The Voice of Resistance in Concentrationary Music

There are voices of resistance that still remain unheard. This is the case of the voices of composers and musicians interned in concentration camps during Nazism. In particular, my contribution intends to analyse Viktor Ullmann’s musical experience during his detention in the ghetto of Theresienstadt (Terezín in Czech), with specific reference to the oeuvre The Emperor of Atlantis, or Death Abdicates (Der Kaiser von Atlantis, oder die Tod-Verweigerung). This work is the best synthesis of the composer’s musical and life experiences, being an ethical manifesto of political and artistic resistance, with frequently occurring references to fragments of Degenerate Music (Entartete Musik). Viktor Ullmann reacts to the condition of displaced person – as many other protagonists of Lagermusik1 (music in the concentration camps) – through his dedication to music, developing a new compositive language and a philosophical thought, witnessed in the work Goethe und Ghetto, a true spiritual testament, also composed in Theresienstadt. Through his musical language, Ullmann expresses his fears, hopes, protests and tries to give shape, overcome and forget, even for a moment in time, the daily routine of the ghetto. Thus music becomes political language, a form of protest, of resistance. The oeuvre The Emperor of Atlantis has both characteristics featuring committed and not committed music: on the one hand music is a medium of political, social and moral scope, on the other it expresses the subjective aspect of political commitment, meaning the necessity and urgency to put into music a political protest.