Decadent Degenerate &
Downright Dangerous
PROGRAM
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
10 minute Intermission
Accompanied by John Urban
With support from
Ambassadors
Directed by Dr. Felix Graham
🙟 Pater Noster (Igor Stravinsky)
🙟 Ein Freund, Ein Guter Freund (Heymann)
🙟 Auf Wiedersehn, Sweetheart (Hoffman, Nelson, et al.)
🙟 It Don’t Mean a Thing (Duke Ellington)
🙟 September Song, from Knickerbocker Holiday (Kurt Weill)
🙟 Litanie vom Hauch (Hanns Eisler)
A Reading
🙟 Lift Thine Eyes (Mendelssohn)
🙟 Weihnachtsliedchen (Max Bruch)
🙟 Schlehenblute (Franz Scheker)
A Reading
🙟 Wiegala Weise (Ilse Weber)
🙟 Kiddush (Kurt Weill)
~ Intermission ~
Chorale
Directed by Hannah Cai Sobel
🙟 Turn the World Around (Harry Belafonte)
A Reading
🙟 Turn, Turn, Turn (Pete Seeger)
🙟 There’s a River of my People (Pete Seeger)
🙟 Pastures of Plenty (Woodie Guthrie)
A Reading
🙟 Nine Hundred Miles (Woodie Guthrie)
🙟 Lonesome Traveller (Lee Hayes, R. DeCormier)
🙟 The Promise of Living (Aaron Copland)
A Message from TRANSCend
🙟 Memento Vivere (Michael Bussowitz-Quarm)
Notes on the Program
Notes on our theme
The music you’re going to hear tonight is a very small portion of the broad swaths of pieces, composers and performers who received censure, had their works outright banned, or were themselves deported or forced to flee for freedom of creation or personal safety. These notes are long, but provide context for this music. If this sparks your curiosity, please consider reading Forbidden Music by Michael Haas.
The image most people have in mind when thinking of banned music is certainly the anti-semitic prohibitions the National Socialist government of Germany placed on Jewish composers in the 1930s. However, the extent of the state censorship of music goes far beyond that point – even reaching into the US, at the beginning of the Cold War with the USSR in the 1950s.
The House Committee on Un-American Activities sold itself to the population as a bulwark, protecting the country from the wiles of traitors in the service of communism. In reality, though, the HUAC as led by Senator McCarthy was often singularly focused on artists in general, and Jewish and/or queer artists in particular. Artists who were both Jewish and queer, e.g., Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, were constantly on the receiving end of harassment, placed on black lists that resulted in loss of employment or work opportunities, and public humiliation and/or social isolation.
One composer on our program managed to check all of the regime boxes in both Germany and the US. Hanns Eisler, Jewish and an ardent supporter of worker’s rights, fled Germany after his works were banned in their entirety. He made his way to the US, where, for two decades, he flourished as a composer of film scores (two of which were nominated for Oscars!), art music and even received a grant to work on research on the “relations between film and music.”
In 1948, however, he was one of the first people to be blacklisted by Hollywood and brought before the HUAC. Despite strong support from friends in the music industry, film industry and even his private life, he was deported from the US after his sister specifically testified against him in the congressional hearings.
Before he was put on the deportation flight, he read made a public statement, which read:
I leave this country not without bitterness and infuriation. I could well understand it when in 1933 the Hitler bandits put a price on my head and drove me out. They were the evil of the period; I was proud at being driven out. But I feel heartbroken over being driven out of this beautiful country in this ridiculous way.
Dr. Felix Graham
Founder & Creative Director
Director, TRANScend Ambassadors
Germany, 1930 - 1940
By Dr. Felix Graham
Pater Noster
Stravinsky was shocked to find himself as the face of the Entartete Musik (Degenerate Music) program curated by Joseph Goebbels. According to Dr. Abaigh McKee,
Stravinsky appears to have been aware of the Nazis’ racial ideology (in 1933 he wrote to his publisher that he was ‘surprised to have received no proposals from Germany,’ for the next season, despite the fact that his ‘negative attitude towards communism and Judaism – not to put it in stronger terms – [was] a matter of common knowledge’) but scholars have disagreed about the extent to which he supported this ideology.
