Fractured Self

The Editor: Kay Dreyfus is an Associate Research Fellow in the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation (SOPHIS) at Monash University. Her background is in musicology and history and she holds doctorates in both areas. She has previously published an English-language biographical study of Alma Moodie, Bluebeard’s Bride: Alma Moodie, violinist (Lyrebird Press, 2013).The Translator: An honours arts graduate from the University of Melbourne, Diana K. Weekes studied musicology at Munich University before completing her Meisterklassendiplom in solo performance at the Hochschule für Musik. In 2007 she graduated with a PhD in composition from the University of Adelaide. She recently translated Albrecht Dümling’s The Vanished Musicians (Peter Lang, 2016).

• Contents: The Letters – Starting Over 1918– 1923 Letters 1–46 – Complications and Resolutions 1924– 1928 Letters 47–148 – Years of Crisis and Fulfilment 1929– 1932 Letters 149–185 – Uneasy Accommodations 1933– 1938 Letters 186–231 – War and Death 1939– 1943 Letters 232–268 – Addenda: Letters 269–270 – Reflections – Eduard Erdmann: Einige Erinnerungen an Alma Moodies Künstlerschaft [Some Memories of Alma Moodie’s Artistry] – Goetz Richter: On the Higher Values of Artistic Personality: Alma Moodie’s Path in Response to Carl Flesch – Birgit Saak (Transl. Diana K. Weekes): Alma Moodie as Eduard Erdmann’s Chamber Music Partner – Peter Tregear: Moodie and Krenek: Challenging Ernst’s Ernestness – Michael Haas: Alma Moodie and the Third Reich – Endnotes.

«This fascinating and meticulously annotated collection of letters from the Australian-born violinist Alma Moodie is an invaluable resource for those wishing to gain greater insights into the turbulent musical life of Germany’s Weimar Republic and Third Reich.»(Professor Erik Levi, Royal Holloway, University of London, author of Music in the Third Reich and Mozart and the Nazis)«Vividly engaging, sharply observant, heartfelt, tragic and often witty … Alma Moodie’s letters bring to new life her struggle with choices, challenges and opportunities. This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the life and artistic career of a great, unique violinist in the vortex of the twentieth century.»(Professor Emeritus Ulf Hoelscher, Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, leading German violin soloist, chamber musician and recording artist)