Chamber Music Recital II
October 7, 2024
7:00 p.m.
Wesley United Methodist Church
Morgantown, West Virginia
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This concert is part of the Violins of Hope at WVU exhibition and event series.
Raquel Winnica Young,
mezzo-soprano
Mikylah Myers,
violin
Anna Hilderbrand,
youth violin
West Virginia University Graduate String Quartet:
Samuel Rolim,
violin
Ryu Wada,
violin
Noah Bowles,
viola
Ivan Law,
cello
Program
"Violins of Hope: From Project to Book to Song Cycle"
Dr. James A. Grymes
Intonations: Songs from the Violins of Hope (2020)
Jake Heggie (b. 1961)
Text by Gene Scheer
- Ashes
- Exile
- Concert
- Motele
- Feivel
- Lament
- Liberation
Intonations is inspired, in part, by the book, "Violins of Hope: Violins of the Holocaust—Instruments of Hope and Liberation in Mankind’s Darkest Hour," by James A. Grymes.
1. Ashes
When they told him not to pray,
Told him to forget,
When they told him not to hope,
He played the violin.
Who touches me now?
Who opens me like the Torah
Searching for answers
And beneath a carved piece of spruce
Finds only ashes?
Whose ashes? Whose hands?
Who will listen if I sing again?
They told her not to pray,
Told her to forget,
Told her not to hope...
How could it happen?
I was never meant to be an urn for ashes.
I was crafted, carved, created,
Born to intone and vibrate
To thread yesterday, today and tomorrow
With inextinguishable song.
When they told us not to pray,
Told us to forget,
When they told us not to hope,
We played these violins.
2. Exhile
Erich picks me up nervously,
As he did on the cattle car to Dachau,
On the march to Buchenwald.
He takes me in his hands,
Touches a string
And I cry like Isaac in Abraham's arms.
Twelve hundred exiles on a ship
In the middle of the ocean
On our way to the Promised Land.
But the ship is listing, drifting,
And the call goes out:
“All the coal is gone!”
“We must feed the furnace!”
“Find every piece of wood!” “Tear up the floorboards, the railings, the walls and
the doors!”
“Rip the ship apart!”
“Every piece of wood into the furnace now!:
“Is it time to let you go?” he asks me.
“Are you just another piece of wood to fuel the fire?”
Erich is gone. I am still here.
Now, every time someone picks me up And draws a bow across these strings,
Part of me is back in Erich’s hands,
And I cry again like Isaac in Abraham’s arms.
3. Concert
“Play something romantic,” the Commandant orders.
“Something from
before all this.” The officers are all seated.
They tap their feet as they wait for the concert to begin.
Henry looks up at the showerheads
That have never shed a drop of water.
We know why.
Here in the gas chamber, everything but murder is a lie.
“Forgive me,” he whispers to me.
“But if I play, I will not die today.”
Together we soar and sing
Of walks along the Rhine, hands intertwined.
The tune rolls forth like a wave.
Henry must be brave. So no one can see beneath the wave,
Where a riptide pulls him down.
Before all
this?
Before you stole the future? Before you killed my brother?
Before you ripped children from mothers?
Before the glass was broken? The temples and bodies burned?
Before you forced me to stand and play
In the place where each day you murder thousands?
Yitgadal v’yitkadash sh’mei raba b’alma div’ra chirutei,
v’yamlich malchutei…
The concert in the gas chamber is over.
There is even some applause…
4. Motele
Motele was nine years old
When I became the beat of his heart.
We had no secrets.
He played Mendelssohn like a master that night.
I still feel the touch of his fingers
The weight of his bow.
Bravo, Motele! Bravo!
His family stood and cheered with the crowd.
Oh, how proud! Oh, how proud!
Now, now he is twelve.
All his family is gone.
So young, but not alone.
I am with him.
Even as he is forced to perform
For the men who murdered his family.
But, we have a secret.
And Motele is not alone!
