The Prague Post
October 7th, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Hotel Prague Centre
Prague Real Estate

Home » Archives » Night & Day

Out of the ashes, rebirth and inspiration

A heartfelt festival brings the bold musical achievements of Terezín back to life
Stage Review | Search restaurants | Archives

By Frank Kuznik
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 18th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Veronika Hajová
Roman Vocel
COURTESY PHOTO
Leoš Svárovský
Terezín Festival of Forbidden Music


Terezínské Requiem
When: Saturday, June 21, at 7
Where: Church of the Ascension, Terezín
Chamber Music Concert
When: Sunday, June 22, at 7
Where: Culture House, Terezín
Admission: Both events are free
For more information, check www.fzht.cz
(Czech only)
It’s axiomatic that art imitates life. But there are imitations and then there are re-creations that take art into an entirely different sphere, a rarefied intersection between culture and history.
Case in point: the performance of Verdi’s Requiem this weekend at Terezín, the north Bohemia fortress that served as a holding camp during World War II for Nazi prisoners on their way to the concentration camps. Many composers and musicians spent time at Terezín, which has become famous for the music and performances produced under unimaginably grim and deadly conditions.
One of the most remarkable achievements in that setting was a staging of 16 performances of the Requiem by Rafael Schächter, an extraordinarily determined musician who worked from a single score, with only a legless piano for accompaniment and a constantly shifting cast, as inmates were sent to the death camps and new arrivals continued to pour in. In May 2006, as part of Prague Spring, American conductor Murry Sidlin honored that achievement with Defiant Requiem, a performance of the piece at Terezín that incorporated images and survivors’ text.
This weekend’s program, sponsored by the ambitious Česká kulturní slavnosti organization, goes a step further with Terezínské requiem, which will dramatize some of the many incidents that occurred during Schächter’s rehearsals, culled from the book The Terezín Requiem by Josef Bor. The entire Requiem will be performed, but in pieces, with conductor Leoš Svárovský playing the part of Schächter, constantly building and rebuilding his choir.
“There was for example a young boy who was being chased by the Nazis,” Česká kulturní organizer Radek Křižanovsky says. “He hid in the choir, and the Nazis didn’t find him. It turned out that he was a good singer, and, when the lead tenor was deported, the boy replaced him.”
There are many such stories, which will be brought to life by Svárovský, seven singers and two actors, with veteran Czech performer Otakar Brousek providing narration and his son, Otakar Jr., in two of the acting roles. The music will be provided by the North Bohemian Philharmonic orchestra from Teplice and the Czech Chamber Choir.
“This is a unique opportunity to see something very special,” Křižanovsky says.
There is, unfortunately, no accommodation for English speakers; the entire program will be in Czech. However, it’s free, and you can even get a free bus ride to Terezín if you need it. A special bus will be departing from the Český rozhlas building in Vinohrady (Vinohradská 12) at 5 p.m. Saturday, and returning the same evening after the performance. (For reservations, contact Marcela Hájková at 221 551 111 or marcela.hajkova@rozhlas.cz.)
If the Requiem isn’t to your taste, Křižanovsky’s organization is also putting on a great chamber music concert at Terezín the following day. The Kapr Quartet will be joined by three additional string and horn players and Dutch pianist Marcel Worms for a piano sonata by Viktor Ullmann, perhaps the most famous composer who was imprisoned at Terezín, and songs by Erich Korngold, with mezzo-soprano Olga Černá doing the honors.
The Ullmann and Korngold pieces don’t get performed very often. And even a relatively familiar work like the Requiem takes on special resonance in Terezín, where it became something entirely different. Adolf Eichmann, who attended one performance, reportedly said that the Jews were “singing their own requiem.” But one Terezín survivor described the experience this way:
“I listened to the Requiem with a desperation, as though I never heard music before. What a rejuvenating and hopeful experience it was … not just the sounds of the music, but a clear enveloping of all that this music was created to mean! I achieved a relationship with music I never knew was possible.”
Hopefully, no one will ever have that experience in such circumstances again. But, for a sense of what it was like, this should come uncomfortably close.

Frank Kuznik can be reached at fkuznik@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (18/06/2008):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Provokator
Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.