Micah’s Bar Mitzvah Project

Written by Micah/edited by mom

MICAH HAS REACHED HIS GOAL!! He is extremely thankful to everyone who contributed. Any additional donations are welcome and will be given as a straight donation to Forbidden Music Regained to help them continue their work rediscovering and publishing suppressed music.

My Bar Mitzvah project is to bring attention to music compositions and composers suppressed by the Nazi regime in Germany in the 1930s and 40s so that more people are able to listen, play, and enjoy beautiful, re-discovered music. To do this, I will be doing 3 things.

First, I will be performing and sharing information about a specific piece of suppressed music that I have learned, a violin sonata by Dutch Jew Bob Hanf (1894-1944). I have played this piece at my middle school and for the Peabody Young People's String Program, and I will play it for my synagogue on June 8 and my Bar Mitzvah guests on June 13.

Second, I have worked with my Peabody and school orchestras to select suppressed music that will be played at our Spring 2025 concerts. On May 4 at the downtown Peabody Campus and on May 31 at Shriver Hall, the Young Artists Orchestra of the Peabody Prepartory will be playing pieces by Czech Jews Viktor Kohn and Ilse Weber. On May 22, my Bonnie Branch Middle School orchestra will be playing a song from a Ghetto in Slovakia that I have arranged for string orchestra. I am also writing the liner notes for these three pieces to educate the audiences about their history.

Third, I am raising money to help make suppressed music more available for other people to perform. Please see more about this at the end of this post.

History: In the early 1930s, the Nazi political party came to power in Germany. They prohibited Jewish musicians, conductors, and composers from creating music and they prohibited the performance of music by any Jewish composers, including the works of Mahler, Mendolsohnn, Korngold, and Schoenberg, and countless others. Any works that were composed or performed during this time were done in secret, often at great risk. Many amazing Jewish composer were killed. Today, much Jewish music from this era remains lost, unknown, or forgotten.

Research: When I began my research for this project, I discovered that it is very difficult to learn the history of suppressed composers and, not surprisingly, there are very few recordings of their music available. But, when the music is available, I was surprised to find that it is still hard to access because the scores and parts (the separated-out notes that each instrument in an ensemble piece plays) are unavailable, difficult to find, or expensive. Without scores and/or parts, it is extremely difficult for musicians to actually play the music. Even at the famous Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University there is little access to suppressed music.

Fortunately, after lots of internet searching and speaking with music librarians, I found a few individuals and organizations attempting to re-discover this music and make it more accessible, including conductor James Conlon (https://jamesconlon.com/) and Forbidden Music Regained (https://www.forbiddenmusicregained.org/) based in the Netherlands.

Buying More Suppressed Music: I am raising money to purchase rediscovered music written by suppressed Jewish composers and complied by Forbidden Music Regained (FMR). FMR has put together four volumes of 25 scores each at a cost of ~$750/volume. I am hoping to buy all 4 volumes and donate them to the Arthur Friedham Library of the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. This will allow the scores to be available to all Peabody Conservatory and Preparatory musicians, teachers, and conductors, as well as available to universities and conservatories around the entire country through inter-library loan.

I hope you will consider contributing to this effort through this GoFundMe campaign!

THANK YOU,

Micah Seliger