Informationen aus Österreich (03/15/04)
Following the performance of the oratorio, The Song of Terezin, by the German-Jewish composer, Franz Waxman (1906-1967) which took place in the former concentration camp of Mauthausen in 2003, the oratorio by Ruth Fazal was performed in the Viennese Concert House on March 11. This oratorio had its world premiere in Toronto in 2003. The poems by Jewish children who had been deported to a fortress northwest of Prague between 1941 and 1944 provided the subject matter of this work. Some 15,000 children were sent to this camp, of which only 100 survived. The emotionally moving poems written by the children at that time, together with verses taken from the book of Tannach of the Old Testament, form the oratorio’s libretto. The focus of the piece with the picture of the heart of God engulfed by human suffering is represented by dramatic and also soft and lyrical music.
Ruth Fazal, native of Great Britain, immigrated to Toronto in 1975 where she acted as the concert master of the Mississauga Symphonic Association, as a songwriter and keyboard player.Following its performance in Vienna, the oratorio goes to Prague and in 2005 to Israel.
Following the performance of the oratorio, The Song of Terezin, by the German-Jewish composer, Franz Waxman (1906-1967) which took place in the former concentration camp of Mauthausen in 2003, the oratorio by Ruth Fazal was performed in the Viennese Concert House on March 11. This oratorio had its world premiere in Toronto in 2003. The poems by Jewish children who had been deported to a fortress northwest of Prague between 1941 and 1944 provided the subject matter of this work. Some 15,000 children were sent to this camp, of which only 100 survived. The emotionally moving poems written by the children at that time, together with verses taken from the book of Tannach of the Old Testament, form the oratorio’s libretto. The focus of the piece with the picture of the heart of God engulfed by human suffering is represented by dramatic and also soft and lyrical music.
Ruth Fazal, native of Great Britain, immigrated to Toronto in 1975 where she acted as the concert master of the Mississauga Symphonic Association, as a songwriter and keyboard player.Following its performance in Vienna, the oratorio goes to Prague and in 2005 to Israel.