{"id":18989,"date":"2017-03-31T10:09:53","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T14:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=18989"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:35:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:35:53","slug":"defiant-requiem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=18989","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We will sing to the Nazis what we cannot say to them\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Members
Members of the Carolina Choir, one of four choral groups performing the Defiant Requiem, practice at a rehearsal led by Susan Klebanow. (photo by Kristen Chavez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hungry and tired, the 60 Jewish prisoners nevertheless sang \u2014 without scores or orchestral accompaniment \u2014 one of the most demanding choral works ever written: Giuseppe Verdi\u2019s Requiem Mass.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sixteen performances with up to 150 singers each, all in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Terez\u00edn near Prague, culminated in a June 23, 1944, presentation to Nazi officers. International Red Cross guests were also present. Nazis wanted to convince the visitors that the prisoners were treated well.<\/p>\n

Not so, said Rachel Gelfand, a UNC doctoral candidate in American studies and granddaughter of choir survivor Edgar Krasa: \u201cThere was overpopulation, death and disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conductor Rafael Sch\u00e4chter, who had but one score with which to teach the piece, used the word \u201cdefiance\u201d for the concerts, drawing on the lyric \u201c\u2026and nothing shall remain unavenged.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told the group, \u201cWe will sing to the Nazis what we cannot say to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2008, longtime New Haven Symphony conductor Murry Sidlin created the Defiant Requiem Foundation<\/a> to commemorate the event.<\/p>\n

The Defiant Requiem<\/em><\/a> will be performed in a Memorial Hall concert April 20 by the 90-member UNC Symphony Orchestra and some 200 vocalists from all four student choral ensembles.<\/p>\n

\"The
The translation of the inscription over the gate at Terez\u00edn is \u201cWork will make you free.\u201d (photo courtesy of Partisan Pictures)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve only combined all the ensembles a very few times over the years, for very big occasions,\u201d said music professor Susan Klebanow, who directs two of the four: the Carolina Choir and UNC Chamber Singers. Also performing: the Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Glee Clubs, directed by Daniel Huff and Sue Klausmeyer.<\/p>\n

With narration and film footage interspersed, \u201cthis will be a moving theatrical experience,\u201d said music professor Tonu Kalam, conductor of the orchestra, made up of UNC students and a few recent graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a sense of operatic drama throughout \u2014 extremes of dynamics, orchestration, tempo and character,\u201d he said. \u201cMuch of it is somber, as by definition a requiem is a Mass for the dead, but there are very hopeful, ethereal passages as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sidlin will guest-conduct, and four faculty soloists will perform: soprano Louise Toppin, professor and chair of the UNC music department<\/a>; alto Mary Gayle Greene of Appalachian State University; and UNC\u2019s Timothy Sparks (tenor) and Marc Callahan (bass\/baritone).<\/p>\n

The concert will conclude a semester-long College focus on the Defiant Requiem<\/em>, with smaller concerts, a film screening that was held in February and an early spring academic conference on musical responses to trauma. The events are part of the initiative \u201cCarolina\u2019s Human Heart: Living the Arts and Humanities.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Two years ago, after a talk he gave at UNC for the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies<\/a>, alumnus Stuart Eizenstat \u201964 wondered aloud about the potential for the Defiant Requiem<\/em> at UNC. He has worked in government roles including White House adviser and is board chair of the Defiant Requiem Foundation.<\/p>\n

Ruth von Bernuth, associate professor of Germanic literature and director of the center, contacted the music department. The center, the department and the Defiant Requiem Foundation are presenting the performance.<\/p>\n

\"Guest
Guest conductor Murry Sidlin. (photo by Jeff Roffman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s impressive that the weakened prisoners sang the Requiem<\/em>, Klebanow said: \u201cIt requires great strength and endurance. The singers are standing for 90 minutes to two hours. They have to sing their highest possible notes and their lowest possible notes, and they\u2019re singing long phrases, so they need excellent breath control.\u201d<\/p>\n

The performance will be a new way of teaching about the Holocaust, von Bernuth said. \u201cIt\u2019s a part of history we should never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Admission is $10 for the 7:30 p.m. concert, $5 for UNC students, faculty and staff. Information: <\/em>http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/zfpcokl<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>Tickets: <\/em>tinyurl.com\/z579rqb<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

By L.J. Toler \u201976<\/em><\/p>\n

Read story in <\/em>The Chicago Tribune<\/a> about <\/em>The Defiant Requiem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hungry and tired, the 60 Jewish prisoners nevertheless sang \u2014 without scores or orchestral accompaniment \u2014 one of the most demanding choral works ever written: Giuseppe Verdi\u2019s Requiem Mass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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