Biography
Composer Karol Rathaus (1895, Ternopol, Galicia – 1954, Flushing, New York) belongs to the generation that came of age in the aftermath of WWI, the generation decimated by the Nazis and WWII. With his music performed by such luminaries as Wilhelm Furtwängler and Erich Kleiber, he was on his way to becoming one of its leading voices. The rise of Nazism interrupted Rathaus’s ascend to the musical Olympus – he had to leave Germany and after several years of wondering through Paris and London, he found a new permanent home in Queens, New York. Choosing safety and obscurity, he accepted the position of first composition professor at the recently formed small urban Queens College.
