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MY RED BOOTS for mixed chorus: world premiere recording performed by members of the Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir - Virtual Singers.

MY RED BOOTS for mixed chorus: world premiere recording performed by members of the Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir - Virtual Singers


MY RED BOOTS is based on one of only several poems written by my mother, Jewish Holocaust survivor Rita Hoffman of blessed memory (1927–2018). Both she and my late father, Josef Hoffman, were Jewish Holocaust Survivors. My mother’s brief memoirs are housed at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.


I have been trying to hear music for MY RED BOOTS for decades. It is fitting that my muse cooperated with me when I was seeking a text to set to music for the Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir’s 2024 call for scores, because global anti-Semitism has not been this rampant since the 1930s. During the events of October 7, 2023 in Israel, "Babies were taken from their mother's arms" just as in my mother's poem. Those with a conscience in the world must keep this evil from "happening again, and again, and again!"


MY RED BOOTS


My red boots and ruby earrings were snatched away; they were so dear to me.

My youth and family, too, were snatched away in the same way.

I’ll never forget that day.

I’m told now to put it out of my mind.

I find that task very hard.


I can still hear the dogs howling,

the Gestapo rounding us up for apel,*

those dreadful words, “Mach schnell!”**

How can I not remember when my loved ones perished for no reason?

Babies were taken from their mother's arms!

Heaven and earth should have shaken from their cries and have been heard afar.


Yet the world stood still.

Not a word was spoken to try to help us.

I can’t forget the helplessness that we endured.

Listen!

Maybe you will hear them, too.

If we do this, we can keep evil from happening again, and again, and again!


—Rita Hoffman

(1927–2018)


* Romanian for “call” (roll call).

** German for “make haste!”


Words: © Copyright 1989 by The Estate of Rita Hoffman.

All rights reserved. Used by permission.


Music: © Copyright 2024 by Stanley M. Hoffman. www.stanleymhoffman.com All rights reserved.


World premiere recording by members of the Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir - Virtual Singers

Facebook: @Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir - Virtual Singers Instagram: @RMCCVC

YouTube: @rockymountainchamberchoir

Special thanks to their Artistic Director, Clifford W. King, and to the members of the RMCC who made this recording possible.


Follow the next URL to view a scrolling score music video for MY RED BOOTS on my YouTube channel which I created to encourage more live performances.

This video features the world premiere recording by members of the Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir - Virtual Singers. I deleted the YouTube video that used synthesized voices.


MY RED BOOTS is available for licensing from me, and for sale from Sheet Music Plus. Follow the next URL to visit the distributor's product page for this title.

I have submitted this title to a music publisher for consideration. I will create an update if it is accepted for publication.


Follow the next URL to view a watermarked PDF score of MY RED BOOTS on my website.


Follow the next URL to here to listen to the world premiere recording of MY RED BOOTS performed by members of the Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir - Virtual Singers on my website.


I hope you find listening to MY RED BOOTS a meaningful experience. Thank you for your time and attention.


Stanley M. Hoffman, PhD


Link to biography published in Grove Music Online (The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Oxford University Press).


The "Stanley M. Hoffman Special Collection" was established at The Berklee College of Music Library Archive in January 2025. It will take whatever time is necessary for the archive to catalog my collection and make it available to the public.






 
 
 
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