Time 17:00
Dusseldorf New Synagogue, Paul-Spiegel-Platz 1, 40476 Düsseldorf
FREE ADMISSION
Free tickets are available on the website of Jüdische Gemeinde Düsseldorf.
On the 83rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the artists of the Polish Royal Opera will commemorate the event with a concert featuring works by the Austrian composer of Jewish origin, Viktor Ullmann (1898–1944). Born 127 years ago in Cieszyn, at the age of 11, the artist moved with his mother to Vienna, where he experienced the city’s vibrant cultural life. It was there that he also attended seminars with the famous Arnold Schönberg, whose recommendation helped Ullmann start his musical career at the New German Theater in Prague. He worked as a tutor, chorus master, and conductor, and at the same time developed his composing skills, gaining recognition from critics and the public alike.
In 1942, Ullmann shared the gruesome fate of hundreds of thousands of Jews and was deported to the Terezin concentration camp. And yet, this tragic situation did not impede his creativity. Together with other deportees, he developed the cultural life of the ghetto so that Terezín became a symbol of the heroic struggle for human dignity, with art as the weapon. His poignant songs from this period combine the maturity of his compositional style with their utilitarian musical form. Musical interpretations of the poetry of his fellow prisoner Hans Gunter Adler or extremely expressive Yiddish songs confirm what Ullmann himself emphasized – that the creative efforts of the artists detained in the camp mirrored their will to live. The program is completed by the moving Adagio from the Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 39. We will never know how the composer – himself an outstanding pianist – envisioned the sound of this work, completed in 1937. The ravages of war spared only the solo part, which will be performed at the concert by concertmaster Tomasz Kulisiewicz. The silence replacing the piano line resonates with particular force, serving as a sign of remembrance for those whose lives were brutally taken. On the 16th of October 1944, the composer was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and murdered. However, his work survived, becoming a sign of remembrance of the darkest page of the history of the 20th century and a testimony to the strength of the human spirit.
PROGRAM
Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944)
Chinesische Lieder for voice and piano
Wanderer erwacht in der Herberge
Der müde Soldat
Der Mensch und sein Tag Op. 47.
Twelve pictures by Hans Günther Adler for baritone and piano
Gang in den Morgen
Gesang
Heimat
Der Liebsten
Blüten
In der Stube
Der Nachbar
Gebete
Im Walde
Verdämmern
Nacht
Stille
Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 39 (Adagio)*
[surviving violin part]
Drei jiddische Lieder (Březulinka) Op. 53 for voice and piano
Berjoskele (text: David Einhorn)
Margarithelech (lyrics anonymous)
A Mejdel in die Johren (słowa anonimowe)
Three songs Op. 37 for baritone and piano, lyrics: Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
Schnitterlied
Säerspruch
Die Schweizer
Lieder der Tröstung for voice and string trio, lyrics: Albert Steffen
Tote wollen nicht verweilen
Erwachen zu Weihnachten
Herbst for voice and string trio, lyrics: Georg Trakl
PERFORMERS
DOROTA LACHOWICZ MEZZOSOPRANO
WITOLD ŻOŁĄDKIEWICZ BARITONE
DAGMARA DUDZIŃSKA GRAND PIANO
STRING TRIO:
TOMASZ KULISIEWICZ VIOLIN
NATALIA GIDLEWSKA VIOLA
ROBERT DACKO CELLO
*The musical material for this work comes from the Paul Sacher Foundation archives in Basel.
Duration: approx. 1 h 10 mins
The seats in the auditorium are not numbered.
