Leo Wurmser

Leo Wurmser was born on October 8, 1905, in Vienna to a Scottish mother and a Jewish father. A child prodigy on both piano and cello, he demonstrated exceptional musical talent from an early age. He studied piano, cello, and composition at the Vienna State Academy under Franz Schmidt, where his abilities were so remarkable that while still in his teens, he was appointed répétiteur and assistant conductor at the Dresden Opera House under the direction of Fritz Busch and Richard Strauss. He subsequently worked with other prominent conductors including Clemens Krauss and Bruno Walter.

During his student years in Vienna, Wurmser shared a flat with fellow student Gottfried Freiburg, the principal horn player of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The two frequently performed together in horn and piano recitals during their teenage years. Wurmser's abilities were recognized early - at just nineteen years old, he performed as continuo player in a Vienna Philharmonic radio concert on February 27, 1925. His association with the orchestra continued, and in November 1936, he performed as piano soloist with the Vienna Philharmonic in their 3rd Subscription Concert on the 14th and 15th, followed by a concert in Budapest on November 25th of the same year. Before emigrating, Wurmser had already worked at Covent Garden Opera House between 1934 and 1935, which would later prove crucial for obtaining a work permit in Britain.

The Nazi Annexation and Escape from Austria

The Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938 dramatically altered the course of Wurmser's life. As persecution of Jewish people intensified, his father was taken away, leaving Leo, his sister, and his Scottish mother to face the growing dangers alone. His mother, described as a resilient woman, desperately sought ways to send her son to safety in England, where he had contacts from his previous work.

After weeks of failed attempts to secure safe passage, a lawyer friend suggested a risky solution that would require considerable sacrifice from his mother. She would need to appear before a Nazi tribunal and swear under oath that Leo was her illegitimate son by a German soldier, effectively denying his Jewish parentage. After lengthy and frustrating negotiations, she managed to convince the authorities, and Leo was officially recognized under this false identity.

The Train Journey to Freedom

With arrangements finally in place, Wurmser departed Vienna in an emotionally charged farewell. He settled into his train compartment, placing his belongings on the overhead rack as the train headed toward Innsbruck. Initially, he felt relief as the tensions of recent months seemed to lift. However, this sense of security proved short-lived when the train reached the border town.

The compartment was empty except for Wurmser and a young woman sitting in the opposite corner, reading. She was a New York Times reporter returning home after covering the Nazi occupation of Austria. When a Nazi soldier entered demanding to see travel passes, the reporter calmly presented her documents. The soldier then turned to Wurmser, who nervously handed over his pass.

The soldier examined the document, then looked at Wurmser with suspicion. "Off the train," he commanded. "You're Jewish. We want to see you. Come on! Quickly!" As Wurmser protested and the soldier made threatening moves toward him, the reporter intervened dramatically. She jumped to her feet, screaming at the German soldier to leave Wurmser alone, threatening to accuse him of sexual assault if he continued. The unexpected confrontation caught the Nazi completely off guard. He backed toward the door as the reporter continued her protests, eventually disappearing down the corridor while muttering obscenities and claiming he would fetch his superior officer.

The train crossed the border into Italy without further incident. Years later, recounting this story to a colleague while recovering from a duodenal ulcer, Wurmser would say simply, "That lady saved my life." The escape came at a terrible personal cost – two days after his departure, his sister was taken away. He never saw her again.

Life in Britain and Internment

Upon reaching England, Wurmser found work as a répétiteur at Covent Garden under Thomas Beecham, drawing on his previous experience at the venue. He also worked as a répétiteur with the Covent Garden English Opera Company on their tours and took on teaching roles as a singing instructor at the Metropolitan Academy of Music and the Old Vic Dramatic School. Additionally, he worked as a private teacher and répétiteur while maintaining his position at Covent Garden Opera in 1938.

From May 1938, he found employment in the BBC's Censorship Department, expanding his work with British broadcasting. He also worked as an arranger and orchestrator for BBC feature programs, beginning his long association with the corporation that would define much of his career in Britain.

However, the outbreak of war in 1939 brought new challenges. Britain's initial welcome of refugees gave way to paranoia about potential spies among their ranks, fueled by media coverage that stoked national fears. The government embarked on a policy of mass internment of the very people they had previously welcomed. Approximately 73,500 German and Austrian refugees had fled to Britain, and around 30,000 were sent to internment camps indefinitely.

In September 1940, Wurmser was interned at Press Heath, near Whitchurch, and subsequently at Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man. The experience of internment proved devastating for the conductor. Denied both music and freedom, Wurmser withered at Press Heath, coming dangerously close to what fellow internee Walter Zander later described as "a complete breakdown."

The turning point came through an act of friendship and ingenuity. When Zander heard a chorus being sung in the camp and noticed Wurmser momentarily lifting from his despondent state, he seized the opportunity to help his colleague. Zander persuaded a guard to smuggle plain-paper exercise books from his daughter's school into the camp. He then painstakingly filled the pages of these blue books with hand-drawn musical staves, creating makeshift manuscript paper.

