Page 358 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes | Composers’ Societies Past and Present
Lubomír Spurný
Music in Terezín: Cultural Continuity in Extreme Conditions
The article examines the phenomenon of the “Terezín composers” and the
role of music in the extreme conditions of the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghet-
to between 1941 and 1945. The term, although widely used, does not denote
a coherent compositional school: Viktor Ullmann, Pavel Haas, Hans Krá-
sa, Zikmund Schul, Karel Reiner, Gideon Klein, and others did not share
a unified aesthetic programme, compositional techniques, or common pa-
tronage. Their works have little in common in terms of innovation or sty-
listic novelty. Instead, they were profoundly shaped by the circumstances
of imprisonment and the cultural topography of the ghetto, which, as Mi-
chael Beckerman has pointed out, conferred upon them a special emotion-
al resonance.
The study outlines three perspectives: professional practice under duress,
the cultural preludes of clandestine musical life in the Protectorate, and
the development of musical life in Terezín itself – from early prohibitions
through the structures of Freizeitgestaltung to its exploitation in Nazi prop-
aganda. Special attention is given to the vital role of performers who pre-
served the works and to the paradoxical cultural encounter of Czech, Ger-
man, and Jewish traditions. In this sense, Theresienstadt became the last
site where these cultures converged – briefly and creatively, before being de-
stroyed by the deportations of 1944.
Keywords: Theresienstadt, Terezín composers, Viktor Ullmann, Pavel
Haas, Hans Krása, Gideon Klein, Zikmund Schul, Karel Reiner,
Freizeitgestaltung

Antun Tomislav Šaban
Kroatischer Komponistenverband: 80 Jahre Mitgestaltung der nationalen Kultur
und gesellschaftlichen Ereignisse
Der Kroatische Komponistenverband (Hrvatsko društvo skladatelja, HDS)
hat in den vergangenen 80 Jahren eine Schlüsselrolle bei der Bewahrung
und Förderung der kroatischen kulturellen Identität und des nationalen
musikalischen Schaffens gespielt. Als einzige Berufsorganisation, die kro-
atische Komponisten, Musikwissenschaftler und Musikschriftsteller ver-
eint, ist der HDS zur zentralen Institution für die Entwicklung der kroati-
schen Kunst-, Pop- und traditionellen Musik geworden. Über Jahrzehnte
hinweg hat der HDS die kreative Arbeit seiner Mitglieder kontinuierlich

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