Wir müssen lernen, in Fesseln zu tanzen

Leo Kestenberg was a leading figure in German Jewish intellectual life, who mind the European Enlightenment with Jewish mind . Awareness of the significance of his achievements in piano performance, music education, and educational policy is gradually fading, even though the impact of his reforms on music education in schools and extracurricular instrumental instruction, as well as on the international orientation of music pedagogy, remains evident to this day. As a student of Busoni and friend of Artur Schnabel, he seemed destined for a brilliant career as a pianist, yet as a socialist he devoted himself entirely to public education—first in the Social Democratic education committees and later, increasingly, as a Prussian civil servant—by working at the Freie Volksbühne Berlin and initiating a far-reaching reform of the old system of singing instruction in schools. The biography presented here is based on Kestenberg’s writings and includes his extensive correspondence and all documents from his estate. From this emerges a new appreciation of this artist and educator, educational politician and reformer, who, as a European intellectual, was connected to many artists and scholars of his time. After emigrating to Palestine in 1938, he became, for a second time, a reformer, teacher, and organizer who reestablished music education in Israel. His lasting impact on educational policy and the music scene in both Germany and Israel serves as an example of the profound significance of the Jewish Enlightenment spirit for the cultural and intellectual history of Europe.

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