The gift had a transformative effect on Wurmser. Over the following week, he transcribed Beethoven's entire opera Fidelio from memory into the exercise books. When he completed the score, he gathered his friends to perform the opera's "Prisoners' Chorus" in front of the other internees. The lyrics took on profound meaning in their circumstances: "Oh, what joy, in the open air / Freely to breathe again! / Up here alone is life! / The dungeon is a grave."

According to Zander, while the performance was not technically the best he had ever witnessed, it was undoubtedly the most powerful. For Wurmser, it marked a crucial recovery. "He recovered visibly," Zander observed. This musical breakthrough led to further creative work - when the internees later staged an open-air performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Wurmser composed the musical accompaniment, which he later developed into a work for full orchestra.

The creative revival at Press Heath extended beyond Wurmser. Other men formed theater groups, professors gave lectures, and musicians like violinist Peter Schidlof performed in the evenings until darkness fell and the men retired to their tents, where they would listen for the sounds of hostile aircraft overhead. During his internment, Wurmser also played cello in string quartets with fellow musicians, maintaining his connection to chamber music even in these difficult circumstances. Press Heath was closed before the end of summer, and many internees, including Wurmser, were transferred to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man.

Hutchinson Camp, declared open on July 13, 1940, housed approximately 1,200 prisoners. By a remarkable twist of fate, the internees included some of the most prominent German and Austrian artists, musicians, and academics of the day. Among Wurmser's fellow prisoners were pioneering German Dadaist Kurt Schwitters, artists Ludwig Meidner, Paul Hamann, and Fred Uhlman, Oxford archaeologist Gerhard Bersu, author Heinrich Fraenkel, film director Fred Weiss, and many others.

The irony of the situation was particularly stark in cases like that of Austrian politician Emil Maurer, who had survived both Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps, only to be interned by his supposed liberators. Other inmates, like the young aspiring artist Peter Fleischmann, were barely out of school but found themselves among this community of distinguished men.

Post-War Career and Personal Characteristics

After the war ended, Wurmser joined the BBC in 1947 as assistant to Stanford Robinson, conductor of the BBC Theatre Orchestra. From 1942, he had worked as an arranger for the Theatre Orchestra, including arrangements of compositions by fellow refugee Walter Goehr. Following his release from internment, he had participated in chamber concerts, often performing alongside other refugees who had shared similar experiences. In 1944, his own composition, a clarinet quintet, was premiered at Morley College London.

He later became conductor of the BBC Midland Light Orchestra in Birmingham, continuing his work as both conductor and répétiteur, and also worked for music publishers Kalmus. He conducted several works by his former teacher Franz Schmidt in Britain, helping to introduce these compositions to British audiences. Colleagues considered him a very good musician who played the piano superbly, and he became an important champion of Franz Schmidt's works in Britain.

From early 1959, the BBC Midland Light Orchestra lacked a permanent conductor, with Wurmser sharing conducting duties with Jack Coles and Gilbert Vinter. When the orchestra underwent changes in 1960, reducing its size and adapting to a lighter, more modern style, Jack Coles was appointed as the permanent conductor.

Colleagues remembered Wurmser as having a slight build, pale complexion, and long, wavy hair that grew back from a broad forehead, with deep-set eyes. However, they noted he was extremely nervous and highly strung, particularly when performing as a pianist or conductor. He had several notable quirks, including a habit of frequently changing his jacket or cardigan during rehearsals, always keeping a spare draped over the conductor's rostrum.

Despite the trauma he had experienced, Wurmser maintained a subtle sense of humor. When discussing the possibility of performing Brahms' Horn Trio with a violinist and a colleague who also suffered from stomach ulcers, he suggested without a trace of a smile that they call themselves "the Duodenal Trio."

He also enjoyed recounting theatrical anecdotes, particularly one about Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, the English actor and theatre manager known for his lavish Shakespeare productions. According to Wurmser's favorite story, Tree was once asked by a young actor whether Hamlet slept with Ophelia, to which the veteran actor replied, "I don't know what happens on tour, boy, but in London, we all do."

Leo Wurmser remained in Britain until his death in the 1970s, having built a career that spanned conducting, teaching, and arranging despite the upheavals that had forced him from his homeland. His story represents both the personal cost of the Nazi persecution and the cultural contribution that refugee musicians made to British musical life during and after the Second World War.

Sources

Simon Parkin, The Island of Extraordinary Captives, November 2022, Charles Scribner's Sons

Frank Downes, From Around the Horn, 1998, Birmingham City Council. Department of Leisure and Community Services

Short biography of Leo Wurmser, Royal Academy of Music, accessed August 2025

Hansen, Jutta Raab. NS-verfolgte Musiker in England: Spuren deutscher und österreichischer Flüchtlinge in der britischen Musikkultur (Musik im "Dritten Reich" und im Exil) (German Edition) Turtleback – January 1, 1996.

Images courtesy BrüderBuschArchiv in the Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, https://www.max-reger-institut.de/de/bruederbuscharchiv/