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1
For Solo Cello and Piano
Performance Time 22:20 (for 3 movements)
Skill Level: Advanced, Virtuoso
Terezin Triptych is a powerful tribute to the indomitable spirit of the Jewish artists incarcerated by the Nazis in Theresienstadt (now Terezin). Over 80,000 people died there, the rest were shipped to nearby Auschwitz or Dachau--a few survived. Despite unimaginable suffering and demoralization, the artists and scholars there sought refuge in creativity and learning, delivering over 2,000 lectures on such subjects as "Shakespeare's Heroes" and "Is it ethical if I survive when others don't?" Miraculously, composers fashioned operas and other works which instrumentalists performed, often in bare feet. Regularly actors, directors and writers staged plays, and singers, comedians and dancers put on daring cabarets that satirized their captors right under their very noses. Painters, poets and children left drawings and bittersweet writings--all this, a testament to the power of art, culture and the human spirit to transcend abject cruelty.
What led Carol to create this work? One day a friend brought forth writings from Terezin that her cousin, a holocaust survivor, had collected, fishing them out of secret hiding places after he was liberated. Carol wept. She resolved to transform the anguish and tenderness in these writings into a testament to the strength of the human spirit, to create a signpost to future generations. It was time to turn pain into beauty. And so this three-movement cello-piano work was born, each movement inspired by an actual poem or letter written in Terezin.
In visual art, the term "triptych" is used for an artwork made up of three panels, the middle one usually being larger. These are normally religious works designed to be placed above altars. In similar mode, Terezin Triptych recognizes the power of the human spirit, so in a very real sense it is a religious work. Again, the middle movement is longer than either the first or last, so the term "triptych" fits well.
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Remembrance
In loving tribute to those who endured the Holocaust.
Let us keep the Torch of Remembrance aflame!
Performance Time: 5:30
The first movement is based on a poem depicting an eerie encounter between a wagon laden with harvest fruits and vegetables and a rickety cart piled high with dead bodies. The opening chords of the sonata are powerful: Massive, on the threshold of pain yet majestic, an intense blend of outrage and sheer determination to survive. Then the music becomes more lyrical and yet a dirge as the harvest wagon meets the death-cart. -
Letter from Theresienstadt
In loving of all those lost in the Holocaust.
Performance Time: 11:30
The second movement is a musical narration of a letter a mother wrote to her faraway son. In order to save his life, she had put him on a train to Sweden. She is tormented by how much she misses him and hopes he is being loved and will remember her. Ironically, she has now become a nurse at the Camp, tending small children. The music contrasts the relentless clickety-clack of the train with her tender, remorseful thoughts as she looks on the sleeping children in her care. The letter closes with her admission, "But I'll never send this to you." -
Liberation
In celebration of the power of hope and survival.
Performance Time: 5:20
The final movement reverberates with the hollow victory of bells as American troops free the few people still alive. This movement is dedicated to the brave Liberators. After the resounding bells ring out, the cello and piano interact in an introspective, dancelike "conversation" as if to say that memories would continue to haunt the survivors (as they did). The sonata ends with the return of the bells, signaling hope and a new day of tolerance. May it be so.
(For information regarding the release of the Orchestral Score, please contact Worthgold Music here.)
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Piano Score, Cello Piece Part 8.5" x 11" format, Digital PDF 36.6Mb, 300dpi |
30160 |
Price: $25.00
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Piano Score, Cello Piece Part 10" x 13" format, Digital PDF 75.7Mb, 600dpi |
30161 |
Price: $28.00
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