For most of the 20th century, the classical music history of the era seemed clear and complete.
But in the past 15 years or so, it has become increasingly evident that the record has been severely skewed and truncated because of the pernicious actions of the Nazis and the tumult of World War II.
The careers of dozens of often prominent European composers were ruined, their music was suppressed, and, in the most unfortunate cases, they were relegated to concentration camps where they died.
If all that were not enough, they and their music were all but forgotten for decades. Only recently have long-buried musical works resurfaced and ignored composers begun to receive the attention denied them so long.
The list of affected composers includes Walter Braunfels, Pavel Haas, Ernest Krenek, Erwin Schulhoff, Franz Schreker, Wladyslaw Szpilman, Viktor Ullmann, Kurt Weill and Alexander von Zemlinsky.
“We don’t know this music, not because it was irrelevant music or because it was not worth being heard,” said James Conlon, an internationally recognized conductor who is among the most ardent and high-profile champions of these lost composers.
“This music was banned and wasn’t given a lifelong opportunity to be heard. For the most part, these were not persons who were at the periphery of what was going on. Most of them were at the center of what was going on, and their music and their names got scratched out.”
Works by two of these still little-known figures — Ullmann and Szpilman — will be featured during two performances this weekend of a Colorado Symphony program titled “Hope From Despair.”
Rounding out the concert will be works by Weill, one of the composers who survived the Nazis and managed to preserve their fame even as their lives were forever altered by forced exile or emigration.
A second program Sunday afternoon in what was to have been a weekend festival has been canceled, because the mother of guest soloist Joanna Kozlowska died while the soprano was on her way to Denver for rehearsals this week.
Conlon believes there are several thousand works or more from 1890 through 1940 that were suppressed by the Nazis and later lost or forgotten. Of those, hundreds are probably worthy of what he calls a “regular hearing.”
In recent years, more and more of these buried compositions have come to light, and the Colorado Symphony joins an increasing number of organizations performing them.
Earlier this year, as part of the Los Angeles Opera’s “Recovered Voices” initiative, for example, Conlon led the American premiere of Ullmann’s “The Broken Jug” and the company premiere of Zemlinsky’s “The Dwarf.”
For music director Jeffrey Kahane, who will lead the concerts this weekend in Denver, the program holds special meaning, because of his distant and not-so-distant connections to the Holocaust and some of composers who suffered during it.
Kahane’s great-uncle and great-grandfather died in concentration camps, the latter in Theresienstadt, where Ullmann perished, as well. His piano teacher, Jacob Gimpel, who fled Poland in the late ’30s, knew Szpilman, the subject of the well-received 2002 movie “The Pianist,” based on his autobiography.
“I’ve never been able to watch the movie,” Kahane said. “I’ve never been able to get past the first 20 minutes, because, for me, it’s just too personal.”
The “Hope From Despair” program consists of four selections, including three never performed by the CSO:
Ullmann, Piano Concerto. The American premiere of this piece in 2004 at the Aspen Music Festival was the inspirational spark for “Hope From Despair.” Serving as soloist for the work will be Christopher Taylor, who performed it in Aspen.
Weill, Symphony No. 2. “It’s an extraordinary piece,” Kahane said. “It’s music of the absolute highest level. This guy was a serious craftsman. I felt this needed to be heard.” Because of Weill’s success in the popular realm, his more serious music, such as his symphonies, has been slighted.
Szpilman, Concertino for Piano and Orchestra. “He was a great classical pianist, and I mean great,” Kahane said. “The recordings, which have now become widely available — they’re exceptional. And he was a immensely gifted composer.”
This is the piece that Szpilman refers to repeatedly in “The Pianist” as he tells of surviving the grim conditions of the Warsaw ghetto.
“So, here’s this piece, which is so ebullient and joyous,” Kahane said. “As has been remarked, it’s almost disconcerting on one level that this man would write a little, mini- Gershwinesque piano concerto in the midst of the horror.
“But then, on another level, when you read his words, you realize that this is a man fighting with his whole soul to just stay sane, and this was part of the process, to write music that expressed the love of life.”
Although the music featured as part of “Hope From Depair” was composed during one of the lowest moments in human history, it is not unrelentingly bleak.
“I hope people don’t have the impression that it is going to be a downer,” Kahane said, “because this music, while it has its dark moments, is just incredibly vital, and a lot of it is incredibly joyful.
“And that’s part of the whole point — these people had such incredible spiritual strength that in the face of the most horrifying brutality, they were able to not only maintain their dignity but create things of beauty.
“And there is an endless inspiring lesson to be gleaned for all of us from that.”
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
“Hope From Despair”
Classical music. Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. A Colorado Symphony program of works by Wladyslaw Szpilman, Viktor Ullmann and Kurt Weill — three composers whose lives were destroyed or severely damaged by the Nazis. 7:30 tonight and 8:30 p.m. Saturday (note the unusual time). Sunday’s 2:30 p.m. concert has been canceled. $15-$69.50. 303-623-7876 or coloradosymphony .
