Adolf Strauss (16 August 1902 – 28 September 1944) was a Czech pianist, violinist, accordion and harmonica player, composer and

kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

. Strauss was born to Jewish parents, Josef and Rosa Strauss, in

Žatec Žatec (; german: Saaz) is a town in Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Ohře river. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monum ...

, a historic town in Louny District, Ústí nad Labem Region, in the Czech Republic (at the time still part of the Austrian Empire). He was killed on 28 September 1944 in Auschwitz concentration camp, Poland, under the Nazi regime. He studied music at the Prague Conservatory, earning his living by playing music in Prague's cafes. Due to an anti-Semitic incident in Prague, he eventually continued his studies at the conservatory in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, Germany. There, he became the conductor at the Leipzig Kristallpalast. In Leipzig, he also published his first composition, "Karawanen Fox Trott" (Caravan Fox Trot), which was published by the Fritz Brandt Musikverlag Leipzig in 1923, and which was often played in the radio at the time. When the Nazis gained in power in Germany and the musicians refused to play under a Jewish conductor, Adolf and his wife Maria, herself a musician from Bohemia (singer, violinist and pianist) decided to go back to Czechoslovakia. They opened a shoe shop in the city of

Cheb Cheb (; german: Eger) is a town in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 30,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Ohře. Before the 1945 expulsion of the German-speaking population, the town was the centre of the German-s ...

, Czech Republic. There, Maria became the manager of the shop, whereas Adolf continued to compose in a small back room of the shop. It was there, where he created his first operetta, "Eine Nacht als Pascha" (A Night as A Pasha), which unfortunately was lost. During the war he was active in the ghetto of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

until his deportation to

Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination camp ...

, where he remained active as a musician. On 28 September 1944, he was transported from Terezin to Auschwitz, where he was directly sent to the gas chambers. Adolf Strauss's wife Maria survived the war in the city of Leipzig.

Works and recordings

A song that he composed in the camp with Ludwig Hift, "" (I know for sure that I'll see you again) was recorded in 2007 by

Anne Sofie von Otter Anne Sofie von Otter (born 9 May 1955) is a Swedish mezzo-soprano. Her repertoire encompasses lieder, operas, oratorios and also rock and pop songs. Early life Von Otter was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was Göran von Otter, a Swe ...

(

Bengt Forsberg Bengt Forsberg (born 1952) is a Swedish concert pianist most famous for his numerous collaborations with the mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. He participated in her project to record songs written in the concentration camp of Terezín. Forsber ...

piano,

Daniel Hope Daniel Hope (born 17 August 1973, Durban, South Africa) is a European classical violinist. Early life and education Hope was born in Durban, South Africa, and is of Irish and Jewish German descent, his maternal grandparents, formerly from Be ...

violin, Bebe Risenfors accordion) on

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family o ...

(477 6546).

International Record Review ''International Record Review'' was an independent British monthly classical music magazine. First published in March 2000, and defunct by April 2015 according to its website,International Record Review websit Retrieved 3 April 2015. the magazine ...

2007, Volume 8, Issue 1, p. 75: "There's humour too: a delicious slow tango by Adolf Strauss, Ich weiss bestimmt, ich werd dich wiedersehn!"

References

External links

* 1902 births 1944 deaths Czech pianists Czech composers Czech male composers Jewish composers 20th-century pianists Theresienstadt Ghetto prisoners Czech people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust 20th-century Czech male musicians People killed by gas chamber by Nazi Germany {{Composer-stub