Along with Karol Szymanowski, he is considered one of the outstanding representatives of the Polish avant-garde. And yet, Józef Koffler’s work is largely forgotten today, as is the fate of the Jewish composer. Together with the author Stella Leder, the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich will focus on Koffler at a concert on Sunday, November 12th at the Kammerspiele. The evening is intended to be a survey of German culture of remembrance. You can hear his string trio op. 10 (1928) and his arrangement of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”.
At the end of the 1920s, Koffler’s career still seemed promising; he held a professorship in Lviv and his works were performed in Amsterdam and London. After the Red Army invaded in 1939, he had to exercise self-criticism and renounce Viennese modernism. In 1941, Lviv was occupied by the Wehrmacht. For Koffler this means relocation to the ghetto, escape and hiding. In the spring of 1944 he was finally murdered by the Gestapo along with his wife and son.
Koffler’s Fate, Sun., November 12th, 8 p.m., Kammerspiele, Maximilianstrasse 26, www.muenchner-kammerspiele.de