ADOLPH KURT BÖHM. - COMPOSER, MUSICIAN AND HUMANITARIAN.
ADOLPH KURT BÖHM, born July 27th 1926 in Oberlangenstadt near Kronach, was the second child of Josef Böhm and his wife Maria. The Böhms ran a small factory in their Frankish home region producing basket-weave furniture. In 1933 Josef Böhm, who came from a Jewish family, was already feeling the effects of the inhumanity of the Nazi regime. Soon after the Nazis seized power in Germany he was accused by a commercial competitor of political agitation (which was untrue) and denounced. He was immediately arrested and on April 24th taken to the concentration camp Dachau. It was only through the courageous intervention of his wife, who sought help from the Archbishop of Bamberg, that he was freed after three weeks. In that same year the family left their home and emigrated to Paris. In this new situation, not an easy one for refugees, Adolph Kurt Böhm grew up, learned the French language and culture, and made his first friends. When the German army then occupied Paris, his father fled once more. This time to Switzerland. However, the family remained in Paris. Böhm, who had great artistic talent, was able during these times to assist other Jews by creating false passports for them. Many years later, in 1995, he was honoured by the Israeli Government for this work, with the title ‘Righteous among the Nations’.
A Musical career in France.
After the war - his father had meanwhile returned to Paris - the multi-talented Böhm was able to undertake studies in piano. From 1952 he was a student of the pianist Bernadette Alexandre-Georges, who had been a close friend of Maurice Ravel. His friendship with the young Michel Serrault, who later became famous outside France as an actor (incl. ‘A Cage of Fools’), brought Böhm in contact with the theatre. He contributed to the first productions of Serrault through his painting of scenery, posters, and through his music.
In 1963 Böhm met the Hungarian pianist György Cziffra, who was living in Paris at the time. Böhm had heard his playing on recordings and in concert and was fascinated by the outstanding technique of the great musician. His acquaintance with Cziffra began with an interview, in which Böhm questioned Cziffra about his attitude towards the transmigration of souls. How was it possible that some people were given the gift of such outstanding musical genius? wondered Böhm. However, this interview was probably also a pretext to meet the much admired artist. In any case, Cziffra accepted Böhm as his student and a friendship developed, which lasted until Cziffra’s death in 1994. Böhm dedicated to him two waltzes, which the Taiwanese pianist Yi-Chih Lu recorded in 2005.
Böhm however gave up the idea of becoming a concert pianist when he realised that he was not suited to the nervous tension associated with concert performance. He battled hugely with stage nerves. A few private tape-recordings however, in which Böhm played works of Liszt and Chopin, demonstrate that he absolutely possessed all the abilities of a concert pianist. Nonetheless, he felt himself more comfortable in the Parisian art milieu, in the cabarets of Montmartre, where he accompanied the Chanson artists of the time. He was also composing instrumental pieces as preludes and interludes for revues. He was much in demand as a valued accompanist, and also because of his ability to sight read. These activities took him on tours around France as an accompanist.
The early death of his brother Gerd, who died in1956 in a car accident, was a terrible blow for Böhm and his family. For Adolph Kurt Böhm, this became a catalyst to devote himself more intensively to the spiritual questions of existence.
Return to Germany - The Composer Böhm steps into the spotlight.
After visiting Germany again briefly a short time after the war, the Böhm family returned in the middle of the 1980s and made their home in Murnau am Staffelsee, the hometown of Böhm’s mother. A friend, for whom Böhm at that time played his compositions, said to him: “What you are composing are Songs without Words’. He advised Böhm to once again try the art song, and so, soon afterwards Böhm set to music a first poem by Alfred Musset. Further compositions followed with settings to French poems by Paul Verlaine.
Two opera-singer friends of Böhm, Irene Sicot and Henri Bohrer, recorded them in a Paris sound studio. On that occasion Böhm accompanied the songs himself on the piano.
It was the beginning of a rich period of creativity: Böhm wrote more than 500 songs. They were often texts of Romantic poets, such as Heinrich Heine or Joseph von Eichendorff. However, he was also attracted by 20th century texts, the love poems of Eugen Drewermann, texts by Wilhelm Busch or Manfred Kyber. Böhm often accompanied singers at concerts or recording sessions. So there developed long-standing musical cooperative partnerships, for example with Alexandra Petersamer or Florian Prey. Instrumentalists too, such as the cellist Julius Berger, played his works. In 1995 Böhm wrote the music for the musical drama ‘Savonarola’ by Birgitta Wolf. The production took place in Murnau.
His musical life brought Böhm in contact with many artists of his time who valued him and his music.
Apart from this, Böhm was interested in supernatural phenomena and took a stance in his life always on the side of the weak and the oppressed. His love of animals was almost limitless. The memories of his emotional life were recorded in 2014 in his book “Music and Humanity’. In ‘The Healing Power of Beauty’ (2010) with the subtitle ‘A cultural critique of the modern arts’, Böhm was trying to present his understandings and attitude to contemporary art; whereas his enthusiasm for the Romantic art song had always suggested a somewhat anachronistic preference. His tireless creativity and ever-increasing enthusiasm for his art are a sign that even the apparently outdated art of Böhm still touches a nerve in his audience, and with many people even today there is a great need for the deeply human music of Böhm.
Until his death in 2020, Adolph Kurt Böhm remained active. He was composing, playing music with friends, and enjoying frequent visits to concerts.
Heribert Riesenhuber (translation: Lorna Henry)
