Berthold Goldschmidt

The suppression of his work by Nazi Germany, as well as the disdain with which many modernist critics elsewhere dismissed his "anachronistic" lyricism, stranded the composer in the wilderness for many years before he was given a revival in his final decade.

In 1922, Goldschmidt entered the Berlin Hochschule für Musik and joined Franz Schreker's composition class, where his fellow pupils included Ernst Krenek, Alois Hába, Felix Petryek, and Jascha Horenstein.

Hailed as one of the brightest hopes of a generation of young composers, Goldschmidt reached the premature climax of his career with the premiere of his opera Der gewaltige Hahnrei in Mannheim in 1932.

While taking jobs in conducting, Goldschmidt also composed works such as the Ciaccona Sinfonica, concertos for violin, cello, and clarinet, and the opera Beatrice Cenci.

In 1983, to mark Goldschmidt's 80th birthday, friend and conductor Bernard Keeffe mounted a run-through (the only performance in the UK to date) of scenes from Der gewaltige Hahnrei at Trinity College of Music in London.

Champions of his work include the conductors Simon Rattle, Charles Dutoit and Bernard Keeffe; the violinist Chantal Juillet; the Mandelring string quartet; and the record companies Largo and Decca.