Lecture by Dr. Reinhard Wulfhorst and musical examples of his work
The Berlin-based composer Robert Kahn - promoted by Johannes Brahms and Joseph Joachim, praised by Clara Schumann and premiered by the Berlin Philharmonic - had a villa built for his family in Feldberg in 1910. This marked the beginning of his decades-long connection with Mecklenburg.
Dr. Reinhard Wulfhorst's lecture will focus on the dramatic development that Kahn's life took during the "Third Reich" due to his Jewish descent: his expulsion from the Academy of Arts in Berlin, the economic plundering by the National Socialists, the attempted protection efforts with the help of the Gestapo (!) and finally his expulsion into British exile. However, this is only the sad part of a moving biography: Robert Kahn's artistic personality also comes to life through his friendships with Johannes Brahms, Albert Einstein, Gerhart Hauptmann and Wilhelm Kempff, among others.
The lecture is based on intensive research in archives in Feldberg, Berlin and Jerusalem, among other places, which opens up a new perspective on Robert Kahn and the persecution of Jewish artists under National Socialism. Reinhard Wulfhorst is the owner of the music publisher Edition Massonneau and - together with Sophia Maeno - winner of the State capital Schwerin Culture Prize.
The lecture will be framed by freshly recorded studio recordings of a song composition by Robert Kahn and a work from his "Tagebuch in Tönen" - the largest piano cycle in music history. The corresponding recordings by Schwerin mezzo-soprano Sophia Maeno and pianist Maša Novosel were made as part of a project by the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Foundation on Robert Kahn, which is generously funded by the State capital Schwerin.
Admission to the event is free.
Please register in advance by e-mail to: info@stiftung-mecklenburg.de.
