Hans Keller and internment: the development of an emigré musician 1938-48

Garnham, A. M. (2011) Hans Keller and internment: the development of an emigré musician 1938-48. Hans Keller Archive . Boydell & Brewer, Martlesham. ISBN 9780955608773 (hardback) 9780955608780 (paperback)

Abstract

The Austro-German émigrés who fled Hitler for Britain in the late 1930s had to contend with the further upheaval of internment during 1940-41 as the Nazis threatened invasion. This fascinating new study traces the development of the eminent musician and writer Hans Keller before, during and after this period. The story begins in Vienna 1938 with Keller’s poignant memoir of the Kristallnacht and moves to London with his precocious account of England and the English. The internment months in Huyton and the Isle of Man are well documented through letters he sent home, and are supported by a detailed social and political account of the times. After release, Keller settled in London where, among other things, he burst into life as a remarkable, psychoanalytically-orientated commentator on music, composers and critics: a sketch of these years includes four early texts, among them the startling comparison of ‘Britten and Mozart’. This richly illustrated volume culminates in an affectionate memoir of ‘Hans Keller in the Early Days’ by his co-editor on the journal Music Survey, Donald Mitchell.

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