Eight decades ago, Eugen Engel, a Berlin-based Jewish textile tradesman by day, was murdered by the Nazis in the Sobibor concentration camp. Engel was also a composer: Among other pieces, he wrote Grete Minde, a late-romantic opera of 1920s jazz-inspired melodies and large orchestral sounds. He gave his handwritten sheet music to his daughter for safekeeping when she escaped to the United States in 1941. The musical manuscript lay hidden and unperformed in a San Francisco basement. Now it has, at last, been performed — at the Theater Magdeburg in Germany.
Quote: “Talking backstage after the performance, which received standing ovations, Megan Agee, Engel’s great-granddaughter, said: ‘It is quite overwhelming to have these written words and notes which have been dormant for so long brought to life. It’s like Eugen Engel planted a seed back then, but until it was performed we did not know exactly what that was. We are amazed and grateful for the abundance of what has emerged.’ ”
Source: Introduction and quotation from The Guardian
Read “Holocaust victim’s opera stored for years in trunk gets premiere at last” ►
Read “Rediscovered in a basement, Jewish composer’s prewar opera will now be staged in Germany” ►
Watch “Grete Minde — Trailer Theater Magdeburg” [1:41]. ►
Photo: Global Happenings (larger color photo), The Jewish News of Northern California (smaller black-and-white photo)
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