A lost generation
A recently translated book tells the tragic story of the Nazi persecution of Jewish composers in Germany and Austria, some of whom have only recently been rehabilitated.
He was, among other things, musical curator of the Jewish Museum in Vienna and producer of the recording series Entartete MusikMichael Haas is uniquely qualified to tell the tragic story of the persecution by the Nazis of Jewish composers as diverse as Hanns Eisler, Hans Gál, Ernst Krenek, Franz Schreker, Ernst Toch, Viktor Ullmann, Egon Wellesz and Alexander Zemlinsky, to name but a few - some were able to go into exile, others were murdered, but all had their music banned. The author also describes their position within the musical currents of the early 20th century, from post-Romanticism to New Objectivity, from Expressionism to the style influenced by Berlin cabaret.
This book, published in English in 2013 and recently translated, however, gives a much broader account, both captivating and poignant, of the historical and political circumstances, from the Enlightenment era when Moses Mendelssohn, Felix's grandfather, advocated assimilation into the surrounding culture as a factor in Jewish emancipation, to the decades following the Second World War, during which this lost generation of composers was scorned, even dismissed, by the avant-garde, while compromised musicians or supporters of Hitler's regime were able to revive or continue their careers. In this perspective, Haas demonstrates how the anti-Semitic policy of exclusion, from the very beginning of the sinister dictatorship, had suddenly considerably impoverished German culture, so important had been the contribution of Jews to artistic life. As this book focuses on the situation in Germany and Austria, there is no mention of musicians living in the invaded countries, such as Alexandre Tansman or Mieczysław Weinberg.
Michael Haas: Forbidden Music. Jewish composers persecuted by the Nazis, 460 p., € 23.00, Notes de nuit, Paris 2022, ISBN 979-10-93176-19-2
