Future Memories: Lotoro's journey to discover music written in concentration camps stops in the USA

Francesco Lotoro a Washington DC

Francesco Lotoro's journey in search of music composed in concentration camps and other places of civilian and military captivity around the world arrive in the United States. The project "Future Memories: Lotoro's Journey to Save the Lost Music," of which this journey is also part, is promoted by the Fondazione Istituto di Letteratura Musicale Concentrazionaria ETS and supported by the Claims Conference (New York), the Puglia Region, the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe (London), the Righteous Persons Foundation (Los Angeles), and the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah (Paris) . The trip was undertaken together with Donatella Altieri , head of management of the ILMC Foundation.

The first stop on the trip was Washington, D.C.; the goal was not only to conduct research but also to purchase books on the subject that were unobtainable in Europe. It was helpful to purchase three large suitcases to hold the found books, along with personal trolleys that were loaded with books. At the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), a meeting took place with Bret Werb , head of the Music Department and one of the most authoritative researchers of concentration camp music production. Werb helped Lotoro access the musical materials of the Hungarian-Jewish composer Emeric Lazar, as well as procuring dozens of valuable books and encyclopedic materials on the subject, books that he decided to donate to the ILMC Foundation Library (the USHMM donated dozens of books and encyclopedias, which were shipped via Fedex).

In the photos: Francesco Lotoro in Washington DC and with Donatella Altieri

The next day it was the Library of Congress's turn, where two workstations had been reserved in advance. Many works written by Jewish composers in prison were scanned, and the material was so voluminous that they had to return the next day to complete the scans.

After Washington, D.C., they traveled by train to New York , where two workstations had been reserved at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research to consult approximately 100 folders of works written by Jewish musicians deported during World War II. The enormous cost of scanning each individual page forced Lotoro and Altieri, reluctantly, to limit their selection to ten folders.

The last day of research in New York took place at the New York Public Library , consulting the Eric Itor Kahn Papers ; before being granted permission to emigrate to the USA, the German-Jewish composer Eric Itor Kahn wrote the scores of Nenia pro Judaeis qui in haec aetate perierunt for cello and piano and Psalm XIII for male choir in the Les Milles Internment Camp.

In the photos: Francesco Lotoro in New York; photographic portrait by Eric Itor Kahn

After consulting the folders, both scores were recovered and submitted to the Library desk for scanning. During the stay in New York, three previously located antiquarian book collections were also searched, and book material was purchased for the Bibliomediteca delle Scienze Musicali.