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:
How and in what manner did secular composers thrown out of Europe after 1933 for being Jewish express Jewish identity in music?
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
A review of Eva Rieger’s excellent biography of the Wagnerian soprano Frida Leider
By allowing research to re-create the biotope of past creativity, we can increase understanding and appreciation of unfamiliar repertoire among artists and audiences.
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
Politics and the arts – what might it mean for the next decade?
This is a paper I was invited to give in Brussles earlier this month as part of a conference organised by “Forum Voix Etouffées” The destruction of Habsburg Austria would result in an… Continue reading
With May 2019, exil.arte came into its third year, following its official public opening two years ago. I’ve already documented exil.arte with three previous article: The first was when we were given the… Continue reading
“Jewish Destiny” is the English translation of “Jüdisches Schicksal”, which in turn was the title of a large oratorio written by Richard Fuchs. We’ll come to this work later, though I have already… Continue reading
