User:Doc Taxon/Don Jaffé

Don Jaffé (* born 24 January 1933 in Riga) is a German-Israeli-Latvian musician and composer.

Biography

Family

Jaffé was born in 1933 in Riga, Latvia, to Ella Jaffé who had attended a German business school in Riga, and Jakov Jaffé, who had studied electrical engineering in Berlin. After his studies, Jakov Jaffé returned to Riga. In 1941, when the German Wehrmacht conquered Latvia, the Jaffé family – Jakov, Ella, Don, and his two siblings –- had to flee to Siberia, Soviet Union. After World War II, the Jaffés decided to return to Riga. All their relatives who couldn’t escape to the Soviet Union were murdered. In 1956, Don Jaffé married Elza Peterson. They have two children: Ramon (* 1962 in Riga, a cellist) and Diana (* 1969 in Riga, a book author and expert in gender marketing). Since 1975, Don Jaffé has lived in Bremen.

Career

At the age of fourteen, Don Jaffé started to learn Cello at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School, the junior music conservatory in Riga. In 1951, he was first string player graduating from this music school. Jaffé finished the Emīls Dārziņš Music School in only four years instead of the regular ten. From 1951 to 1956 he studied Cello at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in Riga. After graduation, Jaffé worked as a soloist and chamber musician and gained international success. Jaffé also taught chamber music at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and cello the Emīls Dārziņš Music School. Pushed by the growing antisemitism in the Soviet Union, Don Jaffé and his family emigrated to Israel in 1971. Jaffé immediately received an employment at the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra of the Israel Broadcasting Authority and started teaching cello at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (then Rubin Academy of Music). In the Yom-Kippur-War, Jaffé volunteered for the Israeli Defence Forces. In 1974, the Jaffés moved to Germany, where, as Don Jaffé put it, „their cultural roots lie“. Jaffé started to work as a solo cellist at the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. In 1975, Jaffé became member of the Bremen Philharmonic orchestra. From 1976 to 1992 he taught cello at the Bremen University of the Arts. In 1985, the Senate of Bremen, which is the state government of Bremen, awarded Don Jaffé as chamber musician.

Composer

In 1997, Don Jaffé started to work as composer. His works are influenced by both his biography and Jewish history and often focus on the Shoah and its victims. “It’s my mission to create musical monuments,“ Jaffé said. But he also stresses: “The generation of the granchildren is not responsible for the evil deeds of their ancestors.“

Works

Passionen, sonata for violoncello solo, 1997
Shoa, sonata for violoncello solo, 1997
Serefinas Träume, sonatino for violoncello and piano, 1998
Darum siehe, die Zeit wird kommen, string trio, 1999
Todesfuge, poem by Paul Celan, for violoncello, organ, and choir, 2001
Lior, sonatino for violoncello and piano, 2002
Prolog zu Rabbi von Bacherach after Heinrich Heine, for violoncello and voice, 2002
Saulkrasti, fantasy suite for violoncello and harp, 2003
Die letzten Tage, suite for violoncello and violin, 2004
Ballade über die Forelle und das Leben des Franz Schuberts, for violoncello, violin, and harp, 2006
Via dolorosa ebraica, sonata for violoncello and piano, 2007
Durch die Zeit, for violoncello and orgel, 2008
Choro-Symphonie, for choir and violoncello, 2008
Anni horribili, chamber symphony, 2010
Symphonie El sueno de la razón produce monstruos (The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters) after Francisco de Goya, symphony orchestra, 2011
Exodus 1971, chamber symphony for cello, piano, and string orchestra, 2011
Symphonischer Roman, double concert for viola, cello, and orchestra, 2012
Perlenlicht, sonatina for harp solo, 2014
Trippelkonzert, violin, cello, and piano, 2016
„Gefühle mit Brahms“, viola, cello, and piano, 2017
Konzert, harp and cello, 2018