In the summer of 1945, Allied leaders President Harry S. Truman, Britain's Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin convened in Potsdam, Germany, to discuss peace after World War II.
The 17-day conference was, at times, contentious, but music became a unifier.
The Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Virginia Arts Festival will perform "Finding Peace at Potsdam" on Friday and Saturday in Norfolk and Newport News.
The production combines story and song, Truman's love of classical music, his inclusion of military musicians, including the famed pianist Eugene List, and how it ties into Hampton Roads history.
VSO music director Eric Jacobsen recently chatted with Wayla Chambo, WHRO's program director of Classical WHRO-FM, about the project.
Their interview was edited for time and clarity:
Wayla Chambo: Thanks for coming in to talk about "Finding Peace at Potsdam." So this sounds like more than just a concert.
Eric Jacobsen: I'm so glad to talk about this project because it is truly something that I feel in my heart and want to present to friends and the community. I read the David McCullough book about President Harry S. Truman, and I got pretty obsessed with this human as a human.
I'm sure everyone knows this, but Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected to his fourth term as president and died about two months into that term. Truman, who was never supposed to be vice president, let alone president, took over. Truman is supposed to go to Potsdam and negotiate the peace and the future of our world with Stalin and Churchill, two humans that he's never been in the same room with and doesn't know anything about.
He goes to Potsdam, and he's sitting around the table with these heads of state, trying to figure things out. He has this great quote that he writes back to his wife in the States and says, "Well, Churchill, he just talks all day long, but says absolutely nothing and I don't understand what he's saying. And, "Oh, and Stalin, well, he only grunts. But I know everything that he's saying."
Now, the thing that really captured me is when Truman was in Potsdam, he brought sheet music with him. He was a pianist, an amateur pianist. He was never great, but he brought music because he just needed it with him. He realized at some point during this three-week conference that nothing was happening, and so he said, "I'm gonna put on a concert." He flew in two musicians, an American sergeant and a private who were based in Paris at that time, and they carried this 9-foot piano onto the veranda after a day of meetings.
They played some music that was so powerful at that time; they played Kreisler, they played the music of Chopin. And supposedly, the only time that Stalin showed any emotion in this moment of three weeks was when the pianist played a little Tchaikovsky and Stalin jumps up and cheers the musicians. And all of a sudden, maybe there's a breakthrough: The idea that music could possibly play a role in connecting people is what really made me think this is something so special. Also, the two musicians were Jewish musicians, and they did play Kreisler, a Jewish composer, and there's something incredibly powerful about that in the summer of 1945.
I should say, very interestingly, American officials didn't really fly the president. Truman took a train from D.C. to Norfolk and sailed to Belgium, and on the return, they came back through Norfolk.
On that journey home, he had given the OK for both bombs to be dropped in Japan. While he was at sea, where he had his piano, where he played music, where he listened to music, both bombs dropped in Japan. And it really made for a moment in history that was destined to sort of set the future of this world. And I just can't think of a more powerful time where music played an integral role.
Chambo: OK, so will a narrator or actors be on the stage with the orchestra?
Jacobsen: We have three actors and they will be interacting with musicians, but also really playing the roles of the people of that time. I'll tell you a little bit of a hint, just a little bit of a little bit of comic relief. … As noted before, Stalin was said to mostly only grunt. And there might be one musician on stage who grunts as Stalin throughout the play. And the Virginia Symphony chorus is performing as well.
Chambo: So, Tchaikovsky, Kreisler, any other hints about what's in there?
Jacobsen: Chopin. Chopin was definitely one of Truman's favorite composers, as well as Beethoven and Mozart. I mean, he was, he really loved playing the piano. When he was growing up, he didn't have a record player. So it was the entertainment was, "Hey, I'll play some music." And I think he carried that into his existence as a human throughout his life.
The Friday show will be at Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul's Blvd. in Norfolk; Saturday, Ferguson Center for the Arts, 1 Avenue of the Arts, Newport News. Visit vafest.org for tickets and more information.