5589B546-AA5F-4750-AE8D-E7908801383F
| ID | 5589B546-AA5F-4750-AE8D-E7908801383F |
|---|---|
| Titlecode | X632508 |
| Title Name | Music is a Dream for Oboe, Cello and Piano |
| Marketing Copy | The title is a quote from Alice Herz-Sommer (1903-2006), to whose memory this piece is dedicated. Alice Herz was born in Prague to Jewish parents who ran a cultural salon, giving her the opportunity to meet luminaries such as Mahler, Freud, and Kafka, among others. At age five, alice began to study piano and became a concert pianist, but her career was cut short by the Nazis, who did not allow Jews to perform or teach non-Jews. In 1943, she, with her husband and son, were sent to the Czech city of Terezin, which was setup as a Nazi propaganda site to show how well Jews were treated. Inmates were allowed, then, to stage concerts in which Alice frequently starred during her two-year stay. Bruce Adolphe, inspired by a YouTube video of Alice Herz-Sommer playing Chopin's Waltz in c-sharp minor, Opus 64, No. 2, included some quotes of the waltz in MUSIC IS A DREAM. |
| Instrumentation | Oboe, Cello and Piano |
| Commission | Commissioned by the ROCO (River Oaks Chamber Orchestra) |
| Dedication | Dedicated to the memory of Alice Herz-Sommer. |
| Program Notes | The title is a quote from Alice Herz-Sommer, to whose memory this piece is dedicated. Alice Herz was born in Prague in 1903 to Jewish parents who ran a cultural salon where the young Alice met Mahler, Freud, Kafka, and other luminaries of the day. At age five, Alice began to study piano with Conrad Ansorge, a pupil of Franz Liszt. Alice Herz became a concert pianist, but her career was cut short by the Nazis, who did not allow Jews to perform or teach non-Jews. She had met her husband to be, Leopold Sommer, also a musician, in 1931 and married him two weeks later. In 1943, the couple and their son, Raphael, were sent from Prague to a camp in the Czech city of Terezín (Theresienstadt in German). Set up for Nazi propaganda, Theresienstadt allowed its inmates to stage concerts in which she frequently starred. She never saw her husband again after he was moved to Auschwitz in 1944, and many in her extended family and most of the friends she had grown up with were also murdered by Nazis in the Holocaust. Herz-Sommer spent two years in the Theresienstadt camp, where nearly 35,000 prisoners perished. Alice Herz-Sommer commented of her performances in Theresienstadt: "We had to play because the Red Cross came three times a year. The Germans wanted to show its representatives that the situation of the Jews in Theresienstadt was good. Whenever I knew that I had a concert, I was happy. Music is magic. We performed in the council hall before an audience of 150 old, hopeless, sick and hungry people. They lived for the music. It was like food to them. If they hadn't come [to hear us], they would have died long before. As we would have." Alice Herz-Sommer died in London in 2006 at the age of 110. There is a video on YouTube of Alice Herz-Sommer playing Chopin's Waltz in c-sharp minor, Opus 64, No. 2. Inspired by this, I included some quotes of the waltz in Music is a Dream. |
| Title Brand | 2 |
| Year Composed | 2019 |
| Copyright Number | (not set) |
| Copyright Year | (not set) |
| Duration | 10 |
| Ensemble Size | 0 |
| Date Created | 2019-02-11 20:33:14.000000 |
| Date Updated | 2025-09-30 20:33:14 |
| Inhouse Note | (not set) |
| Bsc Code | (not set) |
| Text Author | (not set) |
| Premier Performance Memo | -Premiered 3/5/2020 - ROCO (River Oaks Chamber Orchestra) |
| Recording Credits | (not set) |
| Review | (not set) |
| Awards | (not set) |
| Title Category | 2 |
| Title Movements | (not set) |
| Title Grade | (not set) |
| Set Series ID | (not set) |
| Title Instrument Category Text | Trio |
| Title Sub Category Text | (not set) |
| Title Sub Category | -1 |
| Title Instrument Header | 18 |
| Title Grade Text | (not set) |
| Clean Url | music-is-a-dream-for-oboe-cello-and-piano-x632508 |