Jewish music from Vienna might not be the first thing most St. Louis Jews think about when planning a night out, and I get it. But every so often a program comes along that deserves more than a quick scroll. “A Night in Vienna,” presented by the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum, is one of them. If you walk in with even a little context, you’ll hear more than music. You’ll hear pieces shaped by Jewish life, Jewish identity and a cultural world that was nearly erased.
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Why Vienna Jewish music matters now
For many people, classical music and Vienna’s history can feel far away. Helen Turner, the Museum’s director of education, says it helps to remember that this music once sat at the center of Jewish life in Vienna.
“It formed the very soundtrack of their existence,” she said. Just as we stream playlists today, Jews in Vienna filled their homes and cafés with the popular music of their time.” Knowing that, Turner says, helps us understand both what once existed and what was taken from them as the Nazis rose to power.
Pianist Catherine Kautsky, who will lead the program, sees it the same way.
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“Knowing the context of a composition can increase its emotional power,” said Kautsky. Some of the music she will play was written by composers who later died in camps. “We can’t help but mourn the enormous extent of talent that was lost,” she said.
A personal thread in Vienna Jewish music
Kautsky’s connection to this music goes deeper than performance. Her parents escaped Vienna as Holocaust survivors.
“All my first memories of music are of Mozart and Beethoven,” she said. “That is the quintessential music of Vienna.”
Hearing Kautsky talk about her family’s escape adds a layer you don’t get from the music alone. It helps you understand the emotions behind it even if you don’t speak the language of classical music.
What the evening hopes to reveal
Kautsky believes music can illuminate history in ways words cannot.
“Vienna was home to some of the most wonderful music ever written and also home to some of the most appalling war crimes the world has ever seen,” said Kautsky. “My task is to illuminate that deeply split identity.” She hopes audiences feel that complexity as they listen.
Turner says that is exactly why the Museum chose to close the year with a concert. “Music is a universal language,” she said. “It invites us to sit together, hear the same notes and share common experience.”
If you go
What: A Night in Vienna: An Exploration of Jewish Music
When: Dec. 4, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Where: St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum
Admission: Free with registration