The composer engaged in an argument – and eventually refused to conduct a concert – with a radio station in Turin, Italy, in December 1938 because the station refused to allow him to conduct Rieti’s Second Piano Concerto as their racial politics prevented them from broadcasting music by a Jewish composer. This incident has been interpreted variously as evidence of Stravinsky’s willingness to stand up for his Jewish acquaintance and as simply a demonstration of the composer’s political naivety.
Ein Freund, Auf Wiedersehn, It Don’t Mean A Thing & September Song
Composers weren’t the sole target of the Nazi regime – performers were also included in bans. Sometimes it was because they were Jewish, sometimes because they performed music that the propaganda office felt “sullied” the ears of listeners.
Ein Freund and Auf Wiedersehn are two of the songs that were performed by the Comedian Harmonists, Germany’s first “boy band,” The group was internationally famous, and toured at one point in the US. Their music is still used in soundtracks and other popular culture. At their final concert in Germany, Auf Wiedersehn was performed, bringing tears to their audience.
Jazz in any of its native forms, represented here by Duke Ellington’s It Don’t Mean A Thing, was strictly banned, but still managed to thrive in the underground. It was so popular that it reached a point where Goebbels commissioned “white” Jazz from German performers to play on the state radio. It was not, as one might imagine, well-received by the population at large.
Kurt Weill, a composer of both classical and theater music, was both Jewish and, as perceived by the Nazis, “tainted” by his use of Jazz elements in his writing. September Song is from one of the first musicals he wrote after immigrating to America after fleeing Germany.
Litanei vom Hauch
This collaboration, between writer Bertolt Brecht and composer Hanns Eisler, is perhaps the finest example of “dangerous” music, as defined by the Nazis. Both were extremely vocal workers-rights oriented leftists, opponents of fascism, wrote pointedly political works, and neither had any compunction about speaking about these things publically and loudly. Brecht’s poem, as set by Eisler, was written in 1920, in the wake of World War 1, but it reads very presciently of World War 2, and even many of the social issues that we are facing today. Hannah Arendt, known particularly for commentary on the ordinariness or “banality of evil,” notes that the repeated phrases referencing silence are a direct commentary on bystanders – people watching the evil happening, refusing to participate in any meaningful pushback, then breathing a sigh of relief when the problem “goes away.”
Lift Thine Eyes, Weihnachtsliedchen & Schlehenblute
As the state suppression of art and music became more and more stringent in Germany, the bans extended to composers who were neither Jewish, particularly political or even vocal. Mendelssohn was targeted because of the assumption of the Jewish last name, but Mendelssohn himself was not a practicing member of the Jewish faith. He was a baptized Lutheran and was proud of both aspects of his identity. From his death in 187 until the 1930s, Mendelssohn had been generally considered to be one of the most “German” of German composers.
Max Bruch, an ethnically German composer who died in 1920, was also considered to be Platonic ideal of German musical composition, until it was discovered that he had written an orchestral arrangement of Kol Nidre, an Aramaic text that became associated with a German folk tune from a collection that became associated with Ashkenazic Jews and passed down through centuries. Bruch, writing on the piece, said: “Even though I am a Protestant, as an artist I deeply felt the outstanding beauty of these melodies and therefore I gladly spread them through my arrangement.”
Schlehenblute, the third piece, was written by Franz Scheker, an Austrian composer with some Jewish ancestry. Like Bruch, he achieved considerable success and fame as an “epitome” of the Germanic soul…right up until the Nazis decided that the German soul did not include anything that had been touched by Judaism. After the ban, he went from a statused position as one of the most highly regarded and highest paid operatic composers in Germany, to a social exile, removed from his University position, performances banned and royalties either dwindling or outright stolen.
Wiegala, Weise & Kiddush
Though the Holocaust is not the direct subject of this concert program, the arc of the state suppression must necessarily be addressed, as that was the end point of that censorship. Weigala, Weise was written by Ilse Weber, a Czech Jewish poet and songwriter imprisoned at Terezin (Theresienstadt) – a concentration camp posing as a “model” ghetto used by the Nazis to show to international guests that the rumors of death camps weren’t true – that the German government had simply “detained” Jewish citizens to “protect” them. Terezin was a waypoint to other labor and extermination camps, and when Weber’s husband was to be sent to Oświęcim (Auschwitz), she volunteered to come with him with their son, rather than to split up the family. In bitter irony, her husband survived and lived til 1974; Weber and her son were gassed immediately upon arrival.
