Free concerts at Valley confront Nazi suppression

One Book One College and the Wednesday Concert Series unite to address Third Reich-era censorship through Entartete Musik.

By Ava Rosate, Staff Writer

Glenn Carlos, a professor in the music department sings "A Lonesome Dove" by Kurt Weill as Patricia Hannifan plays piano on Wednesday March 1. The song is part of the programs second theme - Entartete Music. (Ava Rosate/Valley Star)

The Free Wednesday Concert Series continued at Valley College’s Recital Hall last week, as the performances honored the legacy of musicians who remained resilient and defied oppression during 1930’s Nazi Germany.

Valley’s Music Department collaborated with One Book One College, Valley’s common book program, to promote critical thinking and academic dialog between students and faculty. The program encourages professors from all departments to teach the same book for one academic year. This year, the organization chose “Maus” by Art Speigelman, a graphic novel that depicts a man’s story of survival during the Holocaust.

To honor the common read program, the music department decided to add a secondary theme to their Music for Storytelling series — “Entartete Musik” or degenerate music. The Third Reich government deemed music from all Jewish composers, as well as jazz and improvisation, to be harmful or politically subversive.

“The most important thing, besides bringing attention to the destructive practice of banning artists, is to make our audience aware of beautiful music by talented musicians who were silenced in the early 20th century," said Christian Nova, a professor in the music program and former department chair. “Many of these composers were never quite able to recover from the practice — many of them perished and their music was supposedly lost.”

To curate the powerful selection of music pieces that will be performed throughout the semester, Nova unearthed a list of composers banned from the Nazi regime. Pulling from that list, he showcased compositions from Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht and Felix Mendelssohn.

Despite being banned from playing their music publicly and often killed if caught, musicians would entertain their fellow prisoners and create a sense of unity in the midst of tragedy. Music and art offered a glimpse of hope to those who were imprisoned in concentration camps.

“If somebody was musically inclined or talented, they tended to last longer because they could entertain the prisoners and bring them a piece of Jewish heritage, which was a gift,” said Glenn Carlos, an associate professor of music.

During the performance, Carlos shared the story of Viktor Ullmann –– a resilient musician who attempted to take a stand against the S.S. through The Emperor of Atlantis, an opera that criticized totalitarianism. Ullmann wrote the opera during his time in the concentration camps and was forced to perform for the S.S. Ullmann. The composer was killed during the final rehearsal when guards caught on to the subversive theme.

The Free Wednesday Concert Series takes place in Valley’s recital hall every Wednesday from 2:30 p.m to 3:30 p.m.