Don't forget about me: The Short Life of Gideon Klein, Composer and Pianist

A most gifted musician of his generation, this book traces Gideon Klein's short life through his music, his diaries and documents as well as the reminiscences of his friends and family. Don't Forget about Me' chronicles the extraordinary and moving story about the young Czech pianist and composer Gideon Klein. Standing on the threshold of what was to be an auspicious career, Klein's musical activities in Prague were ruptured, as he, his family and friends were deported, interned in the Terezín (Theresienstadt) prison camp and ghetto. There his life took an even more unexpected turn, as he galvanised prisoners into an astonishing array of musical activities, and he composed his finest and most compelling music. Until recently, Klein's music has largely been performed within the context of Holocaust memorialisation. But events commemorating the Klein centenary in 2019 offered audiences and musicians the opportunity to re-assess and reposition Klein's place in the history of twentieth-century music and European modernism. David Fligg's monograph on Klein, the first in a quarter of a century, continues this process. Drawing on hitherto unpublished archival sources, interviews with Holocaust survivors who were imprisoned with him, many rare photographs and detailed musical analysis, 'Don't forget about me' recounts Klein's life from his Moravian childhood (he was born in Přerov in 1919), charting the development of his musical talent. It presents the first detailed examination of how the teenage Klein engaged with the numerous artistes who were at the centre of the vibrant cultural environment of pre-war Prague. Klein was finally transported to an isolated and bleak Auschwitz sub-camp, in the freezing closing weeks of 1944, where he was killed in a massacre by the retreating prison guards. His story, along with the compositions which remarkably survived Terezín, is one of the most fascinating of Czech Jews during the Holocaust, and documents how one young man continued to make music in the face of evil.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Zdenka Fantlová Author's Note Acknowledgements Introduction I Přerov (1919-31) 1 The Family 2 A Moravian Childhood II Prague (1931-41) 3 School Years 4 Prague Compositions I 5 Italy 6 Prague Compositions II 7 Student Years 8 The War finds Prague 9 Prague Compositions III 10 Making Music under Occupation 11 Family and Friends under Occupation 12 Final Works in Prague III Terezín (1941-44) 13 Establishing the Ghetto 14 First Cultural Activities, and Terezín's First Piano 15 The Free-Time Administration and the Youth Care Department 16 A Terezín Personality 17 Terezín Pianist 18 Terezín Compositions 19 Klein's Final Year in Terezín 20 A Final Composition IV Auschwitz and Fürstengrube (1944-45) 21 From Terezín to Auschwitz 22 Klein's Last Winter and Death 23 A Last Letter 24 Aftermath Postscript Appendices 1 List of Works 2 Chronology Bibliography Index of Klein's Works General Index

About the Author :
Dr David Fligg is Honorary Research Fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, where he was previously a Lecturer in Academic Studies, and is also Visiting Professor at the University of Chester.

Review :
Dr. David Fligg has produced a fascinating and first-class study of the life of Gideon Klein and, I have to say, this is one of the finest composer biographies I've ever read. It's immediately approachable, insightful, non-technical and beautifully balanced. Fligg approaches his task with enthusiasm and clearly has a great love for his subject.... All told, this is a highly recommended publication, a real page turner and certainly well-worth tracking down. The first comprehensive biography of Klein, lavishly illustrated. A powerful and compelling study of an artist who will not be forgotten.