2 Mar 2020

Daybreak Book Corner: One Hundred Miracles

11:45 am on 17 March 2020

 “Bach's music is order in chaos - it is beauty in ugliness.” Zuzana Růžička

One Hundred Miracles

One Hundred Miracles Photo: https://books.google.co.nz/books/about/One_Hundred_Miracles.html?id=ewy2ugEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Known as 'the first lady of the harpsichord', Zuzana Růžička's life was a joyful celebration of art and reisistance.

The Czech-born Jewish musician was widely credited as the first harpsichord soloist to record Bach's complete works for keyboard instruments.

The passionate and spirited music was the one constant in a turbulent life in which she survived the gas chambers, devastating disease, slave labour and in later life, political persecution in communist Czechoslovakia.

At the age of 12 Růžička was uprooted from her childhood home under the Nazi regime. From Terezín to Auschwitz, through separations and starvation, she carried with her a small slip of paper printed with her favourite piece of Bach's music which was to become her talisman.

'One Hundred Miracles' is Růžička's memoir assembled after her death in 2017 by Wendy Holden. An inspiring and spirited account of a life lived fully through music.

To win a copy of 'One Hundred Miracles', tell us the current name of the country in which Zuzana Růžička was born?

Email your answer to: daybreak@rnz.co.nz

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