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The composer Viktor
Ullmann was born in Teschen (near today’s border
between the Czech Republic and Poland) in 1898. After studies with
Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna, he was appointed conductor at the Neues
Deutsches Theater in Prague, where he worked for ten years under the
direction of Alexander Zemlinsky until he took a position at the
Staatstheater Zurich. His compositions were performed to high acclaim;
twice he won the coveted Hertzka Prize.
After 1933, his professional life turned
increasingly difficult. He eventually returned to Prague, where he made
a living by giving private piano lessons and writing music criticism.
In 1942, he and his family were taken to the concentration camp of
Terezin, where he continued to compose and, ironically, created some of
his most beatuiful works. On 16 October 1944, however, shortly before
the ghetto premiere of his opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis, he was
transported, along with his family and many of his fellow musicians, to
Auschwitz, were most of them perished in the gas chambers.
Music in Terezín:
A VIKTOR ULLMANN CENTENNIAL
Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 2-7, 1998
In early October 1998, the community of Ann
Arbor celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Viktor Ullmann
with a series of events involving faculty, students, and alumni of the
University of Michigan's School of Music, members of the Jewish
communities, members of the Anthroposophic Society of America, and
other Ullmann enthusiasts.
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Sunday,
9/27
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8:00 p.m.
"Terezin 1944:
The Emperor of Atlantis
and Its Composer"
First Unitarian Universalist Church, Washtenaw Avenue
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The Klein Lecture,
Talk and introduction to the centennial
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Dr. Siglind Bruhn, musicologist,
organizer, V. Ullmann Centennial
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Saturday,
10/3
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8:00 p.m.
Macintosh Theater
School of Music
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Concert performance of the opera
Der Kaiser von Atlantis
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faculty, students, alumni, and
guests of the School of Music;
Bradley Bloom, conductor
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Sunday,
10/4
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4:00 p.m.
Recital Hall,
School of Music
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Chamber Concert
with Ullmann compositions from the two Terezín
years
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Freda Herseth, mezzosoprano;
a graduate string quartet:
Robert Kolben, piano;
Elaine Sargous, recitor;
Siglind Bruhn, piano
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Monday,
10/5
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8:00 p.m.
Rudolf Steiner House
1923 Geddes Ave
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Mini Symposium
"Viktor Ullmann"
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Marcus Gerhardts, Dornach,
"Ullmann and Anthroposophy"
Robert Kolben, Munich,
"The Emperor of Atlantis:
A Late Mystery Play"
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Wednesday,
10/7
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4:00 p.m.
Recital Hall,
School of Music
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Vocal Recital and
Choir Concert
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Freda Herseth, mezzosoprano;
Julia Broxholm, soprano,
Siglind Bruhn, piano;
members of the Zamir Choral,
Benjamin Cohen, conductor
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Der
Kaiser von Atlantis: Provokation in Terezin
(article, German)
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