Mini Profile: Dr. Oskar Morawetz
Composer of "From the Diary of Anne Frank"
"As you can imagine, I am receiving many, many letters from readers of the 'Diary' from all over the world
and everyone of them is impressed, especially by certain passages. You are the
first one who is struck by the feelings of Anne, about the fate of her friend
Lies and the suffering of so many other Jews."
This tribute by the late Otto Frank, Anne's father, is the ultimate compliment to Canada's leading serious music composer, Oskar Morawetz. His symphonic solo-operatic masterpiece "From the Diary of Anne Frank", composed in 1970, is perhaps the most memorable epic musical commemoration of the Holocaust ever written.
Anne Frank referred in her diary to her former school friend, Lies Goosens, who had been transported to a death camp from Amsterdam
by the Germans in 1943. At the time, the Frank family was hidden in Amsterdam by
courageous Dutch friends, the Kuglers, who moved to Toronto following the war.
Anne's grief at her friend's fate and her fervent prayer for Lies' safety form
the poignant text of Morawetz's composition.
A thief's information led to the arrest of the whole Frank family in August, 1944, and their subsequent transfer to Auschwitz. The collaborator received the usual fee from the Gestapo - five guilden ($1.40) for each member of the family. Only Otto survived.
Ironically, so did Lies.
Anne and her sister Margot ended up at Bergen Belsen, where they encountered Lies. Both Anne and Margot died from typhus, three weeks before the British liberated Bergen Belsen and Lies was rescued.
The musical vehicle which Morawetz uses to depict Anne's grief at what she perceives to be the loss of Lies, is the most advanced, sophisticated musical style to date. The acoustics modernism of the mid-20th century started by Stravinsky using Debussy and Ravel as a foundation and finished by Morawetz.
The solo soprano role of Anne, which has been performed by some of the world's foremost opera stars, expresses the widest range of emotions, from agonizing guilt to fear and final prayer. "Lies seems to be a symbol to me of the suffering of all my girlfriends and all the Jews. And when I pray for her, I pray for all the Jews and for all those in need!"
"From the Diary of Anne Frank" was first premiered for the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation (CBC) in Toronto in 1971. Since then, it has been performed around the world: including in Israel by the Israel Philharmonic, where it was warmly praised by former Premier Golda Meir, and also in the composer's native land, Czechoslovakia by the Czech Philharmonic.
Perhaps the other most memorable opus by Morawetz is his "Memorial to Martin Luther King" composed two years after the American black civil rights leader was assassinated in Memphis. Commissioned by Mstislav Rostropovich. this starkly modern hopeful piece for solo cello and orchestra has been introduced more than once by Coretta Scott King.
While "From the Diary of Anne Frank" was performed three times in succession by the Toronto Symphony at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall to commemorate Oskar Morawetis 70th birthday, January 16th, 1987, he had to miss
one of the performances. Oskar was at Cleveland's Severance Hall where the Cleveland Orchestra, commemorating Martin Luther King's birthday of January 15th, was performing his "Memorial to Martin Luther King".
The fact that Morawetz has composed these two works honouring the most identifiable victims, one of German Nazi antisemitism and the other of American white racism, should be a considerable boost for Black-Jewish relations in North America.
Oskar Morawetz takes these distinguished achievements in stride. He is a sweet natured, bespectacled, comfortably dressed man who lives in a midtown Toronto neighbourhood. He has no airs or pretenses and he is generous with his time and heart. Musicians speak of him fondly, as Oskar is known to go out of his way to ensure that anybody performing his compositions can render them with the greatest degree
of comfort and ease.
Born in Czechoslovakia, and fleeing his homeland just prior to the Nazi invasion, Morawetz was fortunate enough to find for himself a well deserved niche in the serious, highly qualitative University of Toronto musical community, in which he has remained to this very day. His works have been performed by 128 orchestras worldwide, by all the great conductors, such as Zubin Mehta, Sir Adrian Boult and Seiji Ozawa. Morawetz has never remained in a musical rut. Security in his Toronto home base has not made him complacent. On the contrary, it has given him a constant fresh sense of self-confidence and readiness to explore new musical and thematic horizons.
Having heard that Morawetz received an
award from the J.I. Segal Foundation in Montreal ''as the most important contribution to Jewish culture and music in Canada", Golda Meir, when she visited Toronto in 1972, requested to meet with Oskar Morawetz. He presented the score of "From the Diary of Anne Frank" to Golda. Shortly before Victor Kugler, who had sheltered the Franks, died in Toronto, Morawetz also presented him with the score during a performance of the work at Toronto's Beth Tikvah Synagogue. Anne embodied the Jewish spirit at a most threatened and vulnerable period. Her selfless concern for fellow humanity, even in moments of most dire peril, reveal that spirit.
For immortalizing the souls of Anne Frank and Martin Luther King, Oskar Morawetz
deserves full plaudits from everyone.
