Exodus: Jewish Composers in Exile

Part of TŌN’s Carnegie Hall series

Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now perform rarely heard works by Jewish composers written while they were in exile from their homelands during World War II. Renowned Polish composer Alexandre Tansman fled Europe for the United States in 1941, and his rhythmic Polish Rhapsody—inspired by the invasion of Poland and dedicated “to the defenders of Warsaw”—was premiered in St. Louis that same year. Prolific composer Josef Tal emigrated to Jerusalem in 1934, and his dramatic Exodus, based on the Passover Haggadah, was debuted by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra during the first days of that country’s War of Independence. Walter Kaufmann was one of many Jewish refugees who found a haven in India, where he lived for 14 years and wrote his Indian Symphony. Viennese composer Marcel Rubin fled first to France and then to Mexico, which is where he wrote his melancholy Symphony No. 4, Dies irae, reflecting his experiences during the Second World War.