The final piece in the first portion of the program, Kiddush, was written in New York, by Kurt Weill, a composer mentioned previously. This setting of the Judaic Friday Night prayer, was commissioned by the Park Avenue Synagogue as part of their initiative to create a new body of Jewish liturgical music from composers who had survived the Holocaust and the next generation of Jewish composers. This piece was dedicated to Weill’s father, who had been the chief cantor in Desau, Germany, prior to the Nazi’s assumption of power in 1933.
United States, 1950 - 1960
By Hannah Cai Sobel & TRANScend Chorale
“Turn The World Around” Harry Belafonte
The Harlem-born son of Jamaican parents, Harry Belafonte was a celebrated Black cismasculine singer, actor, and civil rights activist until his death at 96 in 2023. In protest of Jim Crow laws, Belafonte refused to perform in the South while he rose to fame between 1954 and 1961, and his starring role in the film “Island in the Sun” (1957) called attention to racism within the British-ruled Caribbean and to racist policies in the film industry. He worked closely with mentors Paul Roberson and Martin Luther King Jr, and used his celebrity influence to fund the King family, bankroll the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s involvement in the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, and join meetings with prominent political figures such as President Kennedy, James Baldwin, Jerome Smith, and Lorraine Hansberry to call attention to anti-Black racism in America and in the US Vietnam draft. His material and physical support of the Civil Rights Movement led to his HUAC blacklisting under McCarthy.
Belafonte’s work in HIV/AIDS prevention and anti-Apartheid activism in sub-Saharan Africa led to his song, “Turn The World Around”. It was composed to follow a Guinean storyteller’s tale of the fire (Sun) and the water (Earth) and their necessity to each other to support our short lives on this planet. The story asks us these questions: “Do I know who you are? Do you know who I am? Do we care about each other?”
“Turn Turn Turn” Pete Seeger
Among the most enduring names in American Folk Music, Pete Seeger (1919-2014) was a white cismasculine musician, activist, teacher, and songwriter in a career spanning seven decades. His fervent advocacy for social causes such as desegregation, environmentalism, nuclear disarmament, and labor rights, along with affiliation with the American Communist Party(CPUSA) from 1942-1947 led to his investigation in 1955 by the House Un-American Activities Committee(HUAC) He was ultimately held in contempt of congress and given a 10 year sentence following his refusal to incriminate his peers for supposed communist activities. The indictment was later overturned by an appeals court.
Most famously covered by the Folk Rock group The Byrds in 1965, Turn, Turn, Turn is a setting of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.
Pete Seeger wrote the melody and added the title lyrics in 1959, the text gives promise and agency that through our continued work, the difficult times that we find ourselves in too shall pass.
“River of My People” Pete Seeger
In “River of My People", Pete Seeger uses the image of a flowing river as a metaphor for life’s hardships and for the hope of spiritual unity beyond this world. Drawing on the rich vocal style of barbershop quartets, the piece weaves a pathway through sorrow toward the promise of connection in heaven. River-based imagery is common in Seeger’s music, likely inspired by his deep connection to the Hudson River. Following a chance nighttime sail in Cape Cod, Seeger became passionate about boating and, appalled by river pollution, helped found the nonprofit Hudson River Sloop Clearwater in 1966. Through songs and concerts—most famously at his 90th‑birthday celebration—he raised awareness and funds to clean the river, blending music and environmental activism. Seeger faced subpoenas and artistic censorship when he organized workers and community members to clean polluted waterways, but nonetheless remained steadfast in his commitment to social activism throughout his life.
“Pastures of Plenty” Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie, a white cismasculine singer, author, and communist supporter, was born in Oklahoma in 1912 to a complicated childhood. After his mother was institutionalized for Huntington’s Disease in 1926, a genetic neurological disorder that later claimed his life and that of a few of his children, Guthrie and his siblings fended for themselves for three years before Guthrie joined his father in Texas. As Guthrie entered adulthood, the Dust Bowl hit the American Midwest in the 1930s as a result of rampant overuse and lack of soil conservation by settler-colonialist farmers. Guthrie left for California in search of work and began to find fame for his protest songs about the conditions of working-class people. He quickly became active in Communist and Labor circles as a singer and a columnist - a steadfast allegiance that later led to his HUAC blacklisting in the late 1950s-60s.
