Liner Notes: HOLOCAUST CANTATA -- Songs from the Camps (1999)

1. The Prisoner Rises [4:06] 2. Singing Saved My Life [1:21] 3. Song of the Polish Prisoners [3:02] 4. The Execution of the Twelve [1:57] 5. In Buchenwald [5:29] 6. A State of Separation [3:05] 7. The Train [6:46] 8. Singing from Birth to Death [1:37] 9. The Striped Ones [3:29] 10. There’s No Life Like Life at Auschwitz [1:42] 11. Tempo di Tango [3:08] 12. Letter to Mom [1:20] 13. Song of Days Now Gone [6:53] 14. Passacaille for Cello and Piano -- Szymon Laks [6:12] 15. Even When God Is Silent -- Michael Horvit [2:40] A Child’s Journey -- Michael Horvit 16. An Accidental Meeting [1:39] 17. I Once Had A Friend [1:34] 18. There Are No Stars In The Sky [2:44] 19. Is Not a Flower a Mystery? -- Donald McCullough [4:05] 20. We Remember Them -- Donald McCullough [5:22] Total Playing Time [68:11]

HOLOCAUST CANTATA Songs from the Camps Master Chorale of Washington Chamber Singers Donald McCullough, Music Director Robert Lamar Sims, Pianist Miriam Bolkosky, Cellist With generous support from Mae W. Jurow In loving memory of her husband, Irving H. Jurow

Link to the Texts for Lyrics and Readings

Notes on the Music

It is well-known that during the Holocaust inmates wrote music while incarcerated in concentration camps. Much of it has since been recorded. At Theresienstadt, for instance -- the infamous “Paradise Ghetto” -- the Nazis organized an orchestra made up of young musicians who had studied under such luminaries as Leos Janacek and Arnold Schoenberg. Most of these musicians, among them such promising students as Gideon Klein and Viktor Ullmann, perished during the Holocaust, leaving behind but a few pieces, composed under duress and co-opted by the Nazis for their own propaganda purposes. What might they have eventually accomplished had they survived? Such classical music -- beautiful as it is -- was the product of formally trained musicians. What about the music of the common man -- music embraced by the whole community and passed secretly by aural transmission -- music that carried with it powerful words revealing different aspects of camp life, or expressing the inmates’ innermost feelings, of mourning, or resistance, or patriotism? Was there other Holocaust music, akin to the spirituals that sprang from slavery in America, that spoke with the same startling immediacy to express the agony of the victims of the Nazi regime?

It was this question that first led Maestro Donald McCullough on a year-long journey through one of the cruelest chapters of the 20th century. His quest, to extract from the mammoth archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum the material that formed the basis of the Holocaust Cantata, was, like all difficult endeavors, marked with equal amounts of intuition and good luck, but it also yielded unexpected rewards. No one involved with this project on any level went away from it unaffected -- not McCullough, not the archivists and translators mentioned herein, not lyricist Denny Clark (who transformed the translated words into singable poetry), not the marvelous singers of the Master Chorale Chamber Singers, nor the members of the audience, such as I, who were privileged enough to attend the Cantata’s world premiere at the Kennedy Center on March 17, 1998.

McCullough’s pursuit began with a call to Bret Werb, musicologist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, who revealed the existence of the Aleksander Kulisiewicz collection in the museum archives. Kulisiewicz (as Werb explains on page TK) had traveled about Europe during the postwar period collecting and preserving what he could of the music that had emerged from the Holocaust concentration camps, but little was known about the music itself.

McCullough’s first task, then, was to immerse himself in the collection, playing through the hundreds of tunes. He was encouraged to find that they contained some compelling melodies, and for the first time he began to wonder whether a choral cantata – perhaps reflecting the role of music in the camps or evoking the daily lives of these people – might emerge from the material. But he still had no idea what lay within the accompanying text.

At some point, someone had added a rough, English-language index to the collection, but the materials themselves were mostly in Polish. Marcin Zmudzki, a young Pole, was engaged to sift through the mountain of texts. McCullough told the translator that he was interested in anything that had to do with camp life, especially as it related to music. As he recalls, “It was my good fortune that not only was Marcin an excellent translator, but also he had a sense for poetry and thus grasped, very quickly, the type of material I was seeking.”

In addition to music, Kulisiewicz also collected interviews, articles, and letters that had anything to do with camp life. With this wealth of material, McCullough decided to place between each musical arrangement readings that also spoke of life in the camps. After considering and rejecting literally hundreds of documents, he finally decided that he had what he needed from the archives. But in a sense, the real work was just beginning.

