The Cambridge dictionary defines the term stroke of luck as something good that happens to you by chance.  Lately I have witnessed or experienced a series of lucky strokes.  The most recent one was being able to attend a most moving concert of Forbidden Music. I was supposed to be on the other side of the ocean, but due to another stroke of luck I was at the right place at the right time.  The concert was one of the events to mark “Holocaust remembrance week”.  The massacre by Hamas terrorists in Israel on October 7^th brought back memories and trauma to holocaust survivors. The abduction of men, women, children, and old people brought back memories of rounding up Jewish communities and leading them to slaughter.  Israel, as the place of refuge and safety, was determined to act forcefully in order to bring them back home, lest the phrase “Never Again” becomes meaningless. This is not an act of revenge; it is an act of war  on terror and inhumanity.  Condemnation of the slaughter by world leaders did not silence the voices of Hamas supporters. As soon as the Israeli government declared war, and the IDF went into action, the voices condemning the victim were louder than the voices condemning terror.

Antisemitism was never eradicated.  It was waiting under the surface to be able to raise its ugly head.  And indeed, we are experiencing all over the world demonstrations and acts of violence.  That is why doing a concert of “forbidden Music”, the music of composers which were banned by the Nazis, was important now.  Two of the composers featured in the concert were lucky, they managed to escape before being killed.  They all were Jewish, like most of the artists and performers who flourished in the time between the first world war and the beginning of the 1930’s.  Erwin Sculhoff did not escape, and died in a concentration camp in Würzburg, Bavaria. Before 1933 he was a successful composer.  His 5 pieces for string quartet premiered in 1924 in Salzburg, and was not performed much after that.  That was the first piece we heard at the concert by the London Symphonia.  The other composer, Eric Wolfgang Korngold was a professor of music at the Vienna State Academy, and a prolific music composer. The String Quartet No.2 we heard was written in 1933.  He managed to escape from Germany in 1934, and went to Hollywood, where he became one of the most prolific film composers.  He received 2 Oscars in 1936 and 1938 for his film scores, but at the end of the war in 1945 left the film industry and again composed concert music.

The stroke of luck was the discovery of a forgotten score by Walter Kaufman, which lay dormant in the files of Dr. Ted Medzon for 30 years.  This score was given to Ted’s father who was the first viola player in the Winnipeg Symphony orchestra, where Kaufman was the conductor and music director from 1948-1957.  The string quartet #5 was written in 1935, and was never performed before in Canada. It was in Ted’s possession with all of his father’s papers. One day on the radio Ted heard a composition by Kaufman, and the name rang a bell.  In his late father’s papers Ted found the handwritten score, and that is how we were lucky to hear the premier performance of a forgotten, hidden gem. The enthusiasm and professionality of the musicians made the music truly magical. 

Underneath the surface there is a warning, A warning that if we do not act, the antisemitic movement, masquerading in new clothes, may again rob the world of creativity.  The ability to engage in compassion. art and love of humanity are in danger. The famous George Santayana is believed to have said: “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.” That’s the thing, though. None of us have forgotten, yet we see the beginning of a repetition. Violence and hate are overwhelming, and people are again triggered by old fears.  We need to wake up and act.  Act with music, act with waking up hope and getting together to celebrate courage and create joy. Perhaps that was the intention in concluding the concert with Mozart’s string quartet #21, the “violet”.  I could not find any explanation for the name. Perhaps because it was the first quartet of the Prussian quartets, and the violet is the first to bloom after the winter.  It is a flower of hope and love, fragrant and spreading. So, let’s have violets instead of violence.

My personal stroke of luck happened a month ago when a chance check of an astute anaesthetist decided to do an ECG, and discovered a very rapid irregular pulse which could have led to a stroke. Sometimes you really need a stroke of luck in order to prevent a stroke. I also had a stroke of luck that one of the top rhythm cardiologists was able to see me almost immediately and I will be receiving a pacemaker very soon.  When all is said and done, the Yiddish song says it all “Ve nemt man a bisele Mazel.”  But do not depend only in luck. Learn the symptoms, listen to your body, and take action.  If all is said and done, I still wish you a stroke of good luck.