Hollywood Elegies

This concert hinges on the nearly forgotten figure of Hanns Eisler (1898-1962). Born in Leipzig to a mixed Jewish-Lutheran couple, Eisler and his family soon settled in Vienna where Eisler’s musical training took root. After brief service in World War I, Eisler returned home to pursue study with Arnold Schoenberg, who was at that time the most famous composer in Vienna. He also formed a lasting friendship and collaboration with poet and author Berthold Brecht. Amidst the intellectual ferment, Eisler’s elder siblings became active members of the Austrian communist movement, which was seen as a viable counterweight to mounting fascist tendencies in European politics. This latter trend eventually forced Eisler into exile in 1935; his music, like Brecht’s writing, was banned by the Nazi Party.
After years of traveling, both men ended up in southern California in 1942. Eisler remained productive in this exile, and he was fortunate to network with similar refugees like Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, and his former teacher, Schoenberg. Eisler succeeded in creating film scores, being twice nominated for an Academy Award. However, he was also among the first musicians to be blacklisted in the post-war McCarthyite hysteria. His American career ended almost immediately. In a sad irony, Eisler’s own sister—now turned vehemently against the communist movement—testified against him to the notorious HUAC. Despite fundraising campaigns by Chaplin, Bernstein, and Copland, Eisler and his wife were deported in 1948. They resettled in East Germany, where Hanns continued to compose in the face of periodic censorship at the hands of the Soviet-backed authorities.
The Hollywood Songbook (Die Hollywood-Elegien) originally comprised five songs written in 1941 to texts by Brecht. Later Eisler added two others, and occasionally an additional song (or more) are considered to be part of the basic set. The texts are quite scathing at times toward personalities that Eisler encountered in Hollywood. We know that he intended the set to make something of a socio-political statement, for he prefaced the collection with this note:

In a society which understands and loves such a songbook, it will be possible to live well without danger. These pieces are written in confidence of this.

His exile from Europe and looming personal troubles brought forth a series of dark songs that brood on nostalgia and loss, that point out the seeming incongruity between the sun and glitter of Hollywood and its more sinister impact on the human spirit.

(c) Jason Stell