Viktor Ullman is perhaps most remembered for his compositions that were written during his interment in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. However, he was a particularly successful composer before this point.
Ullmann had trained in Vienna with Arnold Schönberg, and later, after some time in the military, under Alexander von Zemlinsky in Prague. He gained his first compositional successes with his vocal and piano music, and went on to win prizes and prestigious appointments. By the time of his deportment in 1942, he had published over 40 compositions, although many of the manuscripts were lost.
At Theresienstadt, Ullmann continued to work as a musician, organizing concerts and writing criticism of events. Along with a group of other composers, Ullmann continued to write music and said that it was as important to them to put their efforts into continuing to write as it was to continue to live.
Ullmann was deported to Auschwitz in October 1944, where he was killed in the gas chambers. His manuscripts were saved by his friend Emil Utitz, the librarian at Theresienstadt.
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