Suite for Oboe and Piano

Pavel Haas (1899-1944) was born in the town Brno, where his family had established a lineage of Jewish merchants. Haas’ formal music training began at the Brno Conservatory in 1919, though he also greatly benefitted from private tutoring with Leoš Janáček. Janáček was the Conservatory’s first director, and his influence on younger Czech musicians was could hardly have been more profound. Haas sought to include elements from contemporary music, such as Stravinsky and Bartók, as well elements drawn from Jewish folk music and American jazz. His teacher insisted he also maintain a firm foundation in tonal harmony and respect for traditional forms. Prior to his first published work, Haas had already completed well over 50 compositions that he did not deem mature enough for publication. Unfortunately most of the music he might have bequeathed in his later years fell victim to the Holocaust. Haas was sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1941; he had formally divorced his wife the year prior so that she and their child would not suffer the fate he saw coming. While in the camp, he composed works that were appropriated for Nazi propaganda films. Haas and most of his fellow inmates were eventually moved to Auschwitz in 1944. The well-known conductor, Karl Ančerl, relates that Haas intervened between Ančerl and Dr. Mengele upon their arrival at Auschwitz, feigning sickness in order to save his friend’s life. Haas was murdered the next day. After liberation, Ančerl reciprocated as best he could by rescuing works Haas had composed while in captivity.
Haas wrote his Suite for Oboe and Piano in Brno during late summer 1939 under the shadow of Nazi occupation, precisely at the time of the German military invasion into Poland. The angst under which Haas lived finds expression in the gestures of defiance and outright anger in the opening “furioso” movement. The second and third movements translate the composer’s political resistance into music, quoting two ancient Czech melodies. Citations from the St. Wenceslas chorale carry nationalist aspirations, while he introduces a well-known “fight” song at a time when such sentiments could not be openly expressed. Pride was Haas’ only substitute when open revolution was not yet possible. The music in this suite is gestural and dramatic, moving between powerful chord clusters (clumps of neighboring notes) and simple lyric strains in the oboe.

(c) Jason Stell