“Because I wanted the Cantata to speak with a sense of immediacy,” says McCullough, “I thought it should be sung in English. But before I could arrange a single note of it, I needed to have singable translations. Here I employed the talents of lyricist Denny Clark, who at first worked with Marcin, getting a word by word translation. Knowing which words appear on which notes is important in keeping the overall impact of the song.” A trained singer himself, Clark was able to make transliterations to ensure that the best vowels for singing fell on the proper notes, all while remaining faithful to the original text. It was an immensely complicated task. As Clark finished the lyrics for each song, relates McCullough, “he would pass them on to me and I would begin the arrangement.” And as the translations neared completion, the Cantata itself began to take shape, as sections were added or subtracted to balance the overall mood of the piece. It was also during this process that critical choices were made concerning the orchestration of the piece. In the end, McCullough chose a path of simplicity, limiting the accompaniment to piano and cello, the vocal lines to small ensemble and featured soloists. The narrative sections would be spoken by ensemble members.

A few words about the structure of the Cantata. As you listen you should not look for a plot, as such. Because each song and reading represents a different person, a different place, and a different time in the Holocaust experience, you should be wary about viewing the entire piece as a streaming narrative. Nonetheless, certain common truths will begin to emerge, and no doubt others will come to you with each successive hearing. Among these is the certainty that these are nakedly honest responses to the most unthinkable of acts. Sometimes the responses are jarring; who could find humor amid such horror? And yet humor – albeit dark in nature – undoubtedly exists within this work. Nevertheless the inmates’ responses never sink to the level of triteness. For them, music functioned as something much more than just a light in the darkness; its very existence was a form of spiritual resistance in an environment where such resistance risked instant extermination.

I myself have resisted – until now – the temptation to say too much about Don McCullough’s accomplishment, restricting myself instead to descriptions of his methodology. But the world and the people he has memorialized so movingly with this Cantata, owe him an immeasurable debt of gratitude. As he has demonstrated many times with his own original compositions, and once again with his arrangements for these pieces, he is a composer of immense talent and great sensitivity who possesses unerring musical instincts. In the end, those talents allowed him to succeed in a project where many others might have failed. I, for one, will never forget the moment when the premiere performance ended. As is often the case when an audience has experienced a work of incomparable power and beauty, there was in the hall a moment of almost crystalline silence. Then, almost as one, we arose to acknowledge what we had heard.

And what is this work, this Holocaust Cantata? That, as with anything, is for each listener to decide. Maestro McCullough has told me on several occasions that he was never completely clear on his intent for undertaking the project, just as he remains unsure of its lasting impact. But one hope, he says, is that it may “transform statistics into people in the minds of the Cantata’s listeners, and perhaps be a part of making it more difficult for such a horror ever to occur again.” In the end, for me, the work flows inexorably back to its source: it is the voice of humanity, crying out to be heard.

Link to the Texts for Lyrics and Readings

Born and educated in Warsaw, Szymon Laks (1901-1983) trained as both composer conductor. After moving to Paris in 1925 to study with Nadia Boulanger, he found work directing music for films and the stage. In 1941 Laks was deported as a Jewish foreign national and arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau the next year where he eventually became the conductor of the camp prisoners’ orchestra. He was later transferred to Sachsenhausen and finally to a sub-camp of Dachau, from which he was liberated in May 1945. Passacaille for Voice and Piano, heard here in a transcription for cello and piano, was one of Lak’s first post-war compositions.

Michael Horvit (1932- ) has headed the Theory and Composition Department at the University of Houston Moores School of Music since 1967. His setting of Even When God Is Silent has been called “a poignant gem” by The Choral Journal. Allied troops found the poem in Cologne, Germany, written on a basement wall by someone who was hiding from the Gestapo.

The preface to the Michael Horvit’s score of A Child’s Journey states that the “three poems by Jacob Barzilai are intentionally given restrained musical settings, reflecting the wonderment of innocent children who could not fully comprehend the horrors they faced in the Holocaust.” Jacob Barzilai (1933- ) was born in Hungary and sent to the Bergen-Belzen concentration camp while he was a young boy. He survived the camp and immigrated to Israel in 1949. He now lives in the town of Raanana. Shulamit Friedman did the English translations from the original Hebrew.

