Musicologist Silver to Record Works of Holocaust Era Composer
Contact: Phillip Silver, (207) 581-1783; George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — University of Maine music professor Phillip Silver and his wife and colleague Noreen Silver will present a recital Feb. 9 at Minsky Recital Hall that includes a work by a little-known Italian Jewish composer who died at the hands of Nazis in 1944.
They’ll also include the work on a CD they will record this coming summer in New York. Silver, a pianist, recently received a UMaine faculty research grant to record the works of Leone Sinigaglia, an Italian Jewish composer killed by Nazis. Silver and cellist Noreen Silver, who perform as the Silver Duo, will record the CD with friend and colleague Ferdinand Liva, who will play violin on the recording of Sinigaglia’s sonata for violin and piano. Noreen Silver is a part-time faculty member at UMaine; Liva is first violinist with the DaPonte String Quartet in Damariscotta. The recording will be released on the Toccata label in London and distributed worldwide.
Sinigaglia’s “Opus 41,” composed in 1926, is a “first-rate” sonata for cello and piano, and a significant contribution to the cello-piano repertoire, Phillip Silver says.
“I can unequivocally say that this is one of the most appealing works I’ve come across in many years of research,” says Silver, an internationally acknowledged musicologist and authority on composers of the Holocaust Era.
Silver discovered the work through his ongoing research on the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. While looking through documents at the IPO archives in Tel Aviv, he came upon the program from a 1938 concert by the orchestra, conducted by Toscanini, which included an orchestral work by Sinigaglia — an unknown name to Silver. Tangential research to learn something about the composer led Silver to uncover Sinigaglia’s large and never recorded chamber works.
“I would say with almost complete certainty that it hasn’t been performed in 40-50 years,” Silver says. “This work is long out of print, and because copyright is still in effect, it took a considerable amount of time and effort to obtain an authorized photocopy from the publisher. However, the quality of the piece made the effort completely worthwhile; it really is a very fine and enjoyable work.”
The Silvers’ Feb. 9 recital at UMaine will consist of music by French and Italian composers, including the highly dramatic “Sonata in C minor” by Camille Saint-Saens, the poignant “Elegie” by Darius Milhaud, in addition to Sinigaglia’s sonata for cello and piano. The performance is at 7:30 p.m. in Minsky Recital Hall in the Class of 1944 Hall. Admission is $6 and free for UMaine students with a university ID.
Silver, who also has been teaching at Colby College under the joint auspices of the Jewish Studies and Music departments there, also will present two lectures on music of the Holocaust era, at 1 p.m. on March 9 at the Congregation Beth Abraham in Bangor, and at 7 p.m., March 10, at the Klahr Center at the University of Maine at Augusta, under the auspices of the Maine Holocaust Human Rights Center.
His lecture, “Music of the Holocaust,” is part of a series, “Hitler’s Holocaust.” The series will take place in both Bangor and Augusta venues in February, March, April and May with other lecturers coming from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, Northwestern University and Alabama State University. Scholars from Germany and China are also participating.