Divertimento

The series 'Forbidden Music Regained' proudly presents works by composers who were persecuted during the Second World War. Performances of these works were forbidden during the war. Many composers were imprisoned, several did not survive and others went into hiding.

After the war a new generation took over. The pre-war composers were soon forgotten and their compositions remained hidden in closets and archives or fell otherwise into oblivion. In recent decades numerous works have been rediscovered through the efforts of the Leo Smit Foundation. Some scores were found in attics, others in a garden shed and a pile of music was found by young children next to a garbage can.

These compositions are of a high quality and deserve to be performed again. The diversity of styles represents the entire spectrum of the first half of the Twentieth century: romanticism, impressionism, modernism, neoclassicism, jazz, and so forth. This project aims to encourage musicians, young and old, from across the globe to perform these compositions, and for concert audiences to (once again) become acquainted with this ‘unheard’ music.