Li..l'tt" S.lLiger - Chandos

Italion Concerto. That the harpsichord,
then stil1 referred to as "the rare instrument",
was having a hard time against the
orchestra in the large ha11 was noted by
all reviewers, whereas the ltalian Concerto
and the encore Glgae from the partita in
Bb major received rave reviews.
The vear of 1943 also marked a new
departure in another sense for Se)biger.
Being of Jewish descent she had to flee to
Sweden. It was a dramatic escape, and so
was the prelude to it. On 24 September
(incidentally the birthday of King
Christian 10.1, she was playing an afternoon
chamber concert with Ejvin
Andersen, the flutist Poul Birkelund and
the oboist Mogens Steen Andreasen in the
sma11 concert hall of the Odd Fellow
Lodge. German soldiers were sitting in the
front row, but during the intermission, a
"stranger' entered the soloist's room and
asked her: 'Are you Mrs Selbiger? You
must leave for Sweden tonight, without
delay." After the concert there was much
excitement and despalr. Selbiger and her
husband went to Birkelund's house and
spent the night there. There was room for
her in a refugee boat that very night, but
she waived it in favour of another person,
because Selbiger wanted to take her husband
with her. The other person, the wife
of a musician, was shot right before they
managed to escape. When Selbiger and
her husband arrived at Snekkersten, the
harbour had just been occupied by
German troops. The couple were given
the green light on 8 October and Iay on
the bottom of a sma11 fishing boat during
transit. She carried poison. She had
recently received the tragic news that her
parent in Berlin had committed suicide
by taking poison when the risk of being
deported to a concentration camp became
imminent. The Moon was full, and
German floodlights swept across the
waters. She is convinced that the Cerman
must have let the boat pass, since they
managed to cross the Sound unscathed.
In Sweden
At first, the couple found their new life in
Sweden very difficult, but they eventually
managed to get to Stockholm. A friend,
Andrea (Molla) Ordlng, helped them get
new papers, and Selbiger had her
harpsichord sent to Stockholm. (Mo11a
Ording happened to be the sister of
"the Nont egian broadcasting voice' in
London, Arne Ording, who was a good
friend of King Haakon. He fled to
London on 7 June 1940 together with the
King, the Crown Prince and part of the
government.) Apart from working as a
music copier and teacher, Selbiger graduallv
gained contacts among musicians as well
as concert engagements, and a year after