Examining the Holocaust’s Haunting Impact On Music — DACAMERA and Jeremy Eichler Bring Memories to Life Through Time’s Echo

“There is no love that is not an echo.” – Theodor Adorno

When Houston is aglow, DACAMERA’s brilliant programs stand out as one of the city’s brightest lights. One recent event from Houston’s chamber music and jazz organization brought together artistic director and pianist Sarah Rothenberg with longtime Boston Globe classical music critic Jeremy Eichler. A full house packed the stunning foyer of the Menil Collection for a discussion of Eichler’s 2023 book, Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust and the Music of Remembrance.

Time’s Echo delves into the essence of music, exploring how it was shaped by the Holocaust and World War II through four towering composers: Arnold Schoenberg, Richard Strauss, Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich. Eichler notes that each composer stood at a different window, gazing at the same catastrophe.

The evening culminated in a moving performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2. Rothenberg was joined by two DACAMERA Young Artists: violinist Astrid Nakamura and cellist Chris Ellis. The crowd sat in a stunned silence at the close, responding to what Eichler describes in his book as the piece’s “extraordinary depth of elegy.”

Time’s Echo is a Masterpiece

Time’s Echo continues to shine. Among its numerous accolades, The Sunday Times of London named it “History Book of the Year” in 2023. The Literary Supplement called it “the outstanding music book of this and several years.”

Eichler’s ability to weave together history and music is remarkable. His expertise as a string player, critic and historian is evident in every page. He holds a doctorate in European history from Columbia University, where his dissertation focused on Arnold Schoenberg and his staggering large-scale cantata, A Survivor from Warsaw. It is the first major Holocaust musical memorial.

Although no major orchestras were willing to present it, the work premiered in 1948 at the Albuquerque Civic Symphony, led by Kurt Frederick. Frederick fled Vienna after the Anschluss, but his mother perished in Auschwitz in 1944.

To tell the stories of his “four towering dramatis personae,” Eichler provides context through his own interpretation of the nature of music. In the book’s opening, “Prelude: In the Shadow of the Oak,” he writes:

“It is not just we who remember music. Music also remembers us. Music reflects the individuals and the societies that create it, capturing something essential about the era of its birth. When a composer in 1823 consciously or unconsciously distills worlds of thought, fantasy and emotions into a series of notes on a page, and then we hear those same notes realized in a performance more than a century later, we are hearing the past literally speaking in the present.”

For Eichler, music is “an unconscious chronicle.” It witnesses history and carries memory, including the memory of what Eichler terms a “post-Holocaust world.” This is the subject of his book.

The Enduring Power of Music

Yet the music Eichler explores, along with the great classical works performed and created since then, uplifts us. It argues against Theodor Adorno’s 1962 assertion that “the world has outlived its own demise.” We are still alive, and as Eichler writes, the “shifting constellations of sound and meaning that reach across time” continue with us and will endure after us.

Time’s Echo is filled with hope, beauty, history and depth. And Eicher’s presence adds to its richness. At 50, he is a blend of youthful surprise and wisdom. Engaging and modest, he patiently answered questions and signed books, leaving a lasting impression.

Music’s Original Witness

After such a compelling conversation and reading, the Shostakovich piano trio exceeded all expectations, building on the evening’s emotional depth.

In Time’s Echo, Eichler describes the Shostakovich trio as imparting “an utterly unique atmosphere suggesting the song of a mourner who is dazed, stricken, benumbed and a stomping, macabre dance tune with clear intonations of Jewish folk music.” Despite not being of  Jewish heritage, Shostakovich’s work channels this haunting melody.

The performance conveyed what Eichler calls the composer’s “hidden language of resistance.” The audience was mesmerized, hanging on every phrase, breathing in unison with the musicians, feeling the past and present converge.

Rothenberg’s grand piano chords propelled the violin and cello to a final, lingering note. In those moments, something rare happened: the musicians and the music fused with the audience.

The virtuoso DACAMERA musicians played with intention and passion. They honored not only the relationship between the music and historic events but also Eichler’s reverent treatment of the subject.

Eichler had told the audience he wrote the book with love. That night, the musicians and audience responded in kind — with immense respect and appreciation. Together, they bore witness to the music’s profound ability to reflect and preserve history.

DACAMERA blends musical genres like chamber music and jazz while forging connections between music and fine writing. It is located at 1402 Sul Ross Street. For more information about upcoming events, go here.