List of émigré musicians from Nazi Europe who settled in Britain
The rise of Nazism and its aftermath led to a wave of Central European intellectuals, many of them Jewish, seeking escape abroad during the 1930s and 1940s due to persecution at home. It has been claimed that nearly 70 composers came to the UK to escape Nazi persecution between 1933 and 1945, though many of them subsequently moved on elsewhere.[1] This list details those composers, performers, publishers and musicologists who ended up living and working in Britain, where they had a significant and lasting influence on musical culture and development.
Primarily composers
- Boaz Bischofswerder (1885-1946). Arrived in 1933 from Germany. Deported as an enemy alien to Australia in 1940 with his son Felix Werder
- Nicholas Brodszky (1905-1958). Arrived from Austria 1939, moved on to California 1949[2]
- Francis Chagrin (1905-1972). Arrived in 1936 from Romania (via France)
- Erika Fox (born 1936). Arrived in 1939 from Austria
- Hans Gál (1890-1987). Arrived 1938 from Austria
- Peter Gellhorn (1912-2014). Arrived 1935 from Germany
- Roberto Gerhard (1896-1970). Arrived 1939 from Spain (via France)
- Berthold Goldschmidt (1903-1996). Arrived 1935 from Germany
- Allan Gray (real name Josef Zmigrod, 1902-1973). Arrived 1935 from Austria
- Joseph Horovitz (1926-2022). Arrived in 1938 from Austria
- Karel Janovický (born 1930). Arrived 1950 from Czechoslovakia
- Robert Kahn (1865-1951). Arrived 1938 from Germany
- Hans May (1886-1959). Arrived 1936 from Germany (via Paris), returned to Europe 1957.
- Ernst Meyer (1905-1988). Arrived 1933 from Germany, returned 1948
- Karl Rankl (1898-1968). Arrived 1939 from Austria
- Franz Reizenstein (1911-1968). Arrived 1934 from Germany
- Mátyás Seiber (1905-1960). Arrived 1935 from Hungary
- Leopold Spinner (1906-1980). Arrived 1939 from Austria
- Mischa Spoliansky (1898-1985). Arrived 1933 from Germany
- Egon Wellesz (1885-1974). Arrived 1938 from Austria
- Arthur Willner (1881-1959). Arrived 1938 from Austria
Other composers stayed for a short time in Britain before moving on elsewhere. They included Hanns Eisler, Ernst Krenek, Karol Rathaus, Kurt Roger, Ernst Toch and Kurt Weill[3]
Primarily conductors or performers/teachers
- Amadeus Quartet (three members of). Arrived 1938 from Austria
- Walter Goehr (1903-1960). Arrived 1933 from Germany
- Michael Graubart (born 1930). Arrived 1938 from Austria[4]
- Erich Gruenberg (1924-2020). Arrived 1946 from Austria (via Israel, 1938)
- Paul Hamburger (1920-2004). Arrived 1939 from Austria
- Hans Heimler (1913-1990). Arrived 1938 from Vienna
- Helene Isepp (1899-1968). Arrived 1938 from Austria[5]
- Martin Isepp (1930-2011). Arrived 1938 from Austria
- Louis Kentner (1905-1987). Arrived 1935 from Hungary
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (born 1925). Arrived 1946 from Germany
- Maria Lidka (1914-2013). Arrived 1934 from Germany
- Rawicz and Landauer, piano duo. Arrived 1935 from Austria.
- Max Rostal (1905-1991). Arrived 1934 from Germany
- Rudolf Schwarz (1905-1994). Arrived from imprisonment in Germany (via Sweden) in 1947
- Jan Sedivka (1917-2009). Arrived 1942 from Czechoslovakia
- Vilém Tauský (1910-2004). Arrived 1940 from Czechoslovakia (via France)
- Ilse Wolf (1921-1999). Arrived 1939 from Germany[6]
Pianist Artur Schnabel and cellist Emanuel Feuermann stayed for a short time in Britain before moving on[3]
Primarily critics or musicologists
- Theodor Adorno (1903-1969) arrived 1934 from Germany (with frequent trips back) but moved on to New York in 1938[3]
- Mosco Carner (1904-1985). Arrived in 1933 from Poland
- Otto Erich Deutsch (1883-1967). Arrived in 1939, returned to Vienna 1951
- Hans Keller (1919-1985). Arrived 1938 from Austria
- Else Mayer-Lissmann (1914-1990). Arrived 1938 from Germany[7]
- Hans Redlich (1903-1968). Arrived 1939, from Germany
- Peter Stadlen (1910-1996). Arrived 1938 from Austria
- Erwin Stein (1885-1958). Arrived 1938 from Austria
Primarily publishers
- Walter Bergmann (1902-1988). Arrived from Germany, 1939[8]
- Alfred Kalmus (1889-1972). Arrived 1936 from Austria
- Ernst Roth (1896-1971). Arrived 1938 from Austria
References[]
- ^ Continental Britons: The Émigré Composers, Notes to Nimbus CD NI5730 (2004)
- ^ Eder, Bruce. Biography at AllMusic
- ^ a b c SOAS, Jewish Music Institute
- ^ Michael Graubart biography, Royal College of Music
- ^ Helene Isepp biography, Royal College of Music
- ^ Ilse Wolf biography, Bach Cantatas
- ^ Elsie Mayer-Lissmann biography, Royal College of Music
- ^ Walter Bergmann biography, Schott
Further reading[]
- Bergfelder, Tim & Cargnelli, Christian. Destination London: German-speaking emigrés and British cinema, 1925–1950. Berghahn Books, 2008.
- Gal, Hans. Music Behind Barbed Wire: A Diary of Summer, 1940 (2014)
- Gordon, David and Peter. Musical Visitors to Britain (2005)
- Haas, Michael. 2013. Forbidden Music: The Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-15430-6 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-300-15431-3 (pbk).
- Oldfield, Sybil. The Black Book: The Britons on the Nazi Hitlist (2020)
- Snowman, Daniel, The Hitler Emigrés (2002)
- Royal College of Music. Project celebrating the work of migrant musicians who fled the Nazis
- Royal College of Music. Singing a Song in a Foreign Land, Symposium programme, February 2014
- Music and the Holocaust: Composers in Exile
- Through Lotte's Lens: A film by Tony Britten
Categories:
- European diaspora in the United Kingdom
- Lists of composers
- Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United Kingdom after the Anschluss