Last Musik at Center for Jewish History Program

Transcription

imp 14 marzo_Layout 1 18/03/16 13.11 Pagina 1
HONORARY COMMITTEE
ISABELLA DEL FRATE RAYBURN
ARIEL AND TAMARA ELIA
ALEX AND BROOKE GOREN
JAMES AND MANUELA GOREN
JOHN AND NIZZA HEYMAN
DOMINIQUE LEVY
JOEL LEVY
LOUIS PERLMAN
PAT SCHOENFELD
H.E. ITALIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES
ARMANDO VARRICCHIO
CAST
UTE LEMPER
with
DANIEL HOFFMAN violin
FRANCESCO LOTORO piano
VICTOR VILLENA bandoneon
special guest star DAVID
KRAKAUER
We are honored and privileged to join in this most important endeavor of Last Musik. As President and CEO
of the Center for Jewish History, and also as one who
lived and worked in Germany for many years, I greatly appreciate the efforts to collect and preserve compositions of those – Jews and others – who were subjected to the most horrific acts of the Holocaust.
Through the efforts of Last Musik, the composers whose
works are being preserved can be appreciated as integral members of society and as the great creators of
the culture they were. The work of Last Musik goes
hand-in-hand with that of the Center for Jewish History and our partners – to collect, preserve and disseminate the works and achievements of Jewish communities from around the world. I’m personally very pleased
to host and collaborate with such a valuable organization with a mission so complementary to our own.
Joel Levy
President and CEO of the Center for Jewish History
Almost three years have gone by since I met Francesco Lotoro in
Barletta, a small town in southern Italy. It was an encounter that
changed my life. The unique mission of Last Musik, searching and
rescuing the music scores written in WW II concentration camps,
compelled me to get involved, ensuring that a heritage of humanity
at risk would never disappear. And, that is the reason why Last
Musik was created and why the ”Adopt a Score” campaign was
launched.
Today, when these notes are performed somewhere in the world,
it is not just an opportunity to discover forgotten melodies, but a
way to pay a tribute to all those musicians who reaffirmed their
dignity through creativity as an act of resistance. These scores are
an example of how the human spirit can survive even in the most
inhuman conditions.
Last Musik invites you all to share this music, as members of a
unique orchestra celebrating life, freedom and creativity.
Donatella Altieri
President LAST MUSIK
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In the bleak Nazi death camps a surprising number of men performed acts of spiritual survival that, revisited 70 years later, represent a profound and heroic testament to human ability to triumph
over evil. Their work was often created surreptitiously in the infirmaries, where security tended to be lax, or in the barracks, sacrificing their scarce hours of sleep. Urgently, they scribbled their notes
on clothing, toilet paper, and stray bits of paper (found who knows
where), composing magnificent works of music.
That any music was composed in such desperate circumstances is
in itself remarkable; that so much of it has survived, even more so.
In some cases, Nazi guards themselves preserved the compositions.
In others, they were saved by prisoners who had more freedom of
movement or could commit the works to memory and to transcribe
them later. Some were buried and only liberation brought the opportunity to retrieve these exceptional treasures.
Today, another miracle is at work: Francesco Lotoro, a composer,
musician, and musicologist who has spent the past thirty years
gathering, re-transcribing, curating and cataloguing this unique historical collection. He has pursued the project to rescue these musical artifacts from oblivion with single-minded dedication at his own
personal expense. In the process, he has restored and preserved a
little-known but significant aspect of Jewish culture - a culture that
the Nazis intended to eradicate.
Many of these compositions are masterpieces of overpowering
beauty. A significant collection belongs to the Kabarett genre which
was very popular in Eastern Europe in the 1920s and 1930s (and became famous in America as well, through the movie Cabaret with
Liza Minelli). Most of the Kabarett authors were Jewish and many
of them ended up in concentration camps, where they continued to
write and perform, often in secret. Most times however they were
forced to perform for the Nazis, who liked music and also used it to
avoid chaos during train arrivals, roll calls, marches and, horrifically,
to accompany prisoners to the gas chambers.
Some songs are full of humor, with the typical Jewish witz even in
that bleak environment; others are shot through with despair. But
they are all powerful testaments to the human spirit, both in their
words and in the musical scores, written by great poets and composers.
We are proud to present a selection of these masterpieces tonight,
thanks to Francesco Lotoro, who for the last thirty years has dedicated his life to collecting them; and Ute Lemper who has chosen
to be the witness of this unique endeavor.
Viviana Kasam and Marilena Citelli Francese
Coproducers of the concert
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PROGRAM
SHTILER SHTILER
QUIET QUIET
Alexander Tamir / SH Kacserginsly
A ZUMER TOG
A SUMMER DAY
Rikle Glezer / H. Yablokof
A YIDDISHE KIND
A JEWISH CHILD
Unknown / Hanah Haytin
ICH WANDRE DURCH THERESIENSTADT
I AM WALKING THROUGH THERESIENSTADT
Ilse Weber
ZI IS MEIN HERZ
THIS IS MY HEART
Unknown, remembered by Jack Garfein
DER TANGO FUN OSVIENTSHIM
THE TANGO OF AUSCHWITZ
Unknown from Auschwitz
MEIN ZAWOE
MY WILL
Johanna Spector
WIEGENLIED
CRADLE SONG
Jascha Rabinovic
MARGARITKELECH
DAISIES
traditional, arranged by Viktor Ullmann
A MEIDEL IN DIE JOHREN
A SPINSTER
traditional, arranged by Viktor Ullmann
AUF DER HEIDE
IN THE FIELDS
Willy Rosen
DU HAST JA SCHON LAENGST EIN ANDERE IM SINN
YOU ARE ALREADY THINKING OF SOMEONE ELSE
Willy Rosen
ON A HEYM
WITHOUT A HOME
Unknown from Soznov
UTE LEMPER
Ute Lemper’s career is vast and varied. She has made her
mark on the stage, in films, in concerts and as a unique
recording artist, on more than 30 albums over 30 years
of her career. She has been universally praised for her
interpretations of Berlin Cabaret Songs, the works of Kurt
Weill and Berthold Brecht and the Chansons of Marlene
Dietrich, Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Leo Ferre, Jacques Prevert, Nino Rota, Astor Piazzolla and also her own compositions, as well as her portrayals in musicals and plays
on Broadway, in Paris, Berlin and in London’s West End.
