JAMES SIMON
- selected works for cello -
Arioso for Solo Cello
Sonata for Piano and Cello, Op. 9
- selected works for cello -
Arioso for Solo Cello
Sonata for Piano and Cello, Op. 9
Arioso for Solo Cello - James Simon (1880-1944)
I have created an edition of the Arioso - please contact me for details!
I have created an edition of the Arioso - please contact me for details!
Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 9 - James Simon
This sonata is unpublished. Thankfully, the Library of Congress has a copy!
This sonata is unpublished. Thankfully, the Library of Congress has a copy!
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In order to paint a clear picture of James Simon’s life, we must piece together information from what few sources we have available. Some details can be found in the writings of his son, Ulrich Simon. Other information can be found in letters and obituaries.
Simon was born in 1880 in Berlin. He studied composition with Max Bruch, and he taught in the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin from 1907-1919. He married Anna Levy and had two sons, Jörn and Ulrich. The family was well off financially. Simon performed many concerts in Berlin as a pianist and gave lectures on a wide range of musical topics.
Simon was not particularly religious, but nevertheless had to leave Germany for Zurich in 1934, shortly after Hitler’s rise to power, because of his Jewish heritage. In 1941, he was arrested in Amsterdam and deported to Theresianstadt, a ghetto-labor camp in the city of Terezín, Czechoslovakia.
Theresianstadt was used as a holding center for many prominent musicians, artists, and intellectuals whose disappearances, if they had been sent to a death camp, may have raised concerns in their communities. In addition, the Nazis used the camp as a model ghetto for propaganda purposes, portraying it as a cultural haven to representatives from the Red Cross. Although musicians continues to compose and perform, the prisoners lived in horrible conditions. In 1944, Simon was taken to Auschwitz and murdered in the gas chambers. He was last seen sitting on his suitcase composing.
Simon’s deportation surely played a role in his disappearance from musical history, but it is possible that Simon would not have been well known due to his disposition even had he not been deported. His son Ulrich claims that Simon lacked the necessary toughness to gain the public’s acclaim. Additionally, Ulrich states in his autobiography that his father "could not compete with atonal excitement or jazz.” After World War I, people became angry and disillusioned, turning away from prior compositional styles and looking elsewhere for inspiration. They hoped to escape the post-Romantic language of previous works, reminiscent of the decadence that thrust the world into World War I. Simon did not serve in the war and therefore did not experience the hardship and horrors firsthand. This naivety, combined with his lack of interest in politics, could be why he continued composing in the post-romantic style that was quickly fading from current fashion. Some of his works are published, but lamentably, many are forgotten and remain unperformed.