listen
Erwin Schulhoff, Etudes de jazz
Performed live by Andrew Infanti
Recent musicological research has focused on Nazi censorship applying the pseudo-concept Entartete Musik (“Degenerate Music”) — which specifically stigmatized the Jewish, communist, homosexual, Czech composer (and pianist) Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942).
Such research has incited musicians to rediscover and perform this composer’s fascinating musical output, which include a full setting of Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Andrew Infanti joins this group of musicians: he has performed the Cinq Etudes de jazz composed in 1925, three of which are offered here (live performances). (continue reading …)
Death and Life of Erwin Schulhoff
Erwin Schulhoff is known for his avant-garde or Dada pieces, his fascination with American jazz, and his communist convictions.
Like other musicians in the Weimar Republic such as Paul Hindemith — whose Suite 1922 may have been a model for the Jazz Etudes presented here — he was a target of Nazi persecution for his compositions suggesting cultural confluence. He died in the Würzburg concentration camp during the Third Reich.
