The versatile composer Erwin Schulhoff was born on June 8, 1894, in Prague. The son of a German-Jewish merchant family, he showed musical talent from an early age. The renowned composer Antonín Dvořák is said to have recognized his abilities. His musical training began at the Prague Conservatory under Dvořák's tutelage and continued in Vienna, Leipzig, and Cologne, where he studied with teachers such as Claude Debussy and Max Reger.
During the First World War, Schulhoff served in the army and was wounded in combat. After the war, he initially lived and worked in Germany (Saarbrücken, Berlin, and Dresden) and later in Prague. His artistic development was influenced by jazz and Dadaism, which is reflected in his compositions.
When the Nazi regime came to power in Czechoslovakia, his music was banned and labeled "degenerate art," incompatible with Nazi ideology. His communist sympathies further complicated his search for employment. After the invasion of Prague, Schulhoff continued to give concerts under various pseudonyms and applied for Soviet citizenship. However, before he could leave the country, he was arrested by the Gestapo and deported in June 1941 to an internment camp in Wülzburg, Bavaria. He died there in 1942 at the age of 48 from tuberculosis.