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OSKAR MORAWETZ, left,
distinguished Canadian composer, whose setting to music of excerpts, from
"The Diary of Anne Frank", has brought added relevance to an inspiring
story. Right, ANNE FRANK, whose "Diary" is an epic of the Holocaust. |
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Morawetz and Frank
"We Jews must not show our feelings, we must be brave,we must be strong, we must accept all inconveniences, we must not grumble, we must do what is within our power and trust in God."
THE SMALL voice of a young girl cries out in hiding from
the Holocaust, and dies. Twenty-eight years later another voice, inspired by Anne Frank's incredible faith, weds the magic of music to her words and thus creates a new legacy.
And for Toronto composer Oskar Morawetz, it is a legacy that has brought with it a yearning to reach out and touch the very fabric of Anne Frank's soul.
In the fall of 1969, the CBC asked the Czech-born professor of music to prepare some of his works for soprano Lois Marshall. Immediately an idea, born three years earlier, came to life. Since Dr. Morawetz took the libretto directly from the Diary of Anne Frank, he sought permission from the publishers, Doubleday. They, in turn, forwarded his letter to Anne's father, Otto Frank, who controls the rights. Mr. Frank did not hesitate in granting the permission to put to music his
daughter's thoughts.
A door was now opened, a door to a room that held within its walls the spirit of the
Holocaust, the will to live beyond all death. A close correspondence developed between Otto Frank and Oskar Morawetz. Now they are
bound together, the one a link to the other in a chain more than a quarter of a century long.
"We are in chains, chained to one spot, without any rights, but with a thousand duties."
Anne's words are the catalyst that holds the links of the chain together. Her
phenomenal insight has ignited the fire that burns in Dr. Morawetz' heart, a
fire that must express itself musically, a fire whose thirst must be quenched by
learning everything that remains to be known about Anne's life and the people
who were part of it.
WITH Mr. Frank's help, Morawetz has been able to locate one of the two men who
hid the Frank family from the Nazis. Victor Kugler, whose underground name was
Mr. Kraler, now lives in Toronto. It was also Mr. Frank who helped Morawetz find
Anne's school friend, Lies Goosens, in Jerusalem. These people help to weave the
fabric that Morawetz translates into music.
Dr. Morawetz has completed two compositions that borrow their librettos from the Diary. The first work was commissioned
by the
CBC and performed in May, 1970. It was a tribute to Anne's feelings about Lies, whom she felt she had deserted by going into hiding while Lies was probably dying in a concentration camp. How ironic it is that Lies has survived and
is unable to talk about her experiences and that Anne has died, a victim of the Belsen concentration camp, and yet
her words will speak forever.
THE second work was commissioned by the Canadian Jewish Congress. This time Morawetz had an opportunity to use passages he had longed to use before. Angered by the words of Reverend A. C. Forrest, and believing that "to
be an anti-Semite could lead to the destruction of all people," Morawetz
chose the lines that grew into
Anne's plea for the plight of the Jews:
"Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now?"
"Who has made us Jews different from all other people?"
Dr. Morawetz dedicated the new work to Otto Frank and sent him a copy of the libretto and music. In a letter, Mr. Frank thanked Morawetz for the thoughtful dedication and continued by saying, "I agree fully with you that the passages you chose are important for every Jew. You surely know that none of them is contained in either the play or the film and there was occasionally criticism about this omission in some Jewish circles. So I am grateful that this material will be drawn to the attention of a broader public by your work."
THE new work will premiere at Temple Sinai on February 20th. It will be part of a concert of Jewish music from the Nineteenth Century Synagogue to the works of contemporary Canadian composers which will include Applebaum, Glick, Sandberg, Weinzweig and Morawetz. The concert will be sung by the Temple Sinai choir under the direction of Ben Steinberg. It begins at 8:00 P.M. and admission is free.
And so the legacy left behind by sixteen-year-old Anne Frank continues to cry out to the world. Her immortality continues to weave the fabric of her soul into the hearts of generations for whom the Holocaust was merely an historical tragedy. Oskar Morawetz has felt Anne Frank's touch and now he will hand down her legacy by touching us with his music.
Jewish Music Month Features Oskar Morawetz and Other Distinguished Jewish
Composers
"THE MUSIC COMMITTEE OF Canadian Jewish Congress has recommended the period from
Shabbath Shirah (the Sabbath of the Song), January 29 to March 15, for the
celebration of this year's Jewish Music Festival," it is announced by Gordon
Kushner and Ben Steinberg, Co-Chairmen of the Committee. They call on all Jewish
congregations and organizations to join in the celebration.
"One of the highlights of this year's Festival will be the premiere performance
of a work for choirs, based on excerpts from Anne Frank's Diary and
commissioned by Congress from the eminent Toronto composer, Oskar Morawetz, at
the Festival Concert sponsored by Temple Sinai and Canadian Jewish Congress on February 20 and directed by Ben Steinberg," said Gordon Kushner. "Its program will also feature works by other Toronto composers: Louis Applebaum, Srul I. Glick, Mordecai Sandberg and John Weinzweig." Another major work by Oskar Morawetz, for orchestra and soprano, will be performed by the Toronto Symphony on April 11 and 12, under the direction of Maestro Karel Ancerl, with Lois Marshall as soloist. The work will also be included on the program of the Toronto Symphony 50th Anniversary Tour at Carnegie Hall, New York, and the Kennedy Centre of the Arts, Washington, D.C. on April 14 and 15, respectively.
