Henri (or Henry) Akoka (23 June 1912 – 22 November 1976) was an Algerian Jewish

clarinetist The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodw ...

Biography

Akoka was born on 23 June 1912 in Palikao, Algeria, then French territory. He was the second of six children of Abraham Akoka, a

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

player, who in 1926 moved the family to Ponthierry, France, so that the children could pursue music. Henri began playing in the band at the wallpaper factory where his father worked, and also performed in silent film soundtracks beginning at age 14. During this period, he studied under Briançon. He graduated from the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

with the first prize in clarinet in 1935. He first joined the Orchestre Symphonique de la Radio-diffusion de Strasbourg, and later became a member of the Orchestre National de la Radio in Paris. At the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939, Akoka was sent to a military orchestra in

Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...

, where he met

Étienne Pasquier Étienne Pasquier (7 June 152930 August 30 1615) was a French lawyer and man of letters. By his own account he was born in Paris on 7 June 1529, but according to others he was born in 1528. He was called to the Paris bar in 1549. In 1558 he be ...

and

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

. All three were captured by

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

forces in June 1940. While they were awaiting transport to a German prison camp, Akoka sight-read Messiaen's composition "Abîme des Oiseaux" for solo clarinet, though he "grumbled" about its difficulty. They were then sent to

Stalag VIII-A Stalag VIII-A was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp, located just to the south of the town of Görlitz in Lower Silesia, east of the River Neisse. The location of the camp lies in today's Polish town of Zgorzelec, which lies over the r ...

, where they met violinist Jean Le Boulaire. It was for this ensemble that Messiaen composed his ''

Quatuor pour la fin du temps ''Quatuor pour la fin du Temps'' (), originally ''Quatuor de la fin du Temps'' ("''Quartet of the End of Time''"), also known by its English title ''Quartet for the End of Time'', is an eight-movement piece of chamber music by the French composer ...

'', premiered in the camp in January 1941. After the war, Akoka stated that this quartet was "the only memory of the war that I wish to keep"; however, he never again performed it. Akoka's release from the camp was arranged by Karl-Albert Brüll, a guard who provided false papers for Messiaen. However, he was removed from the transport truck "because of his Jewish looks". He later escaped in April 1941 by jumping off from the top of a moving train "with his clarinet under his arm". He returned to the Orchestre National de la Radio, which was operating out of the Free Zone of Marseilles. After gaining his freedom, Akoka had a successful orchestral career, serving as the assistant principal clarinet for the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. His colleagues nicknamed him "the Kreisler of the clarinet". Akoka died on 22 November 1976 of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

References

Bibliography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Akoka, Henri French classical clarinetists 1912 births 1975 deaths Conservatoire de Paris alumni Deaths from cancer in France 20th-century French classical musicians Emigrants from French Algeria to France French Jews