A Commemoration of the 88th Anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s 1933 “Re-entry into the Community of Israel”
Please join me for a short private Zoom event tomorrow, Sunday, July 25th at 8pm EST (virtual doors open at 7:45), featuring readings of texts by the great modern composer, Arnold Schoenberg, in commemoration of his “Re-entry into the Community of Israel” in July 1933. I’m also looking for a few people willing to read (text provided beforehand – no stress).
In the face of rising antisemitism in Europe, Schoenberg, having converted to Protestantism 35 years before, felt compelled not only to return to Judaism, but to make an unprecedented public announcement, with Marc Chagall as witness. Given the rising antisemitism in our time, this seems an important event to recall and for me personally to repeat, in my own secular and aesthetic way.
July 24th is the actual anniversary of Schoenberg’s action. But as it falls on a Saturday this year and my observant Jewish friends would not have been able to participate until later in the evening, the commemoration will instead be held tomorrow, Sunday July 25th. It will include perhaps 20 minutes of readings from Schoenberg’s letters, statements, and musical works, including “Moses and Aaron” and “A Survivor from Warsaw”, with some recorded musical fragments as accompaniment. We’ll also have the chance to meet each other afterwards if anyone wants to chat for 20 minutes or so.
Contact me for the Zoom link. (If you haven’t used Zoom before, it’s easy – I can give you instructions when we get in touch.) And let me know if you’d like to read!
SCHOENBERG’S RETURN is a way to honour Schoenberg’s profound gesture in the face of evil, and to create a moment of solidarity as such evil arises again.
Intimate and low-key, it’s a “Salon of ShAkE Event” under the “roof” of my production company, Michael Caplan’s House of ShAkE.