Recently, Ute completed her brand new composition
9Secrets to the words of Paulo Coelho, based on his
book “Accra”. This new creation was released on CD
last fall under the label Edel in Germany, Switzerland and
Austria and internationally, under the label Steinway in
February 2016. Ute is accompanied by some of the finest
musicians from around the world, who use exotic instruments such as ancient Arabic guitars, shepherd flutes,
rebec and percussions. The great Gil Goldstein plays the
accordion and has written masterful string arrangements.
At the same time, 70 years after the end of World War
II and the liberation of the concentration camps, Ute is
working on a commemoration of the Holocaust with
Songs for Eternity, a concert that is dedicated to the
songs created in the ghettos and concentration camps.
She researched with Francesco Lotoro and Orly Beigel
an unbelievable collection of songs written in the darkest moments of imprisoned life, facing inhumane cruelties, torture and death.
Recent projects have been: Forever, an homage to the
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, in which she presents her
self-composed song cycle to his passionate love poems;
Ultimo Tango, presenting a journey through the songs
of Astor Piazzolla, the fabulous Argentinian composer
of Tango Nuevo and The Bukowski Project, a rather
avant-garde, adventurous collage of music and songs
from the poetry of Charles Bukowski.
Ute was born in Munster, Germany and completed her
studies at The Dance Academy in Cologne and the Max
Reinhardt Seminar Drama School in Vienna. Her professional debut on the musical stage was in the original
Vienna production of Cats in the roles of Grizabella and
Bombalurina. In 1993-1994, Ute was awarded Billboard
Magazine’s Crossover Artist of the Year. She also received
the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1998
for her role as Velma Kelly in the London production of
Chicago. Most recently, Ute was nominated for a Grammy for her CD Berlin Days/Paris Nights with the Vogler
String Quartet and Stefan Malzew on the Piano.
Ms. Lemper lives in New York with her four children,
Max, Stella, Julian and Jonas.
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DAVID KRAKAUER
Only a select few artists have the ability to convey their message to the back row, to galvanize an audience with a visceral power that connects on a universal level. David Krakauer is such an artist. Widely considered one of the greatest clarinetists on the planet, he has been praised internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer as well as a major voice in classical music.
Known simply as "Krakauer" to his fervent following, he is nothing less than an American original who
has embarked on a tremendous journey transforming the music of his Eastern European Jewish heritage
into something uniquely contemporary. That journey has lead Krakauer to an astounding diversity of
projects and collaborations ranging from solo appearances with orchestras to major festival concerts with
his own improvisation based bands.
He has shared the stage with a wide array of artists such as the Klezmatics, Fred Wesley, Itzhak Perlman,
Socalled, Eiko and Koma, Leonard Slatkin and Iva Bitova while being sought after by such composers as
Danny Elfman, Osvaldo Golijov, David Del Tredici, John Zorn, George Tsontakis, Mohammed Fairouz and
Wlad Marhulets to interpret their works. In addition, he has performed with renowned string quartets including the Kronos, Tokyo and the Emerson and as soloist with orchestras such as the Orchestre de Lyon,
the Orquestra Sinfonica de Madrid, the Phoenix Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Dresdener
Philharmonie and the Detroit Symphony, among many others.
Krakauer’s upcoming release in the U.S. is Checkpoint with his band Ancestral Groove. Already a hit in
Europe, the band represents a next step in his unique musical evolution. Here’s Krakauer remixing Krakauer,
hitting the road with his unmistakable sound, new arrangements of his signature repertoire and an electrifying 4-piece band known by most as Krakauer’s jazz outfit.
Having been showered with accolades for his groundbreaking work in classical, klezmer and jazz, last
year Krakauer launched his ambitious multimedia theatrical show, The Big Picture. It very well may be his
most adventurous project to date. With an all-star crew of fellow musical renegades, Krakauer is re-imagining familiar themes by such renowned film music composers as John Williams, Marvin Hamlisch, Randy
Newman, Wojciech Kilar and Vangelis, as well as interpreting melodic gems by the likes of Sidney Bechet,
Sergei Prokofiev, Mel Brooks, Ralph Burns, John Kander & Fred Ebb and Jerry Bock that have appeared in
popular films. These themes are accompanied by originally created full screen visuals. Having already contributed to films by directors Ang Lee and Sally Potter, Krakauer now takes on the challenge of bringing a modernist vision to tunes that resonate on a deeply emotional level with generations of moviegoers.
At the 2015 Grammy Awards, Krakauer was nominated for his work in the category of Best Classical Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.
