20th-century German Jews

Günter_Raphael

Günter Raphael (30 April 1903 – 19 October 1960) was a German composer. Born in Berlin, Raphael was the grandson of composer Albert Becker. His first symphony was premiered by Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1926 in Leipzig with the Gewandhaus Orchestra. From 1926 to 1934 he taught in Leipzig, but illness and the rise of Fascism – he was declared a "half-Jew" – made this difficult for him. He received the Franz Liszt Award for composition in 1948. His students include Kurt Hessenberg.
His compositions include five symphonies, concertos for violin and for organ, six string quartets, numerous solos and duos for strings and winds with and without piano of which several have been recorded. Raphael also composed organ, piano and choral works. He was also responsible for arranging a performance version of Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto in A major (1865) when its piano and cello score was discovered in 1918.He was also an editor of classical and baroque scores for Breitkopf and Härtel, preparing editions of, for example, flute sonatas by Frederick the Great and works by Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach (some of these can be found in the Cornell University Library).

Manfred_Noa

Manfred Noa (22 March 1893 – 5 December 1930) was a German film director. Noa was described by Vilma Bánky, who he directed twice, as her "favourite director". Noa's 1924 film Helena has been called his "masterpiece" although it was so expensive that it seriously damaged the finances of Bavaria Film.Noa is perhaps best known today for his 1922 film Nathan the Wise, an adaptation of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's 1779 play of the same title, which made a plea for religious tolerance. He was the third husband of the actress Eva May, who was the daughter of his fellow director Joe May. Noa died 5 December 1930 in Berlin of peritonitis.

Lina_Abarbanell

Lina Abarbanell (January 3, 1879 – January 6, 1963) was an American soprano who performed in grand and light opera and musical comedy. She made her debut at fourteen as Adele in the operetta DIE FLEDERMAUS, at the Royal Opera House in Berlin. She was first introduced to American theatergoers in 1905 as the soubrette in the Josef Strauss operetta Frühlingsluft (Spring Air). Abarbanell made opera history later that year as Hänsel in The Met's debut production of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. Abarbanell spent the following near thirty years performing on Broadway and at venues across America. After her husband's death in 1934, Abarbanell left the stage, but remained active over virtually the remainder of her life as a Broadway casting director, producer, and stage director.

Hilla_von_Rebay

Hildegard Anna Augusta Elisabeth Freiin[1] Rebay von Ehrenwiesen, known as Baroness Hilla von Rebay or simply Hilla Rebay (31 May 1890 – 27 September 1967), was an abstract artist in the early 20th century and co-founder and first director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. She was a key figure in advising Solomon R. Guggenheim to collect abstract art, a collection that would later form the basis of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum collection. She was also influential in selecting Frank Lloyd Wright to design the current Guggenheim museum, which is now known as a modernist icon in New York City.

Paul_Bern

Paul Bern (born Paul Levy; December 3, 1889 – September 5, 1932) was a German-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he became the assistant to Irving Thalberg. He helped launch the career of Jean Harlow, whom he married in July 1932; two months later, he was found dead of a gunshot wound, leaving what appeared to be a suicide note. Various alternative theories of his death have been proposed. MGM writer and film producer Samuel Marx believed that he was killed by his ex-common-law wife Dorothy Millette, who jumped to her death from a ferry days afterward.