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The international, interdisciplinary Leo-Kestenberg-Symposium 2005, organized by the Berlin University of the Arts and the Leo Kestenberg Music School, constituted an important step within the framework of the International Leo Kestenberg Society, the former Leo Kestenberg Project.
The Symposium presented a first overall view of the different phases and emphases in Kestenberg's life and work. For the first time, the scope of his achievements in Prague and Tel Aviv could be taken into account, in addition to previously little-known aspects of his activities in Berlin. Historians, musicians, musicologists, music educators and art historians from Germany, Israel, the Czech Republic and the USA were invited.
The intentionally interdisciplinary organization of the Symposium included, in addition to the scholarly component, an exhibition, a panel discussion with contemporary eyewitnesses, a concert by master class students, and numerous musical performances by music school members at all levels. This format also was successful in manifesting to the eye and ear Kestenberg's central idea of unified music education, encompassing institutions and disciplines from kindergarten through secondary music school and on to the university.
The touring exhibition commissioned by the Leo Kestenberg Music School, "Leo Kestenberg (1882-1962). The Unity of Artistic and Social Responsibility - a Vision?" is another centrepiece of the International Leo Kestenberg Society.
The exhibition portrays this fascinating and inspiring music educator and political advocate for music and provides an assessment of his ideas and their application in the work of music schools today. It has been conceived as a touring exhibition appropriate for all age groups.
Ten interconnected freestanding panels portray different phases and themes in the life and work of Leo Kestenberg, in part through the use of reproductions of art works, photographs and documents.
An audiovisual station shows video recordings of interviews with persons who knew Kestenberg and selected instructional sequences from work with music students today.
Compilation and launch of a Leo Kestenberg Databank on the InternetThe compilation and launch of the Leo-Kestenberg-Databank developed by Ann-Kathrin Seidel in 2005 is still a "work in progress". The data bank now records the holdings of the Leo Kestenberg Estate in the Israeli Music Archive: over 1100 manuscripts, articles, photographs and letters, including 700 pieces of correspondence with musicians, artists and other personalities from around the world.
In the future, this body of material is to be expanded by the inclusion of all other remaining documents certified as belonging to the Kestenberg estate. Prospective acquisitions include the documents relating to Kestenberg in the archive of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Tel Aviv, and in the archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin. Items that must first be sequenced and catalogued include, for instance, the bundle of letters that Kestenberg wrote to his family, which now are in the possession of his daughter Rahel Epstein.
We plan to link this databank with the Kestenberg website or to bring it online directly on our pages. In the meantime you can contact Ann-Kathrin Seidel, who is happy to assist with your inquiries, through our site.
- Summer 2008: Susanne Fontaine, Ulrich Mahlert, Dietmar Schenk and Theda Weber-Lucks (Ed.): Leo Kestenberg. Musikpädagoge und Musikpolitiker in Berlin, Prag und Tel Aviv, Rombach: Freiburg 2008
Publication of the scholarly contributions to the Leo Kestenberg Symposium 2005: Chronologically arranged according to the stages in Kestenberg's life, the contributions provide an initial overview of his various activities. Constants and changes in his thinking and acting are made visible in both a historical longitudinal view and in cross section.
Corresponding to the great variety of Kestenberg's activities, the authors themselves come from very different fields. Representatives from music education, musicology, art history and general history make their contributions, as do contemporaries of Kestenberg and authors who write from their practical experience.
Publication has been made possible by funds from the German Research Council, the Berlin University of the Arts and its Kommission für künstlerische und wissenschaftliche Vorhaben, the Leo Kestenberg Music School and the Society of Friends and Supporters of the Leo Kestenberg Music School.
Research with those who knew Kestenberg is of special current import. Many former pupils of Leo Kestenberg are still alive, as are numerous persons who were directly acquainted with him. The research with these individuals begun in 2004 by Theda Weber-Lucks and Ann-Kathrin Seidel, as well as multimedia documentation of the interviews with them, should be continued.
On one hand, we hope to learn more about Kestenberg from those who knew him. On the other, we want to discover what happened to his former pupils. How were their lives and careers shaped by the formative experience of studying with Kestenberg? That is, when piano or music lessons are both broadly conceived (integrating philosophy, literature and art, where appropriate) yet at the same time individually tailored to each pupil's needs, what role do they play in a person's life?
To date, conversations have been recorded with:
Jehuda Bacon (Israel), Giora Bernstein (USA), Rachel Epstein (Israel), Edith Kraus (Israel), Ricci Horenstein (Great Britain), Aharon Shefi (Israel), Ilana Shmueli (Israel), Uri Töplitz (Israel), Josef Tal (Israel), Menachem Pressler (USA) and Seev Steinberg (Israel)
The intention is to introduce these contemporary eyewitnesses on our website with brief biographies and commentary and to present DVD excerpts from the interviews. Publication of the interviews in book form also is projected.
We would be grateful for any information and contacts to other individuals.