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FRANCESCO LOTORO
Musician, musicologist, renowned expert of the music written in WW II concentration camps, Francesco
Lotoro studied at the Music Conservatory of Bari (Italy) where he received a piano diploma. He continued
his studies at the Budapest Listz Music Academy where he completed his musical training under the guidance of Viktor Merzhanov, Tamas Vasary e Aldo Ciccolini. As a composer he wrote, among others, the opera Misha And The Wolves and The Requiem Barletta
9/12/1943.
Francesco Lotoro strongly believes that music is freedom. In 1998 he recorded all the piano and chamber
music compositions written by Alois Piňos, Petr Pokorný, Petr Eben, Miloslav Ištvan and Milan Knížák
under the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, but his whole life has been dedicated to the music
composed in WW II concentration camps. He spent more than thirty years researching the music scores
composed in the nazi lagers. A selection has been published in a 24 CD collection, KZ MUSIK. Francesco’s life and quest are narrated in THE MAESTRO, a book written by the journalist Thomas Saintourens
and published in France, Italy and Czechoslovakia. THE MAESTRO is now also a 90’ documentary film
coproduced by France and Italy, which will be released in the second half of 2016.
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VICTOR VILLENA
Born in Argentina in 1979, Victor Villena won the “Best Soloist” award in the National Competition of
Cosquin (Argentina) in 1997.
Following this achievement, he performed with several different orchestras in Buenos Aires, notably the
National Tango Orchestra Academy of Argentina (1996) and Color Tango (1998). Victor emigrated to France
in 1999. In 2007 he became musical director of Piazzolla’s Opera Maria de Buenos Aires at the National
Theater of Lisbon, with musicians of the Symphonic National orchestra of Portugal, which he conducted
again at the Edinburgh Queens’Hall in 2013.
In 2009 he began performing with classical music stars like Baiba Skride (Queen Elizabeth Award winner),
Jan Vogler, Carrie Dennis at the international Moritzburg Festival. He peformed Rêves et Désirs, composed
by Leo Sujatovich, with the Orchestre Philarmonique Radio France in July 2010, and created Together for
Violoncello and Tango Quintet with French leading cellist Henri Demarquette.
He participated on ARTE TV in the creation of 1000 Years of music in 60 minutes with Franck Braley (Queen
Elizabeth winner), Henri Demarquette and Olivier Charlier.
In 2013, he released his first and most important work as a soloist: Bandoneón ecléctico, selected to be
included in the Argentinian collection, The Art of Bandoneon, which was nominated among the best
Argentinian recordings of the year.
He participated in Ute Lemper’s recordings and live concerts Last Tango in Berlin and Pablo Neruda Love
songs.
International Press Attention:
New York Times, USA, 2014: “Mr. Villena’s bandoneon expressing extremes of earthiness and ethereality,
an emotional universe unto itself. A master of the instrument”
The Scotsman, UK, 2013: “Villena is the absolute Master of bandoneon”
Dresdner Nachrichten, Germany, 2007: “Victor Villena should perform in the greatest venues of the world.
His playing is an important moment of music”
Página 12, Argentine 2001: “Victor Villena is an exceptional representative of his generation”.
DANIEL HOFFMAN
One of the foremost experts of the Yiddish violin style, he is the descendent of a long line of Bessarabian furriers. He was born in Southern California and first heard klezmer music played by his father. A graduate of the
Manhattan School of Music, he also plays other Eastern European styles, as well as Turkish and Arabic music.
He co-founded the Middle-Eastern-klezmer-jazz fusion ensemble Davka in 1993 and the klezmer big band,
the Klez-X in San Francisco, and Trio Carpion in Israel. As a composer he has received numerous commissions,
including from the National Endowment for the Arts and Meet the Composer. He has written silent film scores,
concert pieces, and many theatrical scores. Along with librettist Yehudah Hyman, he wrote the musical David
in Shadow and Light, which was produced by Theater J in Washington DC. Daniel relocated to Israel in 2005,
where he has performed extensively at the National Theater, Habima, and with a dizzying array of local musical artists, including Ehud Banai, Sofi Tsedaka, Di Tsaytmashin, Harel Shachal and the Ottomans, Dionysis
Theodoros, among others. He recently performed Menachem Wiesenberg’s Suite Concertante for classical and
klezmer violins with the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble. He also appeared as soloist with the 16-piece Jerusalembased wind and percussion ensemble Marsh Dondurma and with the Haifa Big Band. He has led ensembles at
the Jerusalem Academy of Music as well as the Israel Conservatory Tel Aviv. Daniel is currently producing a
new documentary film series about the role of the violin in disparate cultures worldwide. In a feat of musical
extreme sports, he attempts the impossible task of learning a new musical style in a week, then performing
together with his teacher in concert. The first episode is based in Co. Clare, Ireland with master Irish fiddler
James Kelly. He lives in Tel Aviv with his wife and three children.
