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