Yeshea (1797-1903), great-great-grandfather of Albert Hurwit, born in Prague. In the Diaspora, he moved eastward to Milkowitz, a small village in Russia.
Zelig Milkowitz (1841-1925), son of Yeshea, and his wife Goldie (1841-1929)
Isaac Milkowitz (seated), son of Zelig and Goldie, his wife Hanna, and their children. Helen (front row, center) is the composer's mother. [New Britain, Connecticut - c. 1912]
Symphony No. 1 "Remembrance"
The Music and its Story
Movement I (Origins) interweaves
moods and themes that describe the changing emotional
landscape of my ancestors in their eastward migration
from Prague to Russia.
Movement II(Separation) with Klezmer band memorializes the persecution of my family and others
in the pogroms of the late 1800s. The movement starts
with saber-wielding Cossacks on horseback terrorizing
the villagers. That violent music is suddenly replaced
by the message given to my mother and her parents
by the family elders: three ascending notes cry out
“YOU MUST GO.” The family then recollects
the songs and dances they shared. But their reveries
are interrupted by the return of the Cossacks, whose
threats force the family to separate forever .
Movement III (Remembrance)
reflects the family's sadness, which is voiced in
the first theme. This initial theme is subsumed by
the second theme, with its expression of compassion
and love. The movement ends with intimations that
the departing family will survive.
Movement IV
(Arrival) heralds the ocean voyage and arrival in
America, where the family finds safety and freedom.
Click on the
above to
listen to selections from the symphony.
