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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Fr iday, Sept. 11, 19 59 —
Richard Strauss anti His Jewish Friends
By BOB BREWER
the Berlin Opera house as con-
ductor and associated with the
librettist Joseph Regory with
whom he produced three more
operas with mythological sub-
jects.
He died in 1949, deeply
mourned by . his friends and
admirers, but the golden fruits
of his fertile mind will remain
forever and delight many gen-
erations to come. And with
him will live his two best
friends and collaborators, Hugo
von Hofmannsthal and Stefan
Zweig.
(Standard Feature Syndicate)
Sept. 8, the 10th anniversary
of the death of the famous
composer. Richard. Straus s.
whose two best friends and
most successful collaborators
were two Austrian Jews, is a
fit occasion to look back at a
time when blind mass hatreds
killed not only physical bodies.
but annihilated the spirit and
culture of a nation whose con-
tributions in all the fields of
science and literature have
been invaluable.
This is the tragic story of
three eminent artists — a
composer, a poet and an author
—who were persecuted by the
Nazi hordes because of their
Jewishness (Hugo von Hof-
mannsthal and Stefan Zweig)
and because of his liberal
thinking (Richard Strauss).
Two great friendships were
destroyed, two happy collab-
orations ruthlessly stifled and
brought to an untimely end
by suicide.
Strauss' Good Friends
Richard Strauss, one of the
most vital and successful com-
posers, was fortunate in his
association with two of Vi-
enna's greatest authors of the
time, Hugo von Hofmannsthal
(1874-1929), the grandson of
Isaac Loew of Prague and
Stefan Zweig (1881-1942).
The moving story of the
great friendship and successful
cooperation of Richard • Strauss
with both authors is reflected
in their exchange of letters
which was published in 1925
(Strauss-Hofmannsthal) and in
1958 (Strauss-Zweig).
To Hofmannsthal, Strauss
owes the success of his most
enjoyable and most popular
opera "Der Rosenkavalier"
which, after its premiere in
1911 in Germany, conquered
the stages of the world, and
today is still performed on the
leading opera stages. During
the following two decades,
Strauss wrote his best operas
in happy collaboration with
Hofsmannsthal and in numer-
ous letters expressed his joy
and satisfaction of having
found a librettist of such
eminent stature.
But in 1920, when in the
shadow of Braunau, the swas-
tika first raised its ugly head,
Hofmannsthal became de-
pressed and less eager to
write. With increasing horror,
he watched the Gorgon-headed
monster of anti-Semitism raise
its venomous head, saw the
German people under the ever-
increasing spell of the Nazi
Pied Piper and suffered great-
ly from it, the more so as the
Jew-baiting hate-slogans quick-
ly found their way into his
native Vienna. Hofmannsthal,
the hypersensitive poet, sensed
the great impact of the deadly
danger ahead for his people.
This undermined his delicate
health and hastened his un-
timely end.
Strauss Meets Zweig
Years passed. Strauss deeply
mourned his great friend and
did not compose anything.
Later, however, the urge to
compose rose mightily in him
again ,although he was in his
70th year. He tried hard,
though reluctantly, to find
somebody. Through a friend,
he was introduced to the noted
Vienna-born author and play-
right, Stefan Zweig, an inti-
mate friend of Theodor Herzl,
then editor of Vienna's most
reputed daily "Die Neue Freie
Presse." Their successful col-
laboration began in 1931 with
the story of "The Silent
Woman," a plot taken from a
medieval play by Ben Jonson,
whose "Volpone" Zweig had
so brilliantly modernized that
it is still performed all over
the world.
