The Mozart Question

Product Information

The combination of music and word introduced a perhaps lesser known history of the Holocaust; that of the concentration camp orchestras. Varying in size, structure and formation the orchestras consisted of both amateur and professional musicians. For example, the first camp orchestra in Auschwitz I was established in December 1940 and was led by Franz Nierychlo. Upon its establishment it consisted of 6 musicians including violin, trumpet and saxophone but grew to almost 100 musicians by 1942 and over 120 by 1944.

The Mozart Question is a children’s novel set in the modern day about an acclaimed violinist Paolo Levi and his family’s connection to the Holocaust. In short the novel follows Paolo as he recounts the story of how his parents were both interned in a concentration camp and forced to play in the camp orchestra. As the book progresses the story behind ‘The Mozart Question’ is gradually unveiled, as the reader discovers that much of the music Paolo’s parents, Gino and Laura, had been forced to play was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the Nazis tried to find a ‘territorial solution’ to what they saw as the ‘Jewish Question’. While part of Poland would be incorporated into Germany, another area would be used as a dumping ground for hundreds of thousands of Jews. Before being moved to the edges of the Nazi empire it was decided to cram large numbers of Jews together in towns and cities. As various plans came to nothing, these areas were sealed off from the non-Jewish population and the conditions within the ‘ghettos’ became deadly due to starvation, disease and overcrowding. Many of Michael’s books have been adapted for the stage. These include Private Peaceful, Kensuke’s Kingdom, Why the Whales Came and The Mozart Question, and most notably, the National Theatre’s production of War Horse. This production of Michael’s moving and powerful story of survival on the Western Front reached number one in the Observer’s top ten theatre performances and was also awarded the best design prize in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. This production has now moved to the West End’s New London Theatre. DreamWorks Studios announced in December 2009 that they had acquired the rights to the film War Horse.

The Mozart Question explores how something so sublime such as Mozart's music can be used for evil purposes, but with such a light touch, it shirks nothing and yet is supremely suitable for family audiences; perfectly highlighting the fortitude of humanity in the most dangerous of circumstances. A very poignant reminder of how cruel mankind can be. The three of them were brought by train to the concentration camp from all over Europe...all Jewish, and all bound for the gas chamber and extermination like so many millions.’

Michael Morpurgo Press Reviews

Of course, I do not know York as well as its sister church in Canterbury. It is not familiar in the same way, but every time I have been I have been overwhelmed by its beauty and magnificence. Ian has performed in theatres across the UK, the West End and on Broadway for the past 25 years. This is the second time he has worked on a Michael Morpurgo adaptation, following Twist of Gold for Polka Theatre. Following our successful productions of the Butterfly Lion, Private Peaceful and The Elephant in the Garden, The Barn and Michael have collaborated to bring this hugely important story to life. You can also read about his life in War Child to War Horse,a collaborative biography with Maggie Fergusson. The unconditional surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945 formally marked the end of both the war and the Holocaust, although many survivors had been freed by Allied soldiers before this date. This liberation from Nazi tyranny was of course celebrated by survivors, but it didn’t necessarily mark an end of suffering and trauma.

We open with a young reporter being sent to interview a great violinist Paolo Levi. There’s just one thing she is told not to do and that is to ask the Mozart question.The idea of returning to a ‘normal’ life was full of all manner of challenges, and the number of survivors struggled for some time to come to terms with their experiences. The traumas of persecution, dehumanisation and witnessing the horrors of the Holocaust left deep psychological and emotional scars on many – with some never fully recovering from them. The widespread indifference of non-Jews to the events was made even harder by large numbers of perpetrators escaping justice and a frequent inability to find the right words or phrases to express wtheat survivors had been through. His 2007 novella revisits the haunting fact that some Nazi death camps were pitifully alive with the sound of music: select musically talented inmates could save themselves, however briefly, by filling the air with commanded classical strains. They entertained their captors, ‘greeted’ arrivals, and provided a counterpoint of artistry, by turns sad and collaboratively sadistic, to the savagery and slaughter. Ghetto An enclosed area of a city, town or village where Jews were forced by the Nazis and their collaborators to live. Jews were not allowed to leave the ghetto without permission, and disease and overcrowding were rife. This haunting novella is a Holocaust tale of trauma, strength, survival and ultimately reunion. A young journalist is given the opportunity to interview Paolo Levi, a famous violinist, but she is told that under no circumstances is she to ask him the Mozart question. If she does, he will refuse to continue the interview. Not even knowing what the Mozart question is, she opens the interview by telling him she won't ask it. Instead she asks how he started playing the violin. After a few tense moments, he decides to tell her his story, a childhood tale of finding a street musician, a wonderful violinist who begins to teach him about the instrument. He tells the musician about his father's broken violin and asks if he could practice on it if it were mended. The musician mends the violin, and the lessons start. From this beginning, the boy learns not only how to play the violin, but he also learns the story of his parents' traumatic past. This book raises many questions about what one might do to survive, the power and significance of music, and the effect of the events of one generation on the next