Undaunted
Book orders arrived. On Steve’s recommendation, got a copy of Josa Karas’ “Music in Terezin.” So well and humanely written, it’s a passage into the world that Ullmann and in fact, all the musicians there lived in. Wild to think that Ullmann almost immediately considered this camp some sort of artist colony that gave him license to be a composer, even with its unspeakable conditions. Especially considering the death of his wife, Elizabeth, within the first month of them being interned, his determination to immediately embrace the chance to compose speaks of how strongly he felt the need to write music. That his loss is expressed so beautifully in the resulting 5th Sonata with it’s mournful second movement dedicated to her memory, one can understand and indeed be grateful that his calling was so strong, and that he was able to leave this behind for the rest of us.
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