In the following years their
Nazi Attorney Indicted
on Charges of Murdering
AWA 100 Jews in Bialystok
HUGO von HOFMANNSTHAL
RICHARD STRAUSS
STEFAN ZWEIG
collaboration progressed well,
but a cruel fate willed it other-
wise and slowly brought it to
a tragic ending. Hitler had
come to power, and Strauss,
much against his will, was
made "President of the Reichs-
musikkammer." Soon, however,
Strauss, who continued his
eager correspondence with
Zweig, was looked upon ask-
ance. When ''The S i 1.e n t
Woman" was premiered in
Dresden in 1933, the playbill,
omitting Zweig's name, read
"From an English play by Ben
Jonson. When Strauss insisted
on having Zweig's name men-
tioned, his wish was granted,
but after three performances,
the warmly-received opera dis-
appeared "by high order."
Zweig, anxious not to cause
his friend any more trouble,
wanted to remain "anonymous"
and recommended other noted
playwrights to Strauss. Fair-
minded and proud, Strauss re-
fused to listen. In the mean-
time, Zweig had submitted to
him two plans for future
opera s, "Friedenstag" and
"Capriccio." Strauss, liking
them both immensely, wrote to
him: "These are your very own
ideas and I want you and no-
body else to work them out.
Do not propose to me men
such as Alexander Lerhet-
Holenia or Joseph Gregor. Both
of them cannot measure up to
you."
A Revealing Diary Entry
On July 3, 1935, Strauss en-
tered in his diary: "Surely it is
a tragic era when a creative
artist of my stature is forced
to beg an underling's permis-
sion as to what he is allowed
to compose and to have per-
formed. Now I, too, belong to
the servile masses of a nation
of servants and waiters, and I
almost envy my persecuted
friend Zweig, who now most
categorically refuses to work
for me, either openly or secret-
ly. With 'The Silent Woman'
my life work seems to have
come to an end. I think I
would have created much more
and it would not have been
entirely worthless. Too bad!"
The correspondence between
Strauss and Zweig became
more and more cautious since
their letters were opened, cen-
sored and often confiscated by
the Gestapo; everything ended
abruptly with a last note Zweig
sent him froth London, in
which Zweig openly reveals
his high regard and warm
friendship for Strauss and his
deep regret that all communi-
cations had to stop.
For a long time, Strauss was
doomed to silence, he saw his
grandsons banned from public
schools because of their Jewish
mother, he saw his fortune
dwindle, his operas disappear
from all German stages.
Tragic End of Stefan Zweig
In 1938, when the Nazis in-
vaded Austria, Zweig and his
wife fled to Brazil. But despite
a warm, friendly welcome, de-
spite four years of creative
writing. Zweig was never the
same again. Although his life
had been immensely success-
ful, he could never forget his
beloved Vienna, his friendship
with .Strauss so dear to him,
the burning of 50 books repre-
senting the relentless work of
40 years, his good name vili-
fied . . . And so, in his sixties,
he saw his rich, creative life
come to a bitter self-willed
ending. At Petropolis (Brazil),
on Feb. 23, 1942, Stefan Zweig
and his wife took their own
lives. In a farewell note,
Zweig wrote: "After one's
sixtieth year unusual power is
needed to make another wholly
new beginning. My strength
BIELEFELD, German y,
(JTA) — Dr. Herbert Zimmer-
man, an attorney, was indicted
on charges of "deliberately and
maliciously murdering 100 Jews
in a Bialystok prison, on July
15, 1944." Bialystok was part of
Poland before World War
and was an important center of
Jewish population.
Dr. Zimmerman was chief of
the Hitler security police in
Bialystok in 1944. His name
came up during a trial at Ulm
a year .ago, when 10 former
members of the Gestapo and the
Hitler security , police were tried
and convicted of the mass
murder of more than 5.000 -per-
sons.
has been exhausted by long
years of aimless wandering,
homeless and persecuted. So
I deem it better to conclude
in good time and bearing a
life in which intellectual labor
meant the purest joy and per-
sonal freedom the highest good
on earth."
The Last Curtain
Grief-stricken about his
friend's tragic death, Strauss
was silent for many years, un-
til the end of World War II.
His fortune had dwindled when
he fell out of the favor of the
Nazi party, and in his old age,
he had to make a new start.
In 1945, after the Allied vic-
tory, Strauss was called to Classified ads bring fast results!
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