“Dunera Mass” again in Sydney

Concert accompanies exhibition “Dunera: Stories of Internment”

This year, the State Library New South Wales in Sydney marks the anniversary of the state-sanctioned violent attacks and looting against Jews and their property in Nazi Germany on November 9 1938 with a new performance of the “Dunera Mass”.

The organizers write: „A dramatised concert exploring the HMT Dunera refugee story, featuring Dunera composer Max-Peter Meyer’s rediscovered music manuscripts.

In 1940, refugees from Nazi persecution who had fled to Britain were suddenly classified as enemy aliens, transported to Australia on the ship Dunera, and held in camps in Hay and Orange, NSW, and in Tatura, Victoria. In their attempts to re-create traces of their former lives, internees ran a remarkable range of activities inside the camps, from art classes to university-style lectures and theatrical performances. As a result, they produced an extraordinary array of personal art and artefacts, from beautiful portraits and landscapes to pop-up paper models and even an unofficial camp currency. The Library has spent many years compiling collections that piece together this little-known chapter in Australian history and now holds one of largest Dunera collections in the world.“

The “Dunera Mass” takes up the story of these refugees using the music manuscripts of the Dunera composer Max-Peter Meyer (1892-1950). His compositions are a musical rediscovery that complements the knowledge and documentation about the internment in Australia with the musical work of the internees.

The first notes for the mass were written while the Dunera was still at sea on its way to Australia. Meyer completed his work in the Hay internment camp, where it was premiered by internees for internees on April 6, 1941. Dunera Boy Oswald von Wolkenstein kept the sheet music of several of Meyer’s works written in the camp and passed them on to Dr. James Forsyth decades later. In addition to the mass, the collection contained the “Psalm: De Profundis” and a piano quartet, which were later performed in the camp. More than eight decades passed between the premiere and the revival of the three works by Max-Peter Meyer at the Canberra International Music Festival in May 2023.

Forsyth’s daughter, the musician, historian and author Dr. Nicole Forsyth, rehearsed the performances with her students and others. The concert will be visually enhanced by projections of artworks by the Dunera Boys.

This is an accompanying event to the exhibition “Dunera: Stories of Internment”. We recommend combining a visit to the exhibition with the concert evening.

Music from the internment camp. Source: SL NSW press photo.

The concert will take place on November 9th from 5.30pm to 6.45pm in the Auditorium of the State Library New South Wales (Macquarie Building, lower level). Admission is 30 AUD (concession and Friends of the Library: 15 AUD). Registration is requested. Further information.

The exhibition “Dunera: Stories of Internment” will be shown free of charge at the State Library of NSW at Shakespeare Place in Sydney. There will be an accompanying program.

Service info on the exhibition