Original interviews
Encounters with Leo Kestenberg.
By Ann-Kathrin Seidel and Theda Weber-Lucks:
A work commissioned by the Leo Kestenberg Music School and the Berlin University of the Arts 2005. Copyright for the interviews lies with the authors and the interviewees.
Interviews with: Jehuda Bacon (Israel), Rachel Epstein (Israel), Edith Kraus (Israel), Aharon Shefi (Israel), Ilana Shmueli (Israel), Uri Töplitz (Israel), Josef Tal (Israel), Menachem Pressler (USA) and Seev Steinberg (Israel).
The unedited original interviews are in the Archive of the Berlin University of the Arts in DVD format and can be viewed there.
An annotated DVD with excerpts from the interviews is shown as part of the exhibition "Leo Kestenberg (1882-1962). The Unity of Artistic and Social Responsibility - a Vision?"
A selection of the interviews forms the basis for the symposium contribution by Theda Weber-Lucks: "Leo Kestenberg und seine Schüler" [Leo Kestenberg and his Pupils]. This contribution appeared in: Susanne Fontaine, Ulrich Mahlert et.al. (Eds.): Leo Kestenberg. Musikpädagoge und Musikpolitiker in Berlin, Prag und Tel Aviv [Leo Kestenberg. Music Educator and Music Politician in Berlin, Prague and Tel Aviv] Rombach: Freiburg 2008.
Radio broadcast
On December 19, 2005, Deutschlandradio Kultur broadcast a themed evening programme: "Leo Kestenberg".
The broadcast by Volker Michael included recordings of events during the Berlin Leo-Kestenberg-Symposium 2005: the concert evening "Hommage à Busoni" (Dec. 2, 2005), the panel discussion with contemporary eyewitnesses (Dec. 4, 2005), and interviews with the musicologist Susanne Fontaine and the historian Dietmar Schenk.
A copy of the broadcast can be obtained upon request.
"An Incentive to Remember - A Stumbling Block for Maria Leo"
On Saturday June 17, 2006, at 11:00 a.m., at the entrance gate to Pallasstraße 12, a Stumbling Block was laid in remembrance of Maria Leo.
"Stumbling Blocks" are not large, but their brass surfaces stand out. Set into the pavement, they indicate buildings in which those who were persecuted and deported during the period of National Socialism once lived. One of these Stumbling Blocks now lies in front of the entrance gate to Pallasstraße 12, where Maria Leo lived and worked.
Maria Leo was born in 1873 in Berlin. Her mother was a pianist, and the daughter too studied piano. Music became her life. She steadfastly pursued three important goals: the creation of a professional training course for women as music teachers, the qualification of music teaching as a profession, and the development of solfège instruction, the "Tonic-Do Method". She pursued many of her goals together with a group of committed individuals around the music education reformer Leo Kestenberg.
When the National Socialists came to power, they put an abrupt end to all these endeavours. Maria Leo was Jewish and therefore was forced to give up all her posts. She avoided deportation to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942 by committing suicide.
We intend to dedicate our research efforts also to the lives and works of Kestenberg's colleagues and comrades-in-arms, who stood by his side as they put his ideas for music pedagogical reform into practice.
A series of lectures with evening concerts (very much in Kestenberg's spirit!) is planned, each presenting one of the music educator personalities from Kestenberg's circle. Invited speakers will report on their research in music pedagogy or musicology, and on the relation of theory to current instructional practice. Students from the Leo Kestenberg Music School will select and play the musical examples.
On March 1, 2008, the first part in the series was devoted to the multifaceted work of the pianist and music educator Maria Leo, including a look at current developments in the "Tonic-Do Method" she taught.
More Information in a report by Andreas Eschen (only in German)
We would like to support concerts and music theatre projects that have a direct historical or thematic relationship to Kestenberg. This could involve programming works by composers he fostered, or re-envisioning the ideas of the working people's concerts and Kroll Opera performances he organized, or presenting other events in the spirit of his pedagogic, artistic and political interests.
A first major concert was dedicated to Kestenberg's mentor, Ferruccio Busoni. The "Hommage à Busoni" took place on December 2, 2005, as part of the Leo Kestenberg Symposium. Students from the master classes of the Berlin University of the Arts performed, and Deutschland Radio Kultur recorded the event.
A first German-Israeli student exchange project between the Leo Kestenberg Music School and the Givatayim Conservatory took place from October 20 to October 27, 2008. Both institutions share a strong relation to the ideas and work of Leo Kestenberg.
The Leo Kestenberg Music School in Berlin was named for him in 2000, to pay tribute to the man who actually created the model for today's music schools.
The Givatayim Conservatory owes its existence to Kestenberg's inspiring influence. Its founders were pupils at the Music Teachers' Seminar in Tel Aviv, which Kestenberg founded and directed.
Central to this exchange project that will be continued in October 2009 in Israel is the desire for an exchange of experience on different forms of music practice and music learning, as linked to Leo Kestenberg in Germany aswell in Israel.
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