Rabbi Chaim Stern lives in Mt. Kisco, New York, and is author of, among other books, Day by Day (which contains “Is Not a Flower a Mystery?”) and the two leading prayerbooks of Reform Judaism, The Gates of Prayer and The Gates of Repentance. In his poem, Is Not a Flower a Mystery? Rabbi Chaim poses a simple question: If God is everywhere, how could God let this happen? And since he let it happen, how can we turn to him? In fact, why should there even be a flower to remind us of him? At its bleakest moment, the poem offers solace in a poignant echo of the psalmist David: In the face of such atrocities, how can we not turn to God? McCullough’s setting, rich in choral texture, places this tender text at the focal point of the listener’s mind, allowing an opportunity to reflect on questions that may be unanswerable.

The author of We Remember Them is unknown, but the sense of this poem’s powerful text is universal, and given eloquent voice by McCullough’s bittersweet melody. It serves as an appropriate coda, both to this recording and to the people whose words and music are offered here. It is not enough that the victims of the Holocaust be remembered only on special occasions, nor even that the burden of that remembering fall on only one segment of the world’s population. We must all remember, and carry with us constantly the knowledge of what can occur when bigotry and oppression go unchallenged. If this recording helps bring that message to new hearts and minds, if it helps put a human face on what all too often becomes a list of statistics, then it will have achieved an important purpose. Let the voice of this anonymous poet have the final word:

“For as long as we live, they too shall live. For they are now a part of us, as we remember them.”

-- James Carman

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Aleksander Kulisiewicz Collection

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America's national institution for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history, and serves as this country's memorial to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Jews were the primary victims and six million were murdered. Gypsies, the handicapped, and Poles were also targeted for destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic, or national reasons. Millions more, including homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents, also suffered grievous oppression and death under Nazi tyranny. The Museum's primary mission is to advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy; to preserve the memory of those who suffered; and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the moral and spiritual questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as on their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.

In 1992 the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acquired the enormous private archive of the Polish collector and concentration camp survivor Aleksander Kulisiewicz. Born to a family of intellectuals in Krakow, Poland, in 1918, Kulisiewicz studied law but gravitated toward journalism, amateur theatrics and songwriting. Not long after German armies overran Poland in 1939, Kulisiewicz was imprisoned for antifascist activities; in 1940 he was deported to the concentration camp Sachsenhausen, near Berlin, where as a political prisoner he would spend his next five years. In Sachsenhausen, Kulisiewicz took on the role of camp troubadour, performing his own songs and those of his fellow prisoners, and was subjected to brutal reprisals at the hands of the camp command for his unsparing depictions of inmate life. Soon after his liberation in May 1945, confined to bed in a Krakow hospital, Kulisiewicz dictated to his nurses more than 700 pages of poems and songs committed to memory during his years of imprisonment. The doctors, he said, thought he was a madman. In postwar Poland, Kulisiewicz worked as a journalist; but, increasingly haunted by his wartime experiences, he began corresponding with other musician survivors. At his death in 1982 he had amassed a vast library of manuscripts, literature, and recordings, and had all but completed his monumental study of the music culture of the Nazi concentration camps. Kulisiewicz felt duty bound to safeguard the memory of those who suffered by making their music known to the world, declaring: "I came to this earth to share with you pain, in the same manner in which others come to share pleasures. With the same passion others use to hoard their gold."

-- Bret Werb

Meet the Artists

The Master Chorale of Washington Chamber Singers (formerly the Washington Singers), founded in 1980 by Paul Hill, is one of the country’s premier fully professional vocal ensembles. With expertise in many styles of music, the Chamber Singers perform in the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall and Terrace Theater, various embassies, and other prominent venues throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area. They have been featured in concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington Chamber Symphony, Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Richmond Sinfonia and Annapolis Brass. Chamber Singers’ performances have also been broadcast nationally on The First Art radio series.

Donald McCullough, music director of the Master Chorale of Washington and the Master Chorale Chamber Singers, came to Washington in 1996 from Norfolk, Virginia, where he founded the highly acclaimed McCullough Chorale, Virginia’s only fully professional choral ensemble, in 1984 and the Virginia Symphony Chorus in 1990. He is an active arranger and composer with a number of published titles to his credit, including Holocaust Cantata—which had its world premiere at the Kennedy Center—and several other titles on this CD. Mr. McCullough is a member of the board of directors of Chorus America, the national service organization for choral groups in the United States and Canada. With a strong commitment to music education in public schools, he has been the guest conductor of numerous state and regional choral festivals for young singers. In 1997 Mr. McCullough initiated the All City Honors Chorus in partnership with the District of Columbia Public Schools, the Kennedy Center, and the Master Chorale of Washington. Mr. McCullough holds bachelor’s degrees in organ and vocal performance from Stetson University and master’s degrees in sacred music and vocal performance from Southern Methodist University. He studied conducting with Robert Page and music composition with Adolphus Hailstork and Alice Parker.

