Interesting, these little "rabbit holes" the internet can put you on. Reading the introduction to "Loving the Torah More Than God: Toward a Catholic Appreciation of Judaism" -- provocative title, just started. I suppose I'll have a review at some point -- author Frans Jozef van Beeck mentions the following dedication:Of the passages omitted in the present text, the most sigificant was the dedication of the lectures to the memory of my first violin teacher, the late Samuel Schuyer. I wish to repeat it here. Samuel Schuyer was born in The Hague, on September 9, 1873, into a family of musicians. He received his training in violin, bassoon, and theory at the Royal Conservatory in his native city. After an early career that involves positions as principal bassoonist in a variety of places as well as a European tour as a bassoon soloist, he became first assistant concertmaster at the French Opera in The Hague, and subsequently concertmaster at the Opera of Ghent, in Belgium. After a short stay in Paris, he returned to The Hague, where he became a very active violinist and teacher, and occasionally also a composer. He was sixty nine years old when in late 1942, he was taken from his apartment and transported to the transit camp at Westerbork. On December 8, 1942 he was put on the train to Auschwitz, where he was killed on the day of his arrival. May he live in peace.On a whim and, wanting to find out more about this Samuel Schuyer, I Googled and discovered this fascinating biography and account of the musician containing a horrifying detail of his demise -- one can imagine no worse form of physical torture for an accomplished musician:
Het Vaderland reported regularly on new compositions by Schuijer and performances of his work until 1939. Then it becomes silent. The last official document is the death certificate showing that he perished in Auschwitz. A daughter of a former Schuijer piano student wrote to the Leo Smit Foundation: "My mother told me about the tragic fate of her respected piano teacher, who had suffered extreme torture in Auschwitz. We were told that both his hands were cut off."as well as a remarkable tale of his discovery and the recovery of his music:
On December 11, 1942, Samuel Schuijer was murdered in Auschwitz. His home and music school had been plundered by the Nazis. With the loss of his life and destruction of his belongings, all traces of this significant Dutch musician seemed to be erased. But a group of children in The Hague found a box containing music manuscripts, waiting for the garbage truck. They took their treasure home and it became the first step in rediscovering a lost fragment of Dutch music history.
For which very reason, you can now listen to a composition by him:
Related
- Samuel Schuijer Leo Smit Foundation.
- Forbidden Music Regained - a Project of the Leo Smit Foundation - "Based in Amsterdam, the Leo Smit Foundation is a knowledge centre open to anyone who wants to know more about composers who were persecuted in the Second World War. Because of their situation their work has sunk into oblivion, yet in many cases they were the musical leaders of their time. The Leo Smit Foundation is dedicated to the discovery and research of these composers and to the publication of their works."
- Suppressed Composers in the Netherlands: Forbidden Music in the Second World War by Carine Alders (Editor), Eleonore Pameijer (Editor). Toccata Press (May 7, 2024) 356 pgs.
- Archives Diary: A Tribute to Frans Jozef Van Beeck, S.J. John J Burns Library.
