Lena Stein-Schneider

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Lena Stein-Schneider (actually Helene Meyerstein ; born January 5, 1874 in Leipzig ; † June 17, 1958 in Munich ) was a German composer , songwriter and operetta writer as well as pianist .

Life

Helene Meyerstein studied piano and singing at the Leipzig Conservatory . After marrying the Berlin merchant Alfred Schneider, she used her stage name Lena Stein-Schneider. Under this name she published songs, instrumentals and - as a woman a rare exception - also operettas. She often wrote the lyrics herself. Her pieces were dedicated to well-known people in Berlin's cultural life, in which Lena Stein-Schneider was well integrated, not least because, before the First World War, she ran a musical salon in which high-ranking social figures and nobility frequented.

In the 1920s, Lena Stein-Schneider also stayed for a while in the USA, where she gave concerts. Keith's Theater in New York even performed the song she wrote, Composer's Dream . Back in Germany, Lena Stein-Schneider founded the Rubinstein Women's Choir in Berlin, based on the model of the New York choir of the same name. Her own works were then performed under her direction. Associated with the successful choir was the Rubinstein Club, which she also founded and dedicated primarily to the young musicians.

Everything came to an end when the National Socialists came to power. Club and choir were banned, and Lena Stein-Schneider was not allowed to enter the Reich Chamber of Culture as a Jew . She was therefore banned from working. This particularly affected her because she excelled with patriotic compositions during the First World War (for example the Crown Prince's Marching Song ) and even worked as a volunteer hospital nurse at times. The reference to the Iron Cross bestowed on her son did not help either. Lena Stein-Schneider became impoverished and disappeared from the public. On August 6, 1942, at the age of 68, she was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. She survived and after the liberation in 1945 first settled in Switzerland, where she composed a few more pieces before moving back to Berlin at an old age in the early 1950s. Her health was ruined by her imprisonment in the concentration camp and she could no longer play the piano. Nevertheless, her fight for redress in court ended with the payment of a total of 3500 DM because she was naturally unable to prove the material damage that she had suffered as a result of the ban on the profession and the persecution.

Works

Incidental music (selection)

  • 1909: Der Luftikus , operetta in three acts (composition Lena Stein-Schneider and Kurt Walter, libretto Lena Stein-Schneider). First performance in Halberstadt 1909
  • 1912 .: King Drosselbart , fairy tale game in 6 pictures (text by Wilhelm E. Asbeck). First performance 1916 in Berlin; Listed in Italian under the name Re Pappagoria in Milan in 1935
  • undated : Auto und Schimmel , operetta (text by Georg Runsky)
  • 1916: Prinz Heldenmut , fairy tale game with song and dance in 8 pictures (text by Wilhelm E. Asbeck). First performance in Stralsund
  • 1919: Funny love , operetta in three acts (composition and text by Lena Stein-Schneider). World premiere in Forst
  • 1925: Composer's Dream , Singspiel. World premiere at Keith's Theater in New York
  • 1928: A Hundred Kisses , Singspiel. First performance in Gotha
  • 1949: Goldhärchen , a musical fairy tale (composition and text Lena Stein-Schneider). French version: Fleur d'Or, un conte musical. In the print version illustrated by Lisa Voigt. Broadcast as a radio play in Switzerland in 1950

Songs (selection)

  • 1906: The Curious Kater , for voice and piano (composition and text)
  • 1908: Five Songs for Voice and Piano , Frieda Hempel zugeeignet
  • Behind the shine of your eyes, for voice and piano (text Tilly Dellon), dedicated to the chamber singer Leo Slezak
  • 1914/1915: Crown Prince Marschlied - Always firm druff! Clap of thunder, now it starts , for voice and piano (composition and text)
  • 1921: Mia May-Boston , for piano (composition and text), for the silent film actress Mia May on her birthday
  • 1949: Prayer for Peace - Avinu Malkénu (text by Lena Stein-Schneider, Hebrew translation by R. Rysterband)

Instrumental pieces (selection)

  • 1907: Nocturne in E , for violoncello and piano
  • 1907: Valse d'amitié , for piano. Crown Princess Cecilie zugeeignet
  • 1913: Valse d'amitié , for military music or for cavalry music
  • 1919: Pas de Colombine , for piano
  • undated: Orchidea , Valse lente for orchestra
  • 1921: Orchidea , Valzer Boston per pianoforte
  • 1928: Tango tetegi , for piano
  • 1928: Am Mai-Kussa , for piano
  • n.d.: evening mood , for viola and piano

Film music

  • 1919: The struggle for marriage. When love dies in marriage . Song insert by Lena-Stein-Schneider
  • 1919: The struggle for marriage: Hostile spouses . Song insert by Lena-Stein-Schneider

Discography

  • Miriam's song. Music by Jewish Women Composers . CD, including pieces by Lena Stein-Schneider: Nocturne , Serenata , Abendstimmung , Lullaby . Zuk Records, Bremerhaven 2009
  • Cantorial Highlights 2nd Revival of Synagogue Music in Europe . CD, among others with Lena Stein-Schneider: Prayer for Peace - Avinu Malkénu

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peri Arndt: Lena Stein-Schneider. In: Life paths of female musicians in the “Third Reich” and in exile . von Bockel Verlag, Neumünster 2000. Ed. Working group Exilmusik at the Musicological Institute of the University of Hamburg ISBN 3932696379 pp. 9–29
  2. ^ Claudia Friedel: Women composing in the Third Reich. Attempt to reconstruct the reality of life and the prevailing image of women . Lit Verlag, Münster 1995
  3. ↑ Keyword Lena Stein-Schneider in the dictionary of persecuted musicians of the Nazi era . University of Hamburg
personal data
SURNAME Stein-Schneider, Lena
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meyerstein, Helene (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Berlin composer, songwriter and operetta writer, pianist
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH June 17, 1958
Place of death Munich