to live in Berlin.
Haiku Settings (1967) for soprano and flute
Music for Viola and Harp (1965/rev. 2003)
Sonar Trajectory (1966) for tape
Andreasgarten (1987) for mezzo-soprano, flute and harp
Rhapsody (1989) for clarinet, viola and piano
2000 Notes (2000) for piano
Performers: Verena Rein, soprano
modern art ensemble:
Klaus Schöpp, flute
Helge Harding, clarinet
Jean-Claude Velin, viola
Katharina Hanstedt, harp
Yoriko Ikeya, piano
Ursula Mamlok talked with Bettina Brand
(73) 28. September 2006 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Persecuted as Jew and later as "Formalist": Karel Reiner (1910-1979)
In the 1930s Karel Reiner was a key figure of the music avantgarde in Prague. When the Jews were excluded from public life in the so-called "Protektorat" after March 1939, Reiner organised illegal concerts and performed there. For example, he premiered his patriotic second piano sonata in this context. He and his wife Hana were deported to Terezin ghetto in 1943. From all the composers who lived and worked in Terezin he was the only one to survive. He returned to Prague and made a career as composer and as an official in cultural organisations. But he also suffered ideologic vilification. This culminated in a ban of his music after 1970. Thus he was pushed into oblivion.
From "Five Jazz-Etudes" for piano (1930): No. 2 and 3
"Sonata brevis" for cello and piano (1946)
From "Marginálie" for bass clarinet (1979): Nr. 3, 5-7
"Volné listy" ("Scattered leaves") for clarinet, cello and piano (1969)
Performers: Hui-Ping Lan, piano
Tara Bouman, clarinet and bass clarinet
Sebastian Foron, cello
Peter Sarkar talked with Anke Zimmermann and Thomas Müller (Halle/Saale).
(72) 1. June 2006 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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An ostracised is made president: The composer and educator Siegfried Borris (1906-1987)
Georg Schünemann, deputy director of the Berlin Music Academy, saw that Siegfried Borris Zuckermann, born in Berlin in 1906, had multiple talents. Even when he still studied composition with Paul Hindemith, Borris was allowed to teach at the same institution. He finished his doctoral dissertation just in time, before he was expelled from the academy in 1933. Whereas his father was murdered in Auschwitz, Siegfried Borris survived under swashbuckling circumstances. After the war, he became one of the leading personalities in West Germany's musical life. For example, he became president of the German Music Council (Deutscher Musikrat).
Three early songs:
Im Moor (Karl Maerten) op.3, Nr.1 (January 1925)
Veilchen (Lore v. Ledebur) op.5, Nr.2 (23.III.1925)
Abendlied (Franz Evers) op.12, Nr.2 (20.X.1926)
Four poems from "Weg and Wende" (1941):
Aufklang - Abendlied - Vom Kinde - Schweigen
Die ferne Flöte (Klabund) op.12, Nr.1 (1935)
Two songs from "Weg and Wende" op. 24 (1941/42):
Märzlied - Hoffende in der Nacht
Four poems from "Sommergesang" (1946):
Mailied - An einen Vogel - Juninacht - Hochsommer
Trio for clarinet, cello and piano op. 139 (1980)
Performers: Katharina Göres, soprano
Olga Kotchenkova, cello
Hanno Pilz, clarinet
Gottfried Eberle, piano
Albrecht Dümling talked with Juliane Lepsius and Gisela Bauer.
(71) 11. May 2006 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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Bereft from oblivion: The composer Edwin Geist
The composer Edwin Geist, born in Berlin in 1902, felt a mission to renovate opera by establishing a new genre called "Musikschauspiel" (musical play). But the nazis destroyed his plan. They categorised him "half-Jewish". He escaped to Lithuania, but when the country was occupied by Germany in 1941, Geist was persecuted again. In 1942 he was murdered. For a while, there had been hope: Couragious friends helped him to get released from the ghetto, and they also managed to free his wife. Only recently the author Reinhard Kaiser told Geist's swashbuckling story in the biography Unerhörte Rettung ("egregious rescue"). Our guest Margarete Holzman remembers the composer from her childhood because he and her parents had been close friends.
Three songs for baritone and violin (Zürich, 1928)
Two arias from "Die Heimkehr des Dionysos" (Berlin, 1934-38)
Three Lithuanian songs (Kaunas, 1939/40)
Performers: Verena Rein, soprano
David Pichlmaier, baritone
Anita Keller, piano
Kolja Lessing, violin
Reinhard Kaiser talked with Kolja Lessing and Margarete Holzman.
(70) 16. March 2006 "Persecution and Rediscovery"
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Musikclub
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"...und die Musik spielt dazu!" - Cabaret in Theresienstadt
Part of the so-called "Freizeitgestaltung" in Theresienstadt were cabaret performances. They, like the other artists, played a supernumerary role in the perfidious game of deceit which the Nazis performed for the world. But on the other hand cabaret helped the inmates to keep up their morale.
There is a lot of research still to be done. This lecture recital is one step in the quest.
We present lyrics by Leo Strauss, Manfred Greiffenhagen, Ludwig Hift and Frieda Rosenthal, which have been written on existing popular melodies. In other cases, the music has been composed in Theresienstadt by composers like Martin Roman, Adolf Strauss, and Ilse Weber.
Performers: Maria Thomaschke and Andreas Jocksch, voices
Uri Rom, piano.
Eva Maria Straussová-Erard, daughter of the composer Adolf Strauss, talked with Winfried Radeke.