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THE SONGS
Shtiler shtiler
Alek Volkoviski (now Alexander Tamir)
Shtiler shtiler, lomir shvaygn / Kvorim vaksn do. / S’hobn zey farflantst di sonim: / Grinen zey tsum blo. /
S’firn vegn tsu ponar tsu, / S’firt keyn veg tsurik. / Iz der tate vu farshvundn / Un mit im dos glik. / Shtiler,
kind mayns, veyn nit oytser, / S’helft nit keyn geveyn / Undzer umglik veln sonim / Say vi nit farshteyn. /
S’hobn breges oykh di yamen. / S’hobn tfises oykhet tsamen, / Nor tsu undzer payn / Keyn bisl shayn / Keyn
bisl shayn / Friling afn land gekumen / Un undz harbst gebrakht / Iz der tog haynt ful mit blumen / Undz zet
nor di nakht / Goldikt shoyn der harbst af shtamen / Blit in undz der tsar; / Blaybt faryosemt vu a mame: /
S’kind geyt af ponar. / Vi di vilye a geshmidte / T’oykh geyokht in payn / Tsien kries ayz durkh lite / Itst in yam
arayn / S’vert der khoyshekh vu tserunen / Fun der fintster laykhtn zunen / Rayter kum geshvind, / Dikh ruft
dayn kind. / Shtiler shtiler s’kveln kvaln / Undz in harts arum. / Biz der toyer vet nit faln / Zayn mir muzn shtum.
/ Frey nit kind zikh, s’iz dayn shmeykhl / Itst far undz farat / Zen dem friling zol der soyne / Vi in harbst a blat.
/ Zol der kval zikh ruik flisn / Shtiler zay un hof / Mit der frayheyt kumt der tate / Shlof zhe kind mayn, shlof.
/ Vi di vilye a bafrayte / Vi di beymer grin banayte / Laykht bald frayheyts likht / Af dayn gezikht.
Quiet, quiet, let’s be silent, / Dead are growing here / They were planted by the tyrant / See their bloom
appear. / All the roads lead to Ponar now. / There are no roads back / And our father too has vanished, / And
with him our luck. / Still, my child, don’t cry, my jewel / Tears no help command / Our pain callous people /
Never understand / Seas and oceans have their order / Prison also has its border / Our torment is endless / Is
endless, / Spring has come, the earth receives her / But to us brings fall. / And the day is filled with flowers /
To us darkness calls. / Autumn leaves with gold are softened. / In us grow deep scars, / And a mother somewhere orphaned / Her child - in Ponar. / Now the river too is prisoner / Is enmeshed in pain / While the blocks
of ice tear through her, / To the ocean strain. / Still, things frozen melt, remember, / And cold winds to warmth
surreder / Future brings a smile / So calls your child, / So calls your child./ Quiet quiet, wells grow stronger /
Deep within our hearts, / Till the gates are there no longer, / No sound must impart. / Child, rejoice not, it’s
your smiling / That is not allowed / Let the foe encounter springtime / As an autumn cloud. / Let the well
flow gently onward / Silent be and dream. / Coming freedom brings your father, / Slumber, child serene. /
As the river liberated, / Springtime green is celebrated / Kindle freedom’s light, / It is your right. / It is your
right!
A musical competition was held In the Jewish ghetto of Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1942, with prizes for a song and
a music score. Many singers in the ghetto were murdered before the works were performed but the competition went ahead anyway. The winning song was a heartrending, melancholy lullaby in Yiddish entitled Shtiler,
Shtiler or “Hush, hush”. The composers’ names were not revealed until the end of the competition and kept
in a sealed envelope to be opened only when the prizes were awarded. It was a great surprise to discover that
the author of the winning song was a boy of 11, who used an apparently innocent lullaby to mask a protest
against the oppressors. The child composer was Alexander Volkoviski.
Young Alexander was first sent to the concentration camp of Stutthof near Danzig. At the end of the war he
emigrated to Israel and settled in Jerusalem, where he changed his name to Alex Tamir and became famous
with his wife Bracha Eden as a piano duo, performing all over the world and winning prestigious awards. Alex
still lives in Israel and has continued his musical activities since his wife’s death in 2006.
The 11-year-old composer also entered a piece for piano in the competition held in the ghetto of Vilnius, but
this has not survived.
13
Es Iz Geven A Zumer Tog
Text Rikle Glezer, Music by H. Yablokov
It was a summer day, / As always sunnily beautiful, / And nature was then / So full of charm. / Birds
were singing, / Cheerfully hopping around, / We were ordered into the ghetto. / Oh, imagine what happened to us! / We understood: all was lost. / Our prayers didn’t help, / That someone should rescue us
/ And sadly we left our homes. / The road streched far. / It was hard to walk. / It seems to me that looking at us / A stone would break into tears. / Old people and children walked / Like cattle to the sacrifice, / Human blood flowed in the street. / Now we are all sealed off, / Tortured, deceived by life. / Some
have no fathers, no mothers, / Few those who are together, / The enemy has reached his big goal. / We
were too many. / The master has commanded / To bring Jews from all around / And shoot them at Ponar.
/ Homes became empty, / But therefore the graves became full. / The enemy has reached his great goal.
/ On the roads to Ponar we can now see / Things, hats soaked by rain, / These are thing of people sacrificed, / From the holy souls, / The earth has covered them forever. / And now it is once more beautiful
and sunny. / The magnificent smell are all around, / And we are the tortured / And suffer in silence. /
Cut off from the world, / Blocked by high walls, / A ray of hope barely exists.
This song was written after the Vilna Jews were driven into the ghetto (September 6, 1941) and when a
number of them were murdered in the small village of Ponar 10 kilometers from Vilna. The author of the
song, a young girl, took her writings and tore herself from the ghetto to the partisan woods. Between
assignments Rikle Glezer continued to write and lived to see the day when, together with the Red Army,
she helped drive the Germans from her home country.
