The Winterberg Puzzle’s Darker and Lighter Shades
Banned first by Hitler, then later by the Sudeten German Music Institute – Hans Winterberg, Theresienstadt survivor and the missing link in Czech music
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Exilarte in the time of Covid-19
Despite Covid, the work of the Exilarte Centre carries on – a report on what’s been happening over the past year
Jewish Music Identity and the Crisis of Exile: Part 3 “DAS HOHELIED” AND “THE SONG OF SONGS: A CASE STUDY
This follows parts 1 and 2 in dealing with the crisis of Jewish identity by exile composers. In part 3, we take a case study of two composers as they set “The Song of Solomon”, known by one composer as “Song of Songs” and by the other as “Das Hohelied”.
THE MUSIC OF INNER-RETURN: PART 2
There is another important element that illustrates “inner return”: it’s the concept of “return”, when composers prominent as pre-war modernists return to old-fashioned concepts such as symphonies, sonatas and string quartets. Of these… Continue reading
The Music of Inner Return: Part 1
Apologies are due for having neglected this blog for so many months. There has been an inordinate amount of activity at the exil.arte Centre with acquisitions of several important estates, a symposium which… Continue reading
“Vom Jüdischen Schicksal” – The Jewish Cultural League, or Der Kulturbund
(Richard Fuchs’ “Vom Jüdischen Schicksal”, written for the Kulturbund. World Premiere in Wellington New Zealand, 2014: Jenny Wollerman, Christian Thurston, Cantoris Choir, NZSM Orchestra, Donald Maurice – conductor) One of the most unsettling… Continue reading
The False Myths and True Genius of Erich Wolfgang Korngold
1897 was an eventful year for music in Vienna: Johannes Brahms died and Gustav Mahler took over the Imperial Opera; the anti-Semitic Karl Lueger was elected mayor; the Eleven-year-old Ernst Toch decided to… Continue reading
Eric(h) Zeisl (1905-1959): The One Who (Nearly) Got Away
My article on Eric Zeisl from 2014 updated with its formerly corrupted audio files replaced.
Jewish Music Identity and the Crisis of Exile: Part 2
In an article in the Los Angeles Times from October 2 1938,Rabbi Jacob Sonderling describes his meeting with Ernst Toch, Boris Morros, the actor Leopold Jessner and the story behind Toch’s setting of the Haggadah in his Cantata of the Bitter Herbs op. 65. Before this, however, Sonderling relates his desire to renew the music of the liturgy in a story that resonates with the idea of the prodigal son:
Jewish Musical Identity and the Crisis of Exile: Part 1
How and in what manner did secular composers thrown out of Europe after 1933 for being Jewish express Jewish identity in music?
On July 31. 2020, The Composer Walter Arlen Turns 100
The composer, former music critic and teacher, Walter Arlen is 100 years old and like any centenarian, he has many stories to tell. Unlike many centenarians, he has lived through more than a… Continue reading
Review of Eva Rieger’s Biography of Frida Leider
A review of Eva Rieger’s excellent biography of the Wagnerian soprano Frida Leider
Musicology and the Music Business – a Personal Journey
By allowing research to re-create the biotope of past creativity, we can increase understanding and appreciation of unfamiliar repertoire among artists and audiences.
HANS GÁL, HIS SACRED DUCK AND BEYOND
Since posting this article six years ago, the discovery of Hans Gál has carried on at such a pace, that an update is required, demanding a broader focus than his opera Die heilige… Continue reading
Musings on 2020
Politics and the arts – what might it mean for the next decade?