Sheila Hayman, a descendant of Mendelssohn's sister Fanny, explores
how Felix tried to reconcile his Christianity with his Jewish roots,
tracing the events from his time to the emergence of the Third Reich. She
talks to conductor Kurt Masur, an Aryan boy in 1930s Berlin, forbidden
to listen to Mendelssohn, and Claus Moser, a Jewish boy in Berlin at the
same time, forbidden to listen to Beethoven and consoled by
Mendelssohn. Steven Isserlis shows how Mendelssohn's own struggle
between his two faiths can be heard in his music. And Hayman's
cousin Cecile, an adolescent in the Third Reich, talks for the first
time of how it felt to be a 'Mischling', belonging neither with Jews
nor Aryans, in a world where being a Mendelssohn had suddenly changed
from a badge of pride to a source of shame, and even mortal danger.
Presented by Sheila Hayman Produced by Jessica Isaacs
Broadcast May 9, 2009 Coded from a digital source at 128/44.1 MP3 40 MB
No comments:
Post a Comment