15
A Yiddish Kind
Lyrics by Hanah Haytin
In a Lithuanian distant village / Stands a house to one side. / Through a window not too large / Children
are looking out, / Little boys with agile heads, / Little girls with blonde braids, / And there, together with
them / Two dark eyes are looking. / Dark eyes full of charm, / And with a small little nose, / Lips- only
for kissing, / Well combed dark hair. / It is the mother who brought him / Wrapped up in the night, kissed
him fiercely and bewailed, / Quietly said to him: / “Here, my child, will be your place, / Listen to your
mother’s word. / I am hiding you here because, / Your life is in danger of being bound up, / With these
children play happily, / You must be quiet and obedient / Never say a Jewish word, or song, / Because
you are no longer a Jew”. / The child urgently pleads with her: / “Mother, I want only to be with you, /
Don’t leave me here alone”. / The child dissolves in tears. / She gives him many kisses, / but nothing will
help./ The child just pleads: No and no, / I don’t want to stay here by myself. / She takes him in her arms,
And with softness in her voice / She sings: “My young son” / And so she rocks him. / After that she cries
herself out / And she steps out of the house / Filled with worry and fright, / And in the night she goes
away. / It is cold outside and the wind, / Hears a voice, “Oh my child, / I have left you in strangers’ hands,
I couldn’t do anything else”. / And the mother goes, she talks to herself, / And outside- it’s cold and late,
/ The wind blows in her face / “God, protect my only child!” / A stranger’s house full of people. / The
lad is quiet and still. / Doesn’t speak, ask, or want anything, / Seldom he is heard to laugh… / Not a day
not a night, / He doesn’t sleep, nor is he awake. / Vasilko- a stranger’s name / Pains his heart and he
mourns. / Mother aimlessly goes around, / Like her Yossele, also silent / Nobody knows, nobody cares,
And she waits and waits and waits. / She is like Yocheved, / Because as Moses on the river / Alone, lonesome before the wind / She let go her only child.
This song was written after the dreadful slaughter of children in the ghettos and concentration camps of
Lithuania (March 1943). Some of the children tried to save themselves from the murderers by hiding.
Others were smuggled by their mothers out of the ghettos and given to non-Jewish friends. Mothers would
also take their children out of the ghetto, place them near a non-Jewish house and abandon them to
God’s. The Author survived a German concentration camp.
16
Ich wandre durch
Theresienstadt
Ilse Herlinger Weber (1903–1944)
Words by Ilse Herlinger Weber
Theresienstadt 1943–1944.
Source: Bote & Bock, Berlin
Ich wandre durch Theresienstadt, das Herz so schwer wie Blei. / Bis jäh mein Weg ein Ende hat, dort knapp
an der Bastei. / Dort bleib ich auf der Brücke stehn und schau ins Tal hinaus: / ich möcht so gerne weiter gehn,
ich möcht so gern nach Haus! / Nach Haus – du wunderbares Wort, du machst das Herz mir schwer. / Man
nahm mir mein Zuhause fort, nun hab ich keines mehr. / Ich wende mich betrübt und man, so schwer wird
mir dabei: / Theresienstadt. Theresienstadt, wann wohl das Leid ein Ende hat, wann sind wir wieder frei?
I wander through Theresienstadt / with a heart as heavy as lead / until my path ends / at the foot of the ramparts. / I linger there near the bridge / and look towards the valley. / I would so love to go far away / back to
my home. / Home, what a wonderful word / to hang so heavy on my heart. / They took my home from me /
and now I have none. I wander in sad resignation, / Oh, how it all weighs upon me. / Theresienstadt, Theresienstadt, / when will our suffering end, / when will we regain our freedom?
“It is true that we can have a shower after the journey?” This is what Ilse Weber asked a prisoner who recognized her when he saw her alight from the train to Auschwitz with the children she had taken care of in the
infirmary of Theresienstadt. Feeling unable to lie, he told her that they were not showers but gas chambers and
gave her this advice: “I have often heard you singing in the infirmary. Go into the gas chamber with the children as quickly as possible and sing. Sit down on the
ground with the children and go on singing. Sing with
them what you have always sung. That way you’ll inhale the gas more quickly, otherwise you’ll be killed by
the others when they panic.”
Ilse’s reaction was strange. She laughed absently,
hugged one of the children and said, “Well then, we
won’t be having a shower.”
Ilse Herlinger Weber was 39 when she was deported in
1942 to Theresienstadt, the camp for artists and children, with her husband Willi and their younger son
Tomas. She was an established author of children’s stories and asked to work in the infirmary for children,
who reminded her so much of her older son Hanuš,
sent to friends in Sweden at the age of just 8 in the
hope of ensuring his safety.
A Concert in Auschwitz
During her imprisonment Ilse wrote dozens of poems
and songs as well as nursery rhymes to entertain the
little patients.
Ilse boarded the train voluntarily so as not to leave the children alone. They entered the gas chamber singing
Wiegala together as they had so many times before. It was singing this nursery rhyme, that Ilse and the children died on 6 October 1944. Shortly before being deported, Willi realized that his wife’s works were in danger and decided to bury them in a tool shed in the hope that they might be found some day.
He never imagined that he would survive the Holocaust and be the one to unearth more than sixty works
written by Ilse.
17
Zi is mein Herz
Source Jack Garfein
Zi is mein herz / kein herz von kein menschen / zi hob ich recht / yo zi leben oder nein / in farvus kimt
mir nein / in farvus kimt mir nisht / von mein leben zu genisen / az My jugend zol avek gain / elendick
yuomerdick / und wist.
