Schulhoff, Schul, Klein
Soumm, Romanoff Schwarzberg, Bonomini

Alexandra Soumm, violin
Nora Romanoff Schwarzberg, viola
Paolo Bonomini, cello

E. Schulhoff (1894–1942)
Duo for Violin and Cello

Z. Schul (1916–1944)
Two Chassidic Dances, Op. 15

G. Klein (1919–1945)
String Trio

35’ | Museum admission ticket required

In the Sala degli Specchi of the Ducal Palace, the outstanding musicians Alexandra Soumm, Nora Romanoff Schwarzberg, and Paolo Bonomini present a programme in the spirit of Discover: three voices silenced by war and brought back to light today.

Erwin Schulhoff, a Czech composer of Jewish origin, was among the first of his generation to introduce jazz rhythms into art music; he died in the Wülzburg concentration camp. Zikmund Schul, also deported to Theresienstadt, left in his Two Chassidic Dances, Op. 15 one of the most moving testimonies of that tragic period, through dances deeply rooted in the Hasidic Jewish tradition. Gideon Klein was born in Moravia into a Jewish family and displayed extraordinary talent from childhood: deported to Theresienstadt in 1941, he pursued an intense activity there as pianist and cultural organizer, composing until the very end of his life. His String Trio is his final work, completed in September 1944; he was later transferred to Auschwitz and then to Fürstengrube, where he died before reaching the age of twenty-five.

The work’s three movements — an Allegro, a Lento with variations on a Moravian folk melody, and a Molto vivace — were written with the mastery of an accomplished composer and the urgency of someone who knew time was running short.