In the organizer's words:

Pia Viola Buchert, mezzo-soprano
Tatjana Dravenau, piano

The six composers whose songs are featured in this program were born between 1890 and 1924. Their compositions, written between 1917 and 1997, reflect the stylistic diversity of the 20th century, ranging from the expressive, late Romantic style of Hans Gál to the spherical polyphony of Felix Wolfe and the highly individualized songs of Ruth Schonthal. What the six artists have in common is that the persecution of Jewish people during the National Socialist dictatorship led to radical cuts and breaks in all of their lives.

Their respective life paths, the place of exile and the social environment in which they continued their compositional careers influenced and shaped the further development of their compositional styles. At the same time, the texts of the songs, which are up to 500 years old, reveal exclusion, persecution, expulsion and exile as constants in human history. With this program and the CD "Eisnacht"(Genuin, 02/2026), we would like to contribute to the reception of these songs and pay tribute to the fact that these people had the strength and creativity to overcome their experiences emotionally and artistically. In doing so, they created independent works of art whose artistic significance goes far beyond the processing of biographical events.

Text: Tatjana Dravenau

Tickets at 23/18/erm. 8 euros are available in the webshop, at karten@villa-seligmann.deoderTel. 0511 844887-200.

Supported by:

Kunststiftung NRW, Dwight und Ursula Mamlok-Stiftung, Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten, Kulturstiftung der Westfälischen Provinzial Versicherung, Gesellschaft für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit in Lippe e.V.