Songs of Salomon
Projected image: © Charlotte Salomon Foundation
Photo: Alexandra Gorlin-Crenshaw
Charlotte Salomon was born in Berlin in 1917 and perished in Auschwitz in 1943. She became known only many years posthumously for her multidisciplinary work Leben? Oder Theater? – a narrative series of gouache paintings, text, and music that she created between 1941-42 while she lived in hiding in the south of France. The work survived the war thanks to the care of a French doctor, who later returned it to Salomon’s remaining family. (read more below)
From a live performance of Songs of Salomon / Projected image: © Charlotte Salomon Foundation. Photo: Judy Raiffa
Salomon wrote the titles of specific songs throughout her work; presumably she heard this music as she painted, creating a sound backdrop for the inner ear to accompany her texts and images. Blurring borders of style and genre, Salomon’s musical playlist includes opera arias, Schubert lieder, Yiddish folk songs, tangos, and popular melodies from 1920s Berlin, portraying Salomon’s rich musical surroundings of the time, and shining light on her personal tastes and influences. (read more below)
Photo: Sarah Shin
Alexandra Gorlin-Crenshaw creates her own musical homage to the artist in her performance piece Songs of Salomon, effectively bringing Salomon’s internal soundscape to life amidst projected images and voice-over texts. Alexandra adds solo piano works and arrangements to the mix of songs, along with a few creative surprises borrowed from the puppetry arts.
The result is a surprising and original performance work, a personal re-imagining of Salomon’s musical mind.
