Music Restitution

On February 3rd 2015, I was asked by the Holocaust Research Centre, headed by Prof. David Cesarani at Royal Holloway College, University of London to give their annual Holocaust Lecture. I Chose the… Continue reading

A South American Story of Music Exile: Guillermo Graetzer (Wilhelm Grätzer):

An area that remains totally under-researched is the fate of music-exiles in South and Latin America. Occasionally a wisp of a story pops up such as Hans Joachim Köllreuter who taught, amongst others,… Continue reading

‘La-La-La!!! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!!’

There has been an indecently long gap since my last posting. This was due to a computer crash, travels and deadlines that were made all the more stressful with the loss of important… Continue reading

A Feisstian View of Schoenberg in America

Just as I completed reading Sabine Feisst’s excellent Schoenberg’s New World – the American Years, the Times Literary Supplement asked if I would review two new books on Schoenberg. I won’t give away… Continue reading

The Skewered ‘Way of Life’ of Roger Scruton

This article in today’s Guardian is by Roger Scruton, a philosopher with a leaning towards Hegelian aesthetics. In it, he pleads for his concept of ‘conservatism’ and explains why it’s hard to ‘think’… Continue reading

Conferences – August 2014

Unlike full-time academics, conferences make up very little of my yearly schedule. When I can make one, I find them rewarding and encouraging as they highlight how far interest and research have come… Continue reading

Beyond Ideology

At the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices symposium, ‘Music, Censorship and Meaning in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union: Echoes and Consequences’, held at Los Angeles’s Colburn School, I gave the following paper.… Continue reading

Further Observations on Austria Hungary in the First World War

Now that I’ve finished Musil’s Mann ohne Eigenschaften, I can plough ahead with Manfried Rauchensteiner’s magisterial history of Austria-Hungary in the First World War. I’ve got as far as the 12th Isonzo Offensive… Continue reading

‘We’ve Conquered Reality and thereby lost our Dreams’: Robert Musil’s ‘The Man without Qualities’ – or ‘Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften’

Thank goodness I didn’t read Marcl Reich-Ranicki’s demolition job of Musil’s 2000 page, incomplete novel – is that the right word? – The Man without Qualities. Everything Reich-Ranicki criticises about Musil’s monster is… Continue reading

Interview with Michael Haas by Jewish Music Institute Radio

An Interview with me at the Jewish Music Institute’s Radio, based at London University. Selections featured in the interview are (in order): Franz Schreker’s opera ‘Die Gezeichneten’, followed by Jaromir Weinberger’s ‘Schwander the… Continue reading