Is my heart or is it not a human heart? / Have I or have I not the right to live? / And why am I not allowed to
enjoy my life? / When my youth disappears in desolation.
The Nazis used numbers, dates and symbols connected with the Jewish religious tradition during World War II
in order to mock and humiliate their prisoners. For example, there were twelve gas chambers in Treblinka, like
the twelve tribes of Israel, and the German Kommandant Kurt Franz called them “the Jewish state”. Great
importance was attached in this perspective to 613, the number of the mitzvot or commandments in the Torah
that constitute the very framework of Judaism.
The camp of Märzbachtal in Poland held 1,200 Polish and Hungarian Jews, half of them aged under 16. The
Nazis decided to eliminate about half of them, 613 to be precise. Yet another cruel jest. In order to avoid panic,
knowing that the Jews would immediately understand the Biblical reference, they then reduced the number
to 612 and said that those boarding the train would be taken to Britain for an exchange of prisoners. When
the prisoners in the trucks were counted, however, there were 615 and so the guards, very meticulous in their
work, asked for three volunteers to stay behind. One of them was the young Jack Garfein, who had already
escaped death by telling Doctor Mengele that he was 16 instead of 13. He had been advised by a friend that
youngsters were sent immediately to death. The 612 youngsters on the train ended up in the gas chambers of
Birkenau.
The sole survivor of all his family, Jack became sick and had to use a wheelchair after the war but with extraordinary will power he recovered the use of his legs, learned English and moved to the United States to
study acting and directing with Lee Strasberg and Erwin Piscator. He became one of the world’s greatest teachers of acting.
One of Garfein’s fellow inmates created the song Zi is mein herz in Yiddish a few weeks before the train left
for Birkenau. The author perished and Garfein never told anyone about it until his meeting with Francesco
Lotoro in 2014.
Francesco Lotoro with Jack Garfein
Der Tango fun Oschwietschim
anonymous
Mir hobn tangos, fokstrotn un melodiyes/ gezungen un getantst nokh far dem krig. / Di tsarte lider, tseklungene, farbenkte/hobn mit libe undz dem kop farvigt. / Un itst milkhome, keyner shaft keyn lider/fun
yene yunge yorn in der shtot. / Zing–oyf, o meydl, an ander lidl/fun teg un nekht in lager hinter drot. /
Undzer shklafn–tango unter knut fun shleger / O der shklafn–tango fun dem Oshvientsimer lager. / Shtolene shpizn fun di vekhter–khayes / O, es ruft di frayhayt un di tsayt di fraye. / Der neger nemt bald aher
zayn mandoline / un vet bald oyf / un der englender, franzoys zingen a nign, / vet fun troyer vern a
triyo. / Un oykh der pollack a nem tut bald zayn fayfl / un er vet gebn filn gor der welt, / vet dos gezang dan ontsindn di hertser, / vos lekhtsn nokh der frayhayt vos zey felt.
Even before the war, we sang and we danced tangos, foxtrots and melodies. / These tender songs, resonant
and filled with longing, / Used to make our heads sway with love. / And now, in wartime, no one creates any
songs / About those youthful years in the city. / Sing, oh girl, another little song / About days and nights in
the camp behind the wires. / Our slave tango – under the whip of the beater, / Our slave tango from the
Auschwitz camp. / Spears of steel from the guards, those animals, / Oh, freedom and liberty call! / The black
man soon takes up his mandolin, / And will soon start to strum his little tune here, / And the Englishman and
Frenchman sing a melody, / So a trio will arise out of this sadness. / And also the Pole soon takes up his whistle / And he will emote to the world – / The song will light up the hearts / Who are longing for the freedom
they miss. / Our slave tango – under the whip of the beater, / Our slave tango from the Auschwitz camp. /
Spears of steel from the guards, those animals, / Oh, freedom and liberty call!
It was a Polish Tango, often sung in Auschwitz and other concentration camps, like Plaszow, with words written by prisoners.
Mein Zawoe
Music Johanna Spector
Lyrics by Jascha Rabinovic
Ich will asoi leben, ich will noch nischt starben, / mer soll mir oif Oigen nischt legn kajn Scharben.
Ich will noch derläbn, die glikliche Zajt, / zu sehn majne Brider fun Lajdn berajt.
Die Zajt ist nischt wajt, dos mus bold geschän, / ich aber mus falln al Kidusch Haschem.
Ich los main Zawoe in klingende Lider/ far majne gematterte Schwäster un Brider
My will. I want to live, and not have shattered glass over my eyes any more. / I want to see the better
times, when all my brothers will stop suffering.. / I will pray in God’s name and put all my will into the
sounding songs that will console my tortured and hurting brothers and sisters.
This fragment was written in 1944 in the labor camp of Latvia. Jascha Rabinovic was shot dead by the
German Nazis on May 3, 1945 two hours before the liberation by the British Army and only 5 days before
the end of the war.
19
Wiegenlied
Jascha Rabinovic
Schlaf’, mein Kindlein, sanft und stille, Schließ’ die Augelein, / ‘s gibt von Kindern nicht mehr viele, wie
du, mein Sonnenschein.
Vater ist nicht mehr am Leben, fort mit der Aktion, / sein letzter Gruß letzter Sterben, war für dich, mein
Sohn.
Zogen her aus weiter Ferne, trug dich auf der Hand, / kamen hier zu fremden Leuten in ein fremdes Land.
Leg’den Kopf sanft in die Kissen! der Morgen ist noch weit./ Du sollst, mein Kindlein, niemals wissen, deiner Mutter Leid.
