Time's Echo

The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance

By: Jeremy Eichler

Narrated by: Jeremy Eichler, Sherrill Milnes

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES, NPR • WINNER OF THREE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS • Finalist for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction • A stirring account of how music bears witness to history and carries forward the memory of the wartime past • SUNDAY TIMES OF LONDON HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR

In 1785, when the great German poet Friedrich Schiller penned his immortal “Ode to Joy,” he crystallized the deepest hopes and dreams of the European Enlightenment for a new era of peace and freedom, a time when millions would be embraced as equals. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony then gave wing to Schiller’s words, but barely a century later these same words were claimed by Nazi propagandists and twisted by a barbarism so complete that it ruptured, as one philosopher put it, “the deep layer of solidarity among all who wear a human face.”

When it comes to how societies remember these increasingly distant dreams and catastrophes, we often think of history books, archives, documentaries, or memorials carved from stone. But in Time’s Echo, the award-winning critic and cultural historian Jeremy Eichler makes a passionate and revelatory case for the power of music as culture’s memory, an art form uniquely capable of carrying forward meaning from the past.

With a critic’s ear, a scholar’s erudition, and a novelist’s eye for detail, Eichler shows how four towering composers—Richard Strauss, Arnold Schoenberg, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Benjamin Britten—lived through the era of the Second World War and the Holocaust and later transformed their experiences into deeply moving, transcendent works of music, scores that echo lost time. Summoning the supporting testimony of writers, poets, philosophers, musicians, and everyday citizens, Eichler reveals how the essence of an entire epoch has been inscribed in these sounds and stories. Along the way, he visits key locations central to the music’s creation, from the ruins of Coventry Cathedral to the site of the Babi Yar ravine in Kyiv.

As the living memory of the Second World War fades, Time’s Echo proposes new ways of listening to history, and learning to hear between its notes the resonances of what another era has written, heard, dreamed, hoped, and mourned. A lyrical narrative full of insight and compassion, this book deepens how we think about the legacies of war, the presence of the past, and the renewed promise of art for our lives today.

©2023 Jeremy Eichler (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

*Winner of Three National Jewish Book Awards: the Everett Fam­i­ly Foun­da­tion Book of the Year, the His­to­ry Ger­rard and Ella Berman Memo­r­i­al Award, and the Holo­caust Award in Mem­o­ry of Ernest W. Michel • Listed as one of The New York Times Book Review's 100 Notable Books of 2023 and one of NPR's Books We Love • "History Book of the Year," Sunday Times of London*

"We were stunned by [Time's Echo's] profundity, its masterful structure, its beautiful shimmering sentences. It is evidently a life’s work, a labor of love, and a testimony to the pain of war. It has an utterly unique voice, and it warrants being classed as a masterpiece of nonfiction writing.”—Shortlist citation, Jury of the Baillie Gifford Prize

"The outstanding music book of this and several years."—Times Literary Supplement

"On the face of it, this is a book about a handful of composers whose lives were changed beyond measure by the horrors of the Holocaust and the Second World War... But this book is also about landscape, from the mountains of Bavaria to the gates of Buchenwald, as well as music's extraordinary power to bridge the gap between past and present. It's written with a rare sensitivity to language and memory, reminiscent of WG Sebald...The result is not just a great book about the legacy of the Second World War, but a work of extraordinary power, beauty and human feeling." —"History Book of the Year," The Sunday Times of London

Wonderful,

Wonderful and enlightening book read so well by the author. Studies history of this important era from the unique perspective of music.

Beautifully written. Beautifully read

A must read/listen for anybody interested in WWII history or classical music, adding another layer of depth and heart to music

Wonderful and inspiring

Loved the scholarly, intellectual aspect of the presentation.
What’s more Eichier’s voice is plausible and
Impressive.
There is both a realism and pathos to the story.