Anne Frank piece finally to premiere in S.F.
Michael Tilson Thomas’ 1990 work inspired by Anne Frank’s diary premieres this week, part of the San Francisco Symphony celebration of the 70th anniversary of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. When he programmed it, there was no way to imagine how timely this premiere would seem and for the most tragic reasons.
Thomas collaborated with Audrey Hepburn on “From the Diary of Anne Frank,” a dramatic work for narrator and orchestra, using Anne’s words read by Hepburn. It serves as a declaration of Anne’s optimistic spirit despite hiding with her family from the Nazis, as well as a cautionary tale of where anti-Semitism can lead.
“Having not looked at this piece for maybe 20 years, it was interesting for me to come back and kind of rediscover it in the time we are living,” Thomas said recently by phone from Miami Beach, where he also conducts. “The last few weeks, because of the terrible attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue and the number of acts of violence that have been occurring in our country, it made me think that performances of this piece still have a relevance in keeping a certain history alive.
“Sadly, there seems to be no shortage of various kinds of mindless hostility against one group in our society,” he added.
The construction of the piece was a joyful period for Thomas. In the late 1980s, Hepburn, then an ambassador for UNICEF, contacted him about a work her organization wished to commission that would combine readings from Anne’s diary with original music she invited him to compose.
“I have been trying to figure out why she called me. It has something to do with people we knew in common who were involved with UNICEF,” he said.
Thomas soon realized the depth of Hepburn’s identification with Anne Frank. They were the exact same age and both lived under Nazi occupation in the Netherlands.
“I think she experienced the same feeling of oppression in the streets and in this society that everyone did when the Nazis were there, and I think Audrey was aware of the fact even as a child that the people who had sort of disappeared were Jewish. There was a kind of awareness that many of them may have been in some kind of hiding.
“Audrey was very sympathetic to the plight of Anne Frank. She was also very humble about it, saying ‘I experienced fear and terror, but of course what Anne experienced was something on a whole other terrifying level.’ ”
Hepburn and Thomas settled on a process to work together. They resolved to read Anne Frank’s diary and to prepare a list of their favorite lines for use in the composition. Some of the words tell of tragic
“Audrey very sympathetic was to the plight of Anne Frank.” Michael Tilson Thomas
events, but others reflect the author’s spirit of optimism and compassion.
In program notes for the San Francisco Symphony’s premiere of “From the Diary of Anne Frank,” narrated by opera star Isabel Leonard (“Marnie” in the new Metropolitan Opera production in New York), Thomas writes, “I now realize that so much of this work is a reflection not just of Anne Frank, but of Audrey Hepburn. Audrey’s simplicity, her deeply caring nature, the ingenuous singsong of her voice are all present in the phrase shapes of the orchestra. The work would never have existed without her, and it is dedicated to her.”
Thomas’ musical instincts immediately went to phrases in traditional Jewish music including the Kaddish — the Jewish hymn to life. The Anne Frank work is in four sections and opens with a hopeful lullaby preceding Anne’s introduction of her diary. That same lullaby returns in the next section as a sad procession.
“Audrey wanted the piece to end on a more optimistic, hopeful note — to reflect that Anne has decided she really wants to be a writer and she wants to witness things. She had developed an idea of herself beyond the typical role of Jewish housewife and she thought of the future — what direction she hoped civilization would go in.”
Hepburn confided in Thomas that her roles in “Gigi” on Broadway and in her early movies “Roman Holiday” and “Sabrina” were very similar to her, and she was being herself rather than acting.
“Of course, people fell in love with her,” Thomas said. “She was aware of the celebrity she got, and she very much wanted to use it to help other people. She would say, ‘What is the point of all this celebrity, if not to help others?’ ”
They toured the world with “From the Diary of Anne Frank,” giving large benefit performances to raise money for UNICEF. But they were limited by her schedule that included frequent trips to Africa for the organization.
“I visited her home in Switzerland a number of times,” Thomas said. “I had a chance to see what she was like as a muchloved citizen of a small Swiss village, and how utterly charming and generous and kind she was to people.”
His background, growing up in Los Angeles among actors and music people, made it possible for him and Hepburn to “talk about a lot of things. That was fun — what we could joke about.”
Undoubtedly, those memories vividly returned when Hepburn died of cancer in 1993. But “From the Diary of Anne Frank” did not disappear. Thomas persuaded Debra Winger to do the narration and brought her to San Francisco in 1995 after he was named the Symphony’s musical director and conductor. But it was at that moment the orchestra chose to go on strike, and Winger, idle for several days, departed without appearing onstage.
“Oh, that’s an old story,” Thomas said when reminded of it. “Debra has performed it around the world, and the piece has been performed in Israel and Japan. I forget how many different languages it has been done in.”
And now, his tribute to Anne Frank will finally play in his adopted hometown after Thomas has announced he is stepping down as Symphony director.