For weeks and weeks in the case where he keeps me
He’s been smuggling gunpowder.
Little by little, patiently, slowly,
Over time he has built a bomb in the basement
Of the Officers’ Club.
And tonight is the night.
Again I feel the touch of his fingers,
The weight of his bow.
They applaud, shouting “Bravo!”
He goes to the basement (Bravo!)
Lights the fuse (Bravo! Bravo!)
And runs like the wind to the edge of the forest
To watch the explosion and hear their cries
As the horror dies and dies and dies...
He closes his eyes
Holds me close and quietly strums.
In his heart, he hears his mother and father
Whispering “Bravo, Motele! Bravo!”
Motele is not alone.
5. Feivel
Pull the bow across my strings
I will sing and there they will be Family and friends together again.
Listen! These are not simply notes you hear,
But the voices of eternity.
When the old man could no longer play,
Could no longer read.
He said: “Feivel, take my violin,
Make music to feed your family.
I have lost everyone. It’s all over for me.”
Feivel takes me in his hands,
Thanks the old man.
Promises to share what he is paid
As soon as he can.
At the first wedding, Feivel is on fire.
He plays and we sing all night
Of love, of weddings,
Of children multiplying,
Dancing toward the promise of Jerusalem.
Pull the bow across my strings
I will sing and there they will be
Family and friends together again
Listen! These are not simply notes you hear…
Paid in loaves of bread,
Feivel runs to give the old man
The portion he had promised.
But, there on the table is a bottle of poison.
And he remembers the old man’s words:
“I have lost everyone. It’s all over for me.”
How I wish the old man could see
That with me, his violin, Feivel saved seventeen souls.
Their descendents will sing of love, of weddings,
Of children multiplying,
Dancing toward the promise of Jerusalem.
Pull the bow across my strings
I will sing and there they will be
Family and friends together again.
Listen! These are not simply notes you hear,
But the voices – the stardust – of eternity.
6. Lament (string quartet)
7. Liberation
Is it over? Finally over?
Did we survive again?
A tired soldier gives him a piece of bread, and says:
“Open your eyes. Arise, my friend,
the liberation has begun.”
Is it over? Can it really be over?
For a moment?...
Yes, but for a moment only.
The past is a clock without any hands.
When the wheel of history comes round
When hatred is chanted and screamed – again –
When innocents are blamed – again –
When the gun is loaded
When the match is lit
Let someone – someone – pick me up
And let me sing again … to remember. Remember…
Remember this:
When they tell us not to pray
Tell us to forget
When they tell us not to hope
We will play these violins.
Performer Bios
James A. Grymes
Dr. James A. Grymes is an internationally respected musicologist, a critically acclaimed author, and a dynamic speaker. Grymes has been featured in interviews by the New York Times, ABC News and CNN, and has written essays for the Huffington Post and the Israeli music magazine Opus. He is the author of “Violins of Hope: Instruments of Hope and Liberation in Mankind’s Darkest Hour” (Harper Perennial, 2014). A stirring testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of music, “Violins of Hope” tells the remarkable stories of violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust and of the Israeli violinmaker dedicated to bringing these inspirational instruments back to life. “Violins of Hope” won a National Jewish Book Award. Grymes is Professor of Musicology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Raquel Winnica Young
Mezzo-soprano Raquel Winnica Young is an Argentinean-American singer and stage director. She specializes in Spanish and Latin-American baroque music, with a deep interest in the influence and transformation of the Spanish language and its origins across the centuries. Her career has taken her to concert halls throughout the Americas and Europe. In the US, she has appeared in concert with Chatham Baroque, Quantum Theatre, The Newberry Consort, The Rose Ensemble, Chicago Chorale, Kentucky Opera, The Minot (ND) Symphony, Atlanta Baroque, Apollo’s Fire and Les Délices. Recent performances as a guest of Chatham Baroque include Handel’s Messiah, “Alegría”, a performance of Spanish and Latin American Baroque music, and “Hope Across the Centuries” in collaboration with Violins of Hope. Ms. Winnica Young joined the Spanish ensemble Los Músicos de su Alteza to participate in the 2024 International Renaissance and Baroque Festival “Misiones de Chiquitos” in Bolivia. In May of 2024 she directed and performed La Voix Humaine by Francis Poulenc as part of her project The Voices of Poulenc, presented by Chamber Music Pittsburgh.
