GIDEON KLEIN Partita for String Orchestra
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Born 1919 in Prerov , Moravia ; died 1945 in Fürstengrube concentration camp
• Born into a Moravian Jewish family , Klein showed musical talent at a young age . He was forced to leave his studies prematurely in 1940 when the Nazi regime shut down all higher education institutions following their occupation of the region .
• Works by Jewish composers were banned , but Klein continued to perform by using several aliases . He persisted with his composing during this time and was offered a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music ; however , by that time , Jews were not allowed to leave the country .
• In 1941 , when Klein was 21 years old , he was sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp . Klein was among several composers , including pupils of Janáček and Schoenberg . Klein managed to compose while at the camp and organized secret concerts for his fellow prisoners . His talents were eventually coopted for Nazi propaganda at the camp .
• After several years , Klein was deported to Auschwitz and later Fürstengrube , where he died when he was only 25 years old . In 1990 , much of his music was discovered in a suitcase . If he had not been killed , it is thought that Klein would have become a major artist of the 20th century .
ABOUT THE PIECE
• Klein ’ s Partita for String Orchestra was written in 1944 while Klein was imprisoned at the Theresienstadt concentration camp . It is the last documented work by the composer .
• The haunting work includes folk melodies from Klein ’ s native Moravia and gives listeners a rare insight into the creative output that occurred at the camp .
THE WORLD AT A GLANCE
1944
MUSIC Duke Ellington ’ s “ Do Nothing till You Hear from Me ”
ART Frida Kahlo ’ s The Broken Column
SPORTS The Summer Olympics are cancelled due to WWII
HISTORY D-Day Invasion
18 BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA