An important set of works by Gideon Klein, the Three Songs Opus 1 (1940) is the subject of my DMA document. Klein, a Czech-Jewish pianist and composer, was twenty-five years old when he died in F¿¿¿¿rstengrube camp, following an internment in the Terez¿¿¿¿n concentration camp. On the broad level, the compositions discussed in this document manifest a significant contribution to the musical canon of the twentieth-century repertoire. Yet, the choices of texts and musical expressions also suggest the possibility that these works respond to historical and personal events Klein experienced while composing them. The songs, set to texts by Goethe, Johann Klaj and Friedrich H¿¿¿¿lderlin, portray a variety of scenes that involve few optimistic hints yet mainly they express melancholy, solitude, and uncertainty.
Given the historical context of these compositions, the heart of my document focuses on the following question: How are the textual and musical expressions of melancholy and solitude in these songs are influenced by Klein's own uncertainty and how do the manifold musical images of these songs coalesce in a historic testimony of this most horrific time? In exploring this question, I examined the musical score of the songs. I also analyzed the musical procedures used in these compositions and the corresponding texts that he used. I discussed the poets who contributed these texts and investigated the connections of their poems to Klein's own fate. Additionally, I reviewed literature on the subject of music in Terez¿¿¿¿n and testimonies of individuals who knew Klein in his youth as well as in the camp. I found that although the texts appear varied enough so that they might be interpreted in diverse ways, Klein emphasized their melancholic facets and created a sense of uneasiness and uncertainty. Thus according to my reading the sentiments conveyed in the Songs, Op. 1 can be seen as a reflection of Klein's troubled, conflicted and uncertain life in Prague, during the spring and summer of 1940.