Copyright Holder: © Edwin Geist and Lyda Bagriansky Geist Estate
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Edwin Ernst Moritz Geist (1902-1942) was a German composer, originally from Berlin, who moved to Kaunas, Lithuania after he was expelled by the Nazis from the Reichsmusikkammer (Reich Music Chamber) in 1937. After arriving in Lithuania, Geist married the pianist Lyda Bagriansky, in 1938, and experienced his most productive period as a composer during the next several years, creating the opera"Die Heimkehr des Dionyso" (1934-1939),"Kleine Deutsche Totenmess" (1940), and"Kosmischer Frühlin" (1941). After the German invasion of Lithuania in 1941, Geist and his wife Lyda were imprisoned at the Ninth Fort in Kaunas, where Geist was held until he was released through the intervention of friends in March1942. Geist sought to obtain the release of Lyda as well, but he was rearrested several months later and was shot on 10 December 1942. After learning of his death, Lyda took her own life as well. Geist's music was rediscovered in Lithuania in the 1970s, and"Die Heimkehr des Dionyso" had its premiere in Vilnius in 2002, and his works have been performed in Germany, Lithuania, and the United States in the years since.
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The collection is arranged in three series: I. Biographical and Performances, II. Scores, and III. Sound recordings and moving image materials. The second series (Scores) is further divided into three subseries: A. Manuscript (Berlin), B. Copies (Lithuania), and C. Performances, 2002-2008.
Contains manuscript musical scores, biographical documents, newspaper articles, photographs, correspondence, concert programs, and audio recordings and video recordings of performances of the work of composer Edwin Geist. The collection largely consists of original and copied manuscript musical scores of Geist’s work, as well as recordings and documents from performances of Geist’s works between 1973 and 2012. The material in this collection was assembled by Rosian Bagriansky Zerner, the niece of Edwin Geist, and her father, Paul Bagriansky, whose sister was married to Geist.
Lyda Bagriansky Geist and Edwin Geist collection