His song, “Pastures of Plenty,” was written for a documentary about the Bonneville Power Administration’s construction of the Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in 1941. He wrote of his musical work in 1944: “I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it's hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work.”
“Nine Hundred Miles” arranged by Philip Silvey
As with much aural folk tradition, the origins of this song are tangled and intertwined, with roots in Appalachian folk music. This melancholic ballad, popularized by Woody Guthrie and later by groups like Peter, Paul and Mary, was immediately viewed with suspicion for its origins in labor communities. Nine Hundred Miles voices the isolation felt by migrant workers far from home, walking freight cars or fields in search of work. Though its origins lie in the experiences of itinerant workers, its simple refrain and plaintive melody invite each listener to bring their own story of longing and displacement. The tune, yearning for home, was also later used in “John Brown” by Bob Dylan, a song with an explicit anti-war message. This song’s weariness and simple refrain unite singers and listeners across decades, reminding us that economic marginalization, global war, and the search for home remain constant, and that shared song can bridge solitary journeys.
“Lonesome Traveler” Lee Hays, arranged by Robert De Cormier
Lee Hays was a white cismasculine singer, musician, and anti-war/pro-labor activist. Hays wrote “Lonesome Traveler” in 1950 for the Weavers, a group that included him and long time collaborator Seeger, who we have also heard songs from tonight. Like many activist artists at the time, they were encouraged not to sing their more political songs. They were both criticized for watering down their message to the detriment of the movement, and additionally still targeted by the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the Red Scare. They were subsequently blacklisted for their affiliation with communist causes. It was sung in union halls and picket lines before it reached concert stages. Lee Hays’ rich baritone voice and wry humor earned him the nickname “Mark Twain of the Left,” as he satirized self‑satisfied elites while celebrating the common person. This song’s travel‑ballad form speaks to the restless search for justice and belonging, even in overtly hostile political climates.
“The Promise of Living” Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was a white, Jewish, gay, cismasculine composer and music academic active in the 1920s to 1970s. Copland’s song “The Promise of Living” from his opera The Tender Land merges American folk hymnody with his signature open harmonies to depict a harvest‑time reunion. Commissioned by Rodgers and Hammerstein, this piece draws on Copland’s love of “the life about me,” blending jazz, folk, and Latin influences into an evocative, accessible sound. Through call‑and‑response motifs, Copland paints a scene of community and introspection: young and old, family and wanderer, converging in a shared ritual that celebrates growth, loss, and the ties that bind. The Tender Land was attacked by anti‑communist critics for its sympathetic portrayal of rural American life and its incorporation of folk hymns associated with labor gatherings. While Copland escaped the harsh censorship of the other composers featured in this program, he strongly defied the notion that art must avoid politics, instead crafting music that honors the dignity of labor and the solidarity it can inspire.
“Memento Vivere” Michael Bussewitz-Quarm
Michael Bussewitz-Quarm is a white transfeminine environmental and social advocate and composer. Bussewitz-Quarm wrote “Memento Vivere” as the closing piece for her song cycle “Where We Find Ourselves”. “Where We Find Ourselves” is based on a collection of photographs taken by Hugh Magnum, a white photographer who traveled throughout the American South during the Jim Crow era, photographing people of different races and economic backgrounds. Magnum’s work now serves as an expansive record of Black fashion expression in the Reconstruction (post-American Civil War) Era - Magnum’s whiteness gave him access to move safely through the New South to record this period in American history. More than 1000 of these photographs have been digitally archived and can be viewed here. Michael Bussewitz-Quarm wrote of their piece, and Magnum’s work: “The message of these photographs, that we must look and listen deeper to one another, and that, while much time has passed, our country still has so much work to do to overcome racism, is timely and urgent.”
About Transcend
We are a New York-based trans / gender-expansive vocal ensemble whose focus is on creating inclusive, supportive performance and musical experiences, while exploring the unique aural aesthetic of trans and atypical voices singing classical works together.
Transcend exists to bring trans and gender-expansive/gender non-conforming voices into the choral music of the western choral tradition. We perform art music (in all its forms) from medieval to contemporary, with a general focus on presenting works of composers from minority backgrounds.
Our goals are artistic, musical, pedagogical and socially-oriented: we are making interesting, thoughtful music, while using our voices to create space for gender-expansive voices in the traditional canon and carve out a legacy for future generations of trans or gender-expansive singers.