Peter Brathwaite reprising show of "Degenerate Music"

Peter Brathwaite and poster for "Degenerate Music"

We've posted about British barihunk's innovate and educational program of "Degenerate Music," which was banned by the Nazis, when he performed it at the London Song Festival and at the Alderney Performing Arts Festival. He's now reprising the show at the Manchester Jewish Museum on Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27 and repeating the show on January 28. The date marks the liberation of Aushwitz-Birkenau and honors the 6 million Jews and others who perished in the Holocaust at the hands of the Nazis.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. - See more at: http://hmd.org.uk/page/about-hmd-and-hmdt#sthash.FnJa42Tm.dpuf

marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. - See more at: http://hmd.org.uk/page/about-hmd-and-hmdt#sthash.FnJa42Tm.dpuf

marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. - See more at: http://hmd.org.uk/page/about-hmd-and-hmdt#sthash.FnJa42Tm.dpuf

marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. - See more at: http://hmd.org.uk/page/about-hmd-and-hmdt#sthash.FnJa42Tm.dpuf

marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. - See more at: http://hmd.org.uk/page/about-hmd-and-hmdt#sthash.FnJa42Tm.dpuf

The program, which was devised by Brathwaite, is a reconstruction of the infamous Entartete Musik (Degenerate Music) exhibition of 1938, intended by the Nazi government to alert the German public to “inferior and ultimately dangerous” forms of music, particularly jazz and Jewish music.

A recording of Hanns Eisler's music:

The program includes songs by Kurt Weill, a selection of Hanns Eisler’s Protest Songs, and works by Friedrich Hollander and Ernst Krenek, including excerpts from his opera Jonny Spielt Auf. This program was written to create a moving testimony to the power of music to overcome adversity, and reminds us that the atrocities of war and oppression are not confined to the battlefield. The songs are interspersed with spoken excerpts from the Entartete Musik exhibition pamphlet and include video projections created by James Symonds showing scenes of everyday life during the days of the Weimar Republic.

You can read more in this article from Mancunian Matters. 

Peter Brathwaite to sing program of music banned by Nazis

Peter Brathwaite

On May 24th, British barihunk Peter Brathwaite will join accompanist Nigel Foster for  "Forbidden Art" at the Alderney Performing Arts Festival. The program centers around Entartete Musik (Degenerate Music), which was music suppressed by the Nazi regime for being to decadent. The concert is being performed in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Hanns Eisler's Serious Songs for baritone and string quartet:

From the Nazi seizure of power onward, these composers found it increasingly difficult, and often impossible, to get work or have their music performed. Many went into exile (e.g., Arnold Schoenberg, Kurt Weill, Paul Hindemith, Berthold Goldschmidt); or retreated into 'internal exile' (e.g., Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Boris Blacher); or ended up in the concentration camps (e.g., Viktor Ullmann, or Erwin Schulhoff).

The program includes songs by Kurt Weill, a selection of Hanns Eisler’s Protest Songs, and works by Friedrich Hollander and Ernst Krenek, including excerpts from his opera Jonny Spielt Auf. This concert forms a moving testimony to the power of music to overcome adversity, and reminds us that the atrocities of war and oppression are not confined to the battlefield. Tickets are available online.