Carlo Taube

Carlo Sigmund Taube (born 4 July 1897 in Galicia, died 3 October 1944 in Auschwitz-Birkenau) was a pianist, composer, conductor, and victim of the Holocaust.

Life

Carlo Taube was born in the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia. He studied music in Vienna with Ferruccio Busoni and earned a living by performing in cafes in Vienna, Brno and Prague. Taube, his wife Erika and their child were deported from Prague to the Terezín (Theresienstadt) ghetto on 10 December 1941. In April 1942 he conducted the first orchestra performance in the Terezín Magdeburg caserne, premiering his own Terezín Symphony. Taube gave a number of solo concerts and conducted the Terezín band and orchestra. He also performed in the café. Carlo and Erika Taube and their child were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau about 1 October 1944 (arriving Auschwitz 3 October 1944), where they all died.

Works

Taube composed several pieces in Terezín in addition to the Terezín Symphony. These include:

• a Ghetto Lullaby (part of a Ghetto Suite for Alto and Orchestra),
• Poem, Caprice and Meditation, three short pieces for solo violin,
• Ein Jüdisches Kind (A Jewish Child), a lullaby for soprano and piano (the only work by Taube to survive World War II). - recorded by Anne Sofie von Otter

Sources

• Makarova, Elena, S. Makarov, V. Kuperman. University Over the Abyss. 2nd Ed. Verba Publishers, Jerusalem, 2004.
• Karas, Joža. Music in Terezín, 1941-1945. 1st Ed. Beaufort Books Publishers, New York, 1985.
• Kuna, Milan. Hudba na hranici života (Engl: Music on the Boundary of Life). 1st Ed. Naše vojsko/Český svaz protifašistických bojovníků, Praha, 1990.

External links

• Biography at World ORT's Music and the Holocaust