Paul Hill founded and directed the Paul Hill Chorale for 29 years and the Washington Singers for 15 years. He has prepared choruses for the Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Ballet, Washington Opera, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Victor Borge, Garrison Keillor, and the National Symphony Orchestra. In 1980 he formed Washington's first all-professional chamber choir, the Washington Singers (now the Master Chorale Chamber Singers). For ten years he was conductor of the Charlottesville (VA) Oratorio Society and for more than 20 years was conductor and coordinator of the Kennedy Center’s annual Messiah sing-along. In June 1992 he was awarded Chorus America’s coveted Founder’s Award for his contribution to the choral art. In May 1997 American University bestowed on him an honorary doctor of music degree. Dr. Hill was also awarded the Columbia Union College Medallion of Excellence and the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music Medal of Excellence. He continues to battle A.L.S. (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and was designated conductor emeritus in 1997.

Robert Lamar Sims, pianist, a native of Selma, Alabama, received a B.M. and M.M. in piano performance from the University of Maryland at College Park. He is active as a collaborative pianist and teacher of piano and singing in the Washington metropolitan area. He has served as music director and organist for Cleveland Park Congregational United Church of Christ and First Congregational U.C.C. Mr. Sims, accompanist for the Master Chorale Chamber Singers, has also served as accompanist for the Paul Hill Chorale, Cathedral Choral Society, Washington Opera, and the Choral Arts Society of Washington.

Miriam Bolkosky, cellist, a native of Detroit, began her cello studies at the age of four. She made her solo debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15. An active chamber musician, she has given numerous recitals, including performances at the Cape May Festival; Cayman International Chamber Music Festival; and in the Paul Harris, Avery Fisher, and Carnegie concert halls. She holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Jeffrey Solow, Erling Blondal Bengtsson, and Alan Harris. Ms. Bolkosky has served on the faculties of the Cleveland Institute of Music, National Music Camp at Interlochen, Montclair University, Diller-Quaille School, and Holton-Arms School.

Steven Combs, baritone, made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1991 under the baton of James Levine in the world premiere of John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, which was also televised on PBS. The same year he also debuted with Opera Theater of St. Louis as Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Both productions were directed by the acclaimed British director, Colin Graham. A graduate of the University of Delaware, Mr. Combs has won the National Association of Music Teachers of Singing Competition, a Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation study grant, and a Sullivan award. He is a Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition winner.

Angela Powell, soprano, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, received her bachelor’s degree in music from Oberlin College and her master’s degree from the University of Maryland. She has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe appearing in such roles as Contessa in The Marriage of Figaro, Mimi in La Bohème,and the title role in Susanna. Ms. Powell received first place awards in the Paul Robeson Competition and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She also appears on the CD Christmas with the Master Chorale of Washington.

Sara Murphy, mezzo-soprano, received her B.A. in vocal performance from Oberlin College and is completing work on an M.M. in vocal performance at Catholic University. She has been cantor and chorister at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, appeared with the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, and presented a recital on the Alcorn Concert Series in Washington.

Master Chorale of Washington Chamber Singers

Educational Study Guide: If you would like a study guide -- including complete texts of the Holocaust Cantata readings -- to use with this CD in the classroom, please visit our webpage: www.masterchorale.org

Recorded May 23 – 26, 1999 in St. Luke Catholic Church, McLean, Virginia
Producer and engineer: Blanton Alspaugh
Edited and mastered at Soundmirror, Boston, Massachusetts
Cover photo: Courtesy the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

The Master Chorale Chamber Singers gratefully acknowledge following for their generous support:

Mae W. Jurow, in loving memory of her husband, Irving H. Jurow
Melissa A. R. Krause
Anonymous
Carl and Judith Schwenk
Many friends of the Master Chorale Chamber Singers

The Master Chorale Chamber Singers gratefully acknowledge following for their kind assistance:

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
Bret Werb, musicologist and music consultant
Aaron Kornblum, reference archivist
Ron Krupiers, reference librarian
St. Luke Catholic Church, McLean, Virginia
Father Martin McGuil, Pastor
Paul Skevington, Director of Music
James Carman
Denny Clark
Irena Augustyniska Kafka
Laura Kafka
Louis Roberts
Marcin Zmudzki

Albany Records
Made in USA.

© 1999 Master Chorale of Washington, Inc. All rights reserved.
www.masterchorale.org

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