
Paul Hermann (
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, 27 March 1902 – unknown 1944), also known as Pál Hermann, was a virtuoso
cellist
The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
and composer.
Career
Hermann was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 27 March 1902 and came from a
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family. About his early childhood not much more than an anecdote remains: he was only prepared to study for his piano lessons if for every
étude
An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popu ...
he prepared, he would receive one cent. He studied at the
Franz Liszt Academy of Music
The Franz Liszt Academy of Music (, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the Liszt Collection, which features several ...
from 1915–1919 and developed close relationships, both musical and personal, with his teachers of composition
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...
and
Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály (, ; , ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, music pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music education.
...
, violinist
Zoltán Székely, and pianists
Géza Frid and
Lili Kraus. At the Franz Liszt Academy of Music he studied cello under
Adolf Schiffer and composition, first under
Leo Weiner
Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to:
* Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky
* Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac
* Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually mas ...
, who was also his teacher of chamber music. Already during his studies, Hermann was a frequent performer within and outside of the Liszt Academy. He started his international cello career at the age of 16, playing as a soloist music venues in Europe. Hermann felt that there was no need to finish his studies at the Liszt Academy.
Among the works Hermann premiered or gave notable early performances of as a virtuoso cellist during the 1920s were
Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor.
Life
Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845–1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a ...
's cello sonata in 1927 with
Harry Isaacs, and solo cello sonata by
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
.
Hermann taught cello and composition in th
Musikschule Paul Hindemith Neuköllnfrom 1929 to 1934. However, as the political climate in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
changed, most notably for Jews, and became more threatening, he decided to move first of all to
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
from 1934–1937, and later to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
from 1937 to 1939, and then on to the south of France. He was deported under the
Vichy France
Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...
régime in February 1944 from
Toulouse
Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
to the internment camp of Drancy, and on 15 May 1944 he was sent to the Baltic States on the
Drancy Convoy 73, and was not heard of again.
Personal life
During the early years of his career, Hermann used to visit London for recitals and concerts and then would stay at the de Graaff-Bachiene family residence, owned by patrons of the arts. A story about one of these stays survives. Hermann and his friend Zoltán Székely had entertained a large company of people in the De Graaff household in London in 1928, at the peak of their musical partnership, with a house recital. Later that evening, Hermann had been the centre of attention during the after-concert soirée that followed and had jokingly started to dance with his own cello in his arms. The people applauded and he continued to spin and dance until he fell and his cello broke to pieces. To bring the evening to a happy ending was their host Jaap de Graaff, patron and protector of the arts, who decided to buy a Gagliano cello for Hermann, and a Stradivarius violin for Székely.
On a visit to Holland around 1929, Jaap de Graaff suggested for his niece Ada Weevers, who lived in Amersfoort, to go and see Hermann perform in Amsterdam, and when they met, Ada and Hermann fell in love, despite their different cultures, nationalities and religions. The young couple moved to Berlin in 1930, and they had a daughter
Corrie Hermann in 1932.
Ada died after a drowning accident in the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
. As the political climate in Berlin for Jews became more and more threatening, he decided to hide his daughter with his non-Jewish sister-in-law in The Netherlands. Hermann moved on to work in Brussels from 1934–1937, and in Paris in 1937-1939, under a false name, and then moved to the south of France where he was hidden in a farmhouse near Toulouse of the French branch of the Weevers family, where he composed three melodies for voice and piano (Ophélie, La Ceinture, Dormeuse) and a violin/cello sonata. The composition of ''Ophélie'', based on the character of
Prince Hamlet
Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew of the usurping King Claudius, Claudius, and son of King Hamlet, the previous King of Denmark. At ...
’s beloved
Ophelia
Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet. Due to Hamlet's actions, Ophelia ultima ...
who drowns in a river, may have been inspired by the tragic drowning of Hermann’s wife. He found the solitude of his hidden life on the farm hard to cope with, having lost his wife and far away from his daughter, and used to go out to Toulouse from time to time to teach and socialize, accepting the risk of being discovered.
Death
On one such visit to Toulouse, he was indeed picked up during a street
razzia and transported to the
Drancy
Drancy () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in northern France. It is located 10.8 km (6.7 mi) from the center of Paris.
History
Toponymy
The name Drancy comes from Medieval Lati ...
concentration camp in spring 1944, and then onward to the Baltic States on the Drancy Convoy 73 on 15 May 1944, after which further traces of Hermann are missing.
The
Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds
The Cultuurfonds was founded by Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands in London in 1940 during World War II in order to buy war material for the British and Dutch Governments. It continued after the war as Stichting Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds aiming ...
set up the Paul Hermann Fonds in Hermann's memory which offers scholarships to promising young cellists from the
Franz Liszt Academy of Music
The Franz Liszt Academy of Music (, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the Liszt Collection, which features several ...
.
Compositions

Paul Hermann left a small number o
compositions which are all now public domain in Europe.
* Grand Duo, pour violon et violoncelle (1929–30)
* Duo pour violon et violoncelle (1920, dédié a
Zoltán Székely)
* Trio à cordes (1921)
* Toccata, pour piano (1936)
* Quatre Épigrammes, pour piano (1934)
* Trois mélodies sur des textes d'
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism.
Born in Charleville, he s ...
et de
Paul Valéry
Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher.
In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, m ...
, extrait de ''Charmes'' (1934–39)
** "Ophélie"
** ''La Ceinture''
** ''La Dormeuse''
Recordings
No recordings of Hermann as an artist are known to survive, although he often performed recitals, or as a
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...
ian with the
Hungarian Quartet, with violinist
Zoltán Székely and others. Of his concerts and recordings only the programs remain. Hermann was also heard on the radio, for example Wireless World 1937 records a broadcast of "Songs You Might Never Have Heard" with Paul Hermann (cello) and
John Ireland (piano).
Recordings of compositions
*Paul Hermann Forbidden Music in World War II - Cello concerto, Grand Duo für Violine & Cello; Streichtrio; Klaviertrio; Lieder; 4 Epigrammes; Allegro für Klavier; Toccata für Klavier; Suite für Klavier. Performed by Clive Greensmith, Beth Nam, Burkhard Maiss, Bogdan Jianu, Hannah Strijbos, Andrei Banciu, with soprano Irene Maessen Etcetera, DDD, (2CD) 2017
Footnotes
References
Paul Hermann (1902–1944)*''Nous Sommes 900 Francais'', Eve Line Blum-Cherchevsky, Besancon, , tome 7, pp 362–364
Székely and Bartók: the story of a friendship"Pal Hermann attended those ISCM concerts..."
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermann, Paul
1902 births
1944 deaths
Composers from Budapest
Hungarian cellists
Hungarian composers
Hungarian male composers
Hungarian Jews who died in the Holocaust
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to France
Hungarian civilians killed in World War II
20th-century Hungarian male musicians
20th-century cellists
Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni