List of émigré musicians from Nazi Europe who settled in Britain

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The rise of Nazism and its aftermath led to a wave of Central European intellectuals, many of them Jewish, seeking escape abroad during the 1930s and 1940s due to persecution at home. It has been claimed that nearly 70 composers came to the UK to escape Nazi persecution between 1933 and 1945, though many of them subsequently moved on elsewhere. [1] This list details those composers, performers, publishers and musicologists who ended up living and working in Britain, where they had a significant and lasting influence on musical culture and development - though often at considerable personal and professional cost, with much of their legacies lost. [2]

Primarily composers

Other composers stayed for a short time in Britain before moving on elsewhere. They included Hanns Eisler, Ernst Krenek, Karol Rathaus, Kurt Roger, Ernst Toch and Kurt Weill [5]

Primarily conductors, performers, teachers

Pianist Artur Schnabel and cellists Fritz Ball and Emanuel Feuermann stayed for a short time in Britain before moving on [5]

Primarily critics or musicologists

Primarily publishers

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References

  1. Continental Britons: The Émigré Composers, Notes to Nimbus CD NI5730 (2004)
  2. Haas, Michael. Music of Exile (2023), p. 5
  3. Ernest Berk: An Expressionist Outsider, University of Huddersfield
  4. Eder, Bruce. Biography at AllMusic
  5. 1 2 3 SOAS, Jewish Music Institute
  6. Michael Graubart biography, Royal College of Music
  7. Schenker Documents Online
  8. Helene Isepp biography, Royal College of Music
  9. Ilse Wolf biography, Bach Cantatas
  10. Elsie Mayer-Lissmann biography, Royal College of Music
  11. Walter Bergmann biography, Schott
  12. Josef Weinberger Wein
  13. Watts, Peter (2023). Denmark Street: London's Street of Sound. Paradise Road.

Sources