Schlaf’, mein Kindlein, sanft und stille, Schließ’ die Augelein, / ‘s gibt von Kindern nicht mehr viele, wie
du, mein Sonnenschein.
Sleep, my little child, soft and quiet, close your eyes, / There aren’t many children left, like you, my sunshine. / Daddy is no longer alive, on with the fight, / his last greeting, his last before death, was for you,
my son. / Finding food from far away, I took you by the hand, / a foreign land has come to foreign people / Lie your head softly on the pillow! Morning is still far off / You should never know, my child, your
mother’s pain. / Sleep, my little child, soft and quiet. Close your eyes, / There aren’t many children left,
like you, my sunshine.
Jascha Rabinovic, was shot dead by the German Nazis on May 3, 1945 two hours before the liberation of
Buchenwald by the British Army and only 5 days before the end of the war.
Margaritkelech
Lyrics by Zalman Schneour, Jewish traditional song adapted by Viktor Ullmann (1898–1944)
Theresienstadt 25.5.1944
In veldl baym taychl dort zaynen gevaksn margaritkelech elnt un kleyn vi kleyninke zunen mit vaysinke
shtrain mit vaysinke tra la la la.
Gegangen iz Chavele shtil un farcholemt tselozn di gold blonde tsep dos heldzl antbloyzt un gemurmit farcholemt dos lidele tra la la la.
Vos zuchstu do meydl? Vos hosti farloirn? Vos vilstu gefinen in groz? Ich zuch margaritkes, farroytit zich
Chavele, farroytit zich tra la la la.
Di zun iz fargangen der bocher farshvundn, un Chavele zizt noch in vald, zi kukt in der vaytns un murmlt
farcholemt dos lidele tra la la la.
Deep in the woods there grow / Daisies small and hidden, / With stems so pale and petals white, / So
white...tra la la la. / Little Chava wanders about as in a dream, / Her golden blond braids undone, / moving about, seeking, and murmurs in thought / A little song...tra la la la. / A good-looking young man
comes upon her, / His eyes are black as coal, / There is a twinkle in his eye and gaily he answers / Her
little song...tra la la la. / “Tell me my young girl, what have you lost, / What might you find in these
woods?” / “I’m looking for daisies,” Chavale blushes, / She blushes so...tra la la la. / “You are still seeking, my maiden, / and yet I have found / The most beauteous daisy of all / A daisy with braids and jewels for eyes, / Such eyes... tra la la la“. / “O tell me my maiden if one may stroke you, / If you will go
hand in hand, / Maybe one may kiss you / or maybe embrace you, / Or perhaps even...tra la la la”. / “Let
me go, I must not, / my mother says I must not, / She is angry, my mother, and old,” / “What mother,
which mother, / there’s nothing but young trees here...tra la la la“. / “You love me?” “I love you”. / “You
are shy?” “I am shy”. / “Love me then shyly and hush” / And look how the golden locks mix / with the
dark-pitch black ones...tra la la la”. / The sun has long gone, / the young man gone too, / Still the girl
sits alone inthe woods, / Her look dreams afar and she murmurs in thought / A little song...tra la la la.
Viktor Ullmann was the most prolific of the Theresienstadt musicians and perhaps the most talented of all those who composed in captivity. A pupil of
Schönberg, he wrote twenty-four works in the camp including the titanic Der
Kaiser Von Atlantis, an allegorical opera that recounts the eternal struggle
between good and evil, a recurrent theme in concentration-camp music.
Ullmann arrived in Theresienstadt at the age of 44 with his wife and his eldest child Max. As he wrote one night in August 1944: “Our effort to respect
and serve the arts was proportional only to our will to live despite everything.” On October 16, 1944, Ullmann learned that he was on the list for
the train to Auschwitz with his wife and son and prepared to leave, taking
all the works composed in the camp. He certainly imagined where that train
would take him, but had no wish to abandon his Kaiser. His friends in Theresienstadt tried to persuade him to leave it in their safekeeping and in the
end, in a moment of lucidity, he handed the score to his close friend Prof.
Emil Utitz: “I know that I am going to my death but this way perhaps my music will live forever.” The
Ullmann family presumably died the following day in the gas chambers.
21
A Meidel in die Johren
Lyrics from a Yiddish traditional poetry
Music by Viktor Ullmann
Ikh bin shoyn a meydl in di yorn, vos hostu mir dem kop fardreyt; ikh volt shoyn lang a kale gevorn, un
efsher take khasene gehat.
Du host mir tsugezogt nemen, ikh hob oyf dir gevart; far vos zolstu, dushenyu, mikh farshemen, tsi hostu
dir in mir genart.
Un efsher geyt dir, ketsele, in nadn, di mame vet farkoyfn di shtub; mir veln beyde khasene hobn, vayl ikh
hob dikh lib! Un efsher vilstu visn mayn yikhes, der zeyde iz geven a rov; lomir zhe beyde khasene hobn,
un zol shoyn nemen a sof...
I am no longer just a girl / Why do you get me so confused? / Marriage I might’ve given a twirl / Instead
I feel my hopes abused. / Is it, dear, no dowry’s here? / My mom will sell her lovely house / Let’s marry
’cause I love you, Dear / ’Cause you’re a man and not a mouse. / You want to know my pedigree? / My
grandpa was a Rabbi great / So waste no time and let’s agree.