Born in Córdoba, Argentina, Ms. Winnica Young holds degrees in Vocal Performance from the Instituto de Arte del Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and from Duquesne University, as well as a Masters in Advanced Studies in Theatre from UNIR (Universidad Internacional de Rioja, Spain). In addition to staging operas for music festivals such as FEMUSC (Brazil) and ISOFOM (Mexico), she was an Instructor of Voice at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for ten years, and currently runs the Opera Workshop of the Carnegie Mellon University Music Precollege program. This Fall she will start a Doctorate in Artistic Creation at the University of Aveiro in Portugal.
Mikylah Myers
Dr. Mikylah Myers serves as Associate Dean of Research and Creative Activity and Professor of Violin at WVU’s College of Creative Arts and Media. This evening she performs on the “Haftel” violin. This violin belonged to Zvi Haftel, the first concertmaster of the Palestine Orchestra, later to become the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. It is a French instrument made by a famous maker, August Darte, in the town of Mirecourt around 1870. Haftel was one of about 100 musicians gathered all over Europe in 1936 by Bronislav Hubermann and brought to Palestine. Haftel was a distinguished violinist before the war and joined Hubermann after he lost his job in a German orchestra. Hubermann's foresight saved the lives of many musicians and their families.
Over the course of the 17 years that Dr. Myers has been at WVU, audiences will have heard her perform on two violins that previously belonged to her violinist grandfather, Harold Wolf. One violin was made by Carlo Bergonzi II in Cremona, Italy in 1797 (a few years before Beethoven composed his first symphony). The other violin was made for her grandfather in 1937 in New York City by Luthier Rosenthal. Soon after acquiring the Rosenthal violin, Wolf was drafted by the US Army to serve in World War II in an entertainment unit. He landed at the beach at Normandy a few days after D-Day with the Rosenthal violin.
Every violin has a unique story to tell, and Dr. Myers is deeply honored to perform on a Violin of Hope tonight.
Anna Hilderbrand
Anna Hilderbrand is a 17-year-old violinist from western Maryland. She currently holds roles as concertmaster of the Allegany Community Symphony Orchestra, Allegany High School String Orchestra, and Frostburg State University String Ensemble, having also played as a soloist with each. Outside of her regular positions, Anna has performed as concertmaster of the Brevard Concert Orchestra and soloist with the Mountainside Baroque Academy Orchestra, and in summer of 2024, she joined the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America for a concert tour of South America and a performance in the inaugural World Orchestra Week. During that week, she was also invited to perform with the Africa United Youth Orchestra. Anna has previously played in the Green Mountain Chamber Music and InterHarmony International Music Festivals, and in 2022, she won the Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast Championship on solo electric violin with her high school marching band. She currently studies with West Virginia University violin professor Mary Grace Johnson. This evening Anna performs on the “Erich Weininger” violin.
West Virginia University Graduate String Quartet
The members of the West Virginia University Graduate String Quartet hail from across the country and around the world. Violinists Samuel Rolim and Ryo Wada are both from Brazil, but from opposite ends of the country. Samuel, a doctoral student, is from the north-eastern city Campina Grande, and Ryo, a masters student, is from São Paulo, 2,650 km south of Samuel’s hometown. They first met here in Morgantown at the beginning of the fall 2024 semester. This evening they perform on the “Zimerman-Krongold” violin and the “Auschwitz” violin. Violist Noah Bowles a doctoral student from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and masters student and cellist Ivan Law is from Inglewood, California. The quartet is coached by WVU cello professor Dr. Erin Ellis.