My paste up of Joseph Schmidt was partly prompted by reading the #ShortStory "Der Bajazzo" by #ThomasMann. Like the mother in the story, who plays Chopin slowly so as to enjoy the melancholy cadence of the music, I listen to #JosephSchmidt sing "E lucevan le stelle" & "Mal d’amore" to enjoy to the utmost every sad note. https://youtu.be/EpMdhLzAUgw

Two different #translations of the passage from "Der Bajazzo" follow. I like both but am partial to David Luke's. Note also the different titles.

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Imagine never having heard the beautiful #tenor voice of #JosephSchmidt: https://youtu.be/59ka_xFzYSk

At the outset of WW2, unable to flee to the US after someone took his ticket & assumed his identity, he sought refuge in Switzerland. But the Swiss (unlike the notice next to my #PasteUp) didn't recognise Jews as political refugees & he was interned in a refugee camp near Zurich. In frail health, he died a month later due to lack of medical attention at the Waldegg Inn, his last warm refuge.

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Am 16.11.1942 starb Joseph Schmidt in der Schweiz, da man ihm, dem jüdischen Flüchtling, eine ordentliche medizinische Versorgung verwehrte. Er war neben Jan Kiepura und Richard Tauber einer der größten Sänger der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Schmidt wurde nur 38 Jahre alt. #einsternfaelltvomhimmel #josephschmidt