[Vision2020] Bringing Light Out of Darkness: Terezin/Theresienstadt

[Ted Moffett]

"Wiegala, wiegala, weier,
the wind plays on the lyre.
It plays so sweetly in the green reeds.
The nightingale sings its song.
Wiegala, wiegala, weier,
the wind plays on the lyre."

The melody is simple.  The spare guitar chords support the hauntingly pure
mezzo-soprano of Anne Sofie von Otter.

"Wiegala, wiegala, werne,
the moon is a lantern.
It stands in the darkened firmament
and gazes down on the world.
Wiegala, wiegala, werne,
the moon is a lantern."

Singing the second verse, von Otter caresses the words, lending them a quiet
intensity that builds exquisitely to the purity of the almost whispered
final verse:

"Wiegala, weigala, wille,
how silent is the world!
No sound disturbs the lovely peace.
Sleep, my little child, sleep too.
Wiegala, wiegala, wille,
how silent is the world!"

The lullaby was composed by the poet Ilse Weber, the night nurse at the
Terazin concentration camp, who wrote 60 poems while imprisoned there.  Some
she set to guitar music, and played them while making her rounds.  In 1942,
she voluntarily accompanied the camp's sick children to Auschwitz, where she
joined them in the gas chamber.  Witnesses reported that, as she died, Weber
was singing "Wiegala" to calm the children.
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If humanity's worst moments make us despair for our species, so do its
fleeting moments of transcendence give us hope.  The triumph of
"Terezin/Theresienstadt" is that it encompasses both--and sets us free.  If
the inhabitants of that infamous site could aspire to happiness, who are we
not to honor that dream?

Wes Phillips
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Entire text above from a review of the music release
"Terezin/Theresinestadt," featuring mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter,
written by Wes Phillips in the April, 2008 Stereophile magazine.

Deutsche Grammophon 477 6546 (CD), 2007.  Valerie Gross, Dr. Marion Thiem,
Sid McLauchlan, prods.; Andrew Wedman, eng. DDD. TT: 71:40

Another review of this release at URL below:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/anne-sofie-resurrected-395249.html
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This album will be released March 25, in the USA, according to Amazon.com;
but this USA release can be pre-ordered now from Amazon.com at the URL
below.  Amazing to see people trying to sell import copies now for up to
$300:

http://www.amazon.com/Terez%C3%ADn-Theresienstadt-Anne-Sofie-Otter/dp/B000RPSVE0

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000RPSVE0/ref=dp_olp_1

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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