I am a girl, long ready to get married / What are you waiting for? / You promised you would ask and
I waited for you. / Why did you fool me? Now if you want to see my knickers / move it/ Grandfther gave
his approval / Just marry me and this waiting game / Will finally come to an end.
Auf der Heide (from Humor und Melodie)
Willy Rosen
Ich liebe nur die Heide / auf der Heide allein / kann Ich glücklich sein. / Ja, das ist meine Wonne / meine Seele erwacht / wenn die Sonne lacht. / Das Heide kraut ist langst verblüht. / Doch für dich singe ich
dieses Lied.
Only in the fields I can be happy / My soul awakes with the sunshine / I will find happiness again.
Willy Rosen’s artistic career began by chance. Born in Magdeburg in 1894 and employed in the textile sector, he was called up to fight in World War I and was wounded. Having studied piano as a boy and being
unfit for service, he began to work as a pianist and entertainer for the troops. He soon became a popular
singer, songwriter, pianist and entertainer in the cabarets of Berlin and even wrote songs for films and operettas. He was a complete artist and performer.
Willy Rosen’s real name was Julius Rosenbaum and the rise of Nazism meant hard times in store for the Jewish musician and cabaret artist, who tried to escape through Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. It was
there, in the seaside resort of Scheveningen that he created the Theatre of Celebrities, a show featuring
artists already well known to the public, with which he toured the part of Europe not yet under the domination of the Third Reich.
The company finally returned to the Netherlands in 1937, to find that the Nazi advance was unstoppable. He
had almost obtained a visa for the United States through a close friend who had fled from Germany when
America’s entry into the war put an end to the admittance of German refugees.
In 1943 Rosen was deported together with other Jewish artists to the camp of Westerbork, where he assembled “the best cabaret in the Netherlands” for the last time. He wrote countless songs and revue sketches in
the camp, together with Max Erlich and Eric Ziegler.
The farewell poem written on the train to Auschwitz contains these ironic lines, “Now I’m on the train with
my rucksack. Between you and me, things don’t look so good.”
Rosen perished in Auschwitz together with his mother in the winter of 1944.
Du Hast Ja Schon Laengst Eine Andere Im Sinn
Willy Rosen
Du hast ja schon längst eine andere im Sinn / ja, glaubst du denn
das fühle ich ganz genau / für dich mache ich mich schön / doch du
schaust ja gar nicht hin / Du denkst schon längst an eine andere Frau /
Du hast ja schon längst eine andere im Sinn / Wie wenig zärtlich war
dein letter Kuß / die innere Stimme sagt, daß ich nicht mehr für dich
bin / Ich fürchte schon, du machst bei mir bald Schluß. Da nütz kein Schmeichele/da nütz kein Streicheln / da nütz kein Bösesein / und auch kein Charme/da nütz kein Sehnen / und keine Tränen / mein Gott wie bin ich arm.
You are already thinking of a new flame / I can feel it / Your last Willy Rosen
kiss had no meaning. I dress up for you, you don’t look. / I fear you
will break up with me now. / You are already thinking of the next one.. / You think I am a fool not to
notice.. / Nothing helps, no hugs and kisses, no snuggles.. / You are already thinking of another woman.
On A Heym
Unknown
On a heym, on a dach / Gevandert hobn mir a gantse nacht, / Nit gevust vu ahin, / Vos vet zayn undzer
tsil. / On a heym, un on a dach / Gevandert hobn mir a gantse nacht.
Chorus
Ven vet zich endikn dos vandern, / Ven vet shoyn kumen a sof, / Ven vet zayn a sof fun der milchome,
Vayl vayter ken azoy nit geyn! / Men yogt undz, men plogt undz, men matert undz.
Luck, you seem to shine for everyone / But not for me / Luck you bring a piece, a piece to everyone /
But you have forgotten me here. / They chase us, they hurt us, the torture us / Life passes without any
hope / Without a home / Witout a roof / We are wondering the whole night / Not knowing where to
go / What could be our destination / Without a home or a roof / We walked all night long. / When will
this walking stop / When will this end / When will this war end / Because I cannot walk any further. /
They chase us, they hurt us, the torture us / Life passes without any hope.
Irke Yanovski recalls having heard this song sung by girls from Sosnov in Austria, who created it while driven
to their ghetto, wandering around the squares of the city, awaiting their future destiny.
23
SONGS FOR ETERNITY
THE CONCERT is presented by
LASTMUSIK ONLUS
Non Profit Organization
Donatella Altieri, President
Marco Visalberghi, Administrator
www.lastmusik.com
and by
CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY
Joel Levy, President and CEO
www.cjh.org
PRODUCERS
Viviana Kasam, President BrainCircle Italia
www.braincircle.it
Marilena Francese, President Musadoc
www.musadoc.it
COMMUNICATION
Raffaello Siniscalco, President and Founder SC&A
THE FILM “LE MAESTRO“ is produced by
Doclab-Intergea (Italy)
Les Bons Clients-Intuition Films&Docs (France)
PHOTOS by
Steffen Thalemann for Ute Lemper
GMD Three for David Krakauer
Mirella Caldarone for Francesco Lotoro
Christophe Averty for Victor Villena
Natalie Muallem for Daniel Hoffman
Kira Kwon for Viviana Kasam
WE THANK
Sandro Ghini
RCD Service
Miriam Haier, Lauren Karp, David Rosenberg
Center for Jewish History
Maria Luisa Migliardi, Leonora La Rocca,
Donata Richichi
Euroforum s.r.l.

Last Musik at Center for Jewish History Program

Transcription

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