Pavel Haas

Pavel Haas (21 June, 1899 – 17 October, 1944) was a Czech composer who perished in the Holocaust. He belongs to the important representatives of the Leoš Janáček´s compositional school. In his compositions he used also the elements of the folk music and jazz. Although his output isn´t very volumnious, he is notable particularly for his song cycles and string quartets.cite book |title=Hudební slovník pro každého II |last=Vysloužil |first=Jiří |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2001 |publisher=Lípa |location=Vizovice |isbn=80-86093-23-9 |pages=p. 168 |url= cs icon]

Pre-war

Haas was born in Brno, into a jewish family. His father Zikmund was a shoemaker by trade, mother Olga (nee Epstein) was of Russian origin (born in Odessa). Haas began his formal musical education there at the age of 14. He studied composition at the Conservatory from 1919 to 1921 under Jan Kunc and Vilém Petrželka. This was followed by two years of study in the master class of the composer Leoš Janáček. Janáček was far and away Haas' most influential teacher and Haas, in turn, proved to be Janáček's foremost student. In 1935 he married Soňa Jakobson, former wife of russian linguist Roman Jakobson [Matějková, p. 129] .

Of the more than 50 works written during the next 20 years or so, only 18 were given opus numbers by the self-critical composer himself. While still working in his father's business, he wrote musical works of all kinds, including symphonic and choral works, lieder, chamber music, scores for cinema and theatre and the opera "Šarlatán" (The Charlatan), first performed in Brno to great acclaim in April 1938.

The war

In 1941, Haas was deported to the concentration camp of Theresienstadt (Terezín). He was one of several Czech-Jewish composers there, including Viktor Ullmann, Gideon Klein and Hans Krása. Prior to his arrest, he had officially divorced his wife Soňa in order that she and their young daughter would not suffer a similar fate. On his arrival, he became very depressed and had to be coaxed into composition by Gideon Klein. However, Haas wrote at least eight compositions in the camp, unfortunately only a few of which have survived. They include a set of "Four Songs on Chinese Poetry" for baritone and piano and the "Study for String Orchestra" which was premiered in Theresienstadt under the Czech conductor Karel Ančerl and is probably Haas' best-known work today. The orchestral parts was found by Ančerl after the liberation of Theresienstadt and the score reconstructed.

In 1944 the Nazis remodeled Theresienstadt just before a visit from the Red Cross and a propaganda film was made. In the film Theresienstadt, children are seen singing Krása's opera "Brundibar" and Haas can be seen taking a bow after the performance of his "Study for Strings". When the propaganda project was over, the Nazis transferred 18,000 prisoners, including Haas and the children who had sung in "Brundibar", to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they were murdered in the gas chambers. According to the testimony of Karel Ančerl, Haas stood next to him after the arrival at Auschwitz. Dr. Mengele was about to send Ančerl to the gas chamber first, but weakened Haas began to cough and the death sentence was therefore chosen for him. After the war Ančerl met with Haas' brother Hugo and told him the story. [Matějková, p. 137]

Post-war

Haas' large-scale symphony, which he began prior to his deportation to Theresienstadt, remained unfinished, but the surviving torso was orchestrated by Zdeněk Zouhar in 1994. Haas's music, stemming from Bohemian and Moravian roots, is sometimes tinted by Hebrew melody.

Haas has been described as "a reserved but eloquent student of Janáček" by Alex Ross in his history of classical music in the 20th century, "The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century".

His brother Hugo Haas (1901 - 1968) was popular actor in pre-war Czechoslovakia.

Works

Principal publishers: Bote & Bock / Tempo / Boosey & Hawkes / Sádlo

Notes

ources

* Sadie, S. (ed.) (1980) "The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians", [vol. # 8] .
* Ross, A. (2007) "The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York
* Matějková, J. "Hugo Haas. Život je pes" Prague: Nakladatelství XYZ, 2005. ISBN 80-86864-18-9

External links

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* [http://www.musica.cz/comp/haas.htm Pavel Haas] at the [http://www.musica.cz/en/ Czech Music Information Centre] .
* [http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main.asp?composerid=2846 Pavel Haas] , a brief biographical entry on the [http://www.boosey.com/ Booser and Hawkes site]
* [http://claudet.club.fr/Terezin/index.html Comprehensive discography of Terezin Composers by Claude Torres]