Painting from Terezín by Josef Novak.
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music for comfort and hope
As the coronavirus pandemic affects our lives, we look to the Terezín composers and their compatriots, whose music affirmed life. We hope listening to this music brings you hope, comfort, and inspiration, and we wish you health and safety.
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Portrait by Charlotte Buresová. Terezín 1944.
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April 23, 2020: Gideon Klein String trio (terezín 1944)
Gideon Klein, often recognized by survivors as "our own Leonard Bernstein," composed this work just ten days before his transport from Terezín to Auschwitz. It feels accessible and light-hearted, but it also includes references to works by other composers and folk music of his native Moravia, perhaps a message about the loss of European and Jewish culture. The trio was first performed in 1946 in Prague's Rudolfinum, in a concert organized by Klein's sister and conducted by Karel Ancerl, who was also interned in Terezín. Ancerl wrote, "Where there was a valuable cultural performance, there for sure Gideon Klein was the initiator." Here are all three movements.
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April 3, 2020: The KrÁsa Skyscape Project
You're watching TMF's Krása Skyscape Project — the Hawthorne String Quartet and painter Jim Schantz creating art together — during a 2009 residency at Skidmore College.
This project is the first fulfillment of Terezín composer Hans Krása's intent that an artist create a canvas live during performance of his 1924 String Quartet. TMF Executive Director Mark Ludwig learned of Krása's wish in an interview with Terezín survivor Eliska Klein, who was Krása's wife and the sister of Terezín composer Gideon Klein. Performing here as Jim paints are Hawthorne String Quartet members Ronan Lefkowitz, Si-Jing Huang, Mark Ludwig, and Sato Knudsen. After the Krása String Quartet, they perform music by Franz Schubert (No. 13 Rosamunde); Charles Ives (No. 1); and Elliott Carter (Fragment No. 2). At Skidmore, the HSQ served as Sterne Virtuoso Artists in Residence for a three-day festival of performances and teaching, Mark Ludwig lectured on Entartete Musik, and TMF conducted a Yom Hashoah program. The HSQ has distinguished itself internationally by championing works by composers persecuted by the Nazi regime. |
Pavel Haas with his wife and child.
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March 26, 2020: String quartet no. 2, "From the Monkey Mountains," by Pavel Haas
Performed by the Hawthorne String Quartet on a Decca Recording titled "Entartete Musik."
Here is a visit to the Moravian Highlands in a work Haas completed in 1926, well before his internment in Terezín, where he became a major voice in the camp's cultural community. Listen for the opening calm which returns in the third movement, evocations of the coach and horse, the intimacy of "The Moon and I," and folk melodies mixed with jazz elements in "Wild Night." The first movement is on autoplay. Click to hear the others.
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Erwin Schulhoff with his son.
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March 17, 2020: Concertino for Flute, Viola, and Bass
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