The only thing wrong with this compilation is that it is too short
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Menu There is no diplomatic solutionIsrael should declare three nos;
no to nuclear Iran, no to two-state solution, no to bi-national state
no to nuclear Iran, no to two-state solution, no to bi-national state
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Joachim
Cantor Zvee Aroni. I studied voice with him, briefly, when I was 13. He offered me a full scholarship and an ornate siddur I had admired if I continued.
“Zvee Aroni, a prominent cantor for Conservative Jewish congregations, died Tuesday at his daughter’s home in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 65 years old and lived in North Miami Beach.
The cause of death was an asthma attack, said Rabbi Max A. Lipschitz, head of the Beth Torah Congregation in North Miami Beach, where Cantor Aroni had served for the last 11 years.
Educated in Palestine, where he fought with the Jewish underground army against the British, Cantor Aroni studied with Prof. Samuel Kavetsky and had his first pulpit at the age of 18.
He later held pulpits at Temple Emeth-Beth Yehuda in Toronto, where he developed a notable boys’ choir, and at Congregation Shaarei Zedek in Manhattan, where he founded the Manhattan School for Cantors. He also held pulpits at the Yeshurun Synogogue in Tel Aviv, the Forest Hills Center in Queens and Temple Sholom in Philadelphia…”
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/10/obituaries/cantor-zvee-aroni-65-held-first-pulpit-at-18.html
“Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein …was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who became a pivotal figure in Russian culture when he founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He was the elder brother of Nikolai Rubinstein who founded the Moscow Conservatory.
As a pianist, Rubinstein ranks among the great 19th-century keyboard virtuosos. He became most famous for his series of historical recitals—seven enormous, consecutive concerts covering the history of piano music. Rubinstein played this series throughout Russia and Eastern Europe and in the United States when he toured there.
Although best remembered as a pianist and educator (most notably in the latter as the composition teacher of Tchaikovsky), Rubinstein was also a prolific composer throughout much of his life. He wrote 20 operas, the best known of which is The Demon. He composed many other works, including five piano concertos, six symphonies and many solo piano works along with a substantial output of works for chamber ensemble.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Rubinstein
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Rubinstein
Berthe Marx. 1859-1925. pianist, accompanist and soloist for the greatest composer of short violin virtuoso show pieces, Pablo de Sarasate. On one tour she performed 250 pieces from memory. She is also listed in the “Jewish Encyclopedia – A descriptive record of the History.” I found the excerpt in Google Books when, on a whim, I googled, “Sarasate Jewish.” .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthe_Marx
Composers, Arnold Schoenberg, Ernest Bloch, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Jacque Offenbach were Jewish. Wagner wrote his hateful screed against Jews in Music after he was enraged that Offenbach, Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn were more popular in Paris than his grim ponderous works, pardon me, werkes (krauts don’t know how to spell, you know.)
@ Edgar G.:
Interesting. My maternal great uncle made this recording.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCFS6oFBFYM
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Epstein and his brother just happened to be first cousins of my sister-in-law. As a supposed music expert, I was brought over to Liverpool before the Beatles became famous, to listen to one of their performances. I couldn’t stand it…The huge amplifiers got me by the throat and chest and I couldn’t breath. I had to climb up the steps to get some respite and fresh air….. Whoood a thunk it….!!
With all those wonderful musicians you have neglected to dig into the impressive list of Chazonim. I was fortunate that one came to live in Dublin, and “officiated” at the Greenville Hall shool a half-block away. His son and I were bosom buddies all through chaidar, school and college. His father, the Greenville Hall Chazan, was the #1 soloist in the choir where Gershon Siroto was the Chazan in the Great Synagogue of Warsaw. Beside him at #2, was Moishe Koussevitzky.
****A little event in the Chazan’s life. My uncle and I were listening to him sing Kol Nidre, one Yom Kipur Eve, and two rows behind me was a disturbance.. It was his father who became ill, was carried across the road to the Chazan’s house, and 5-6 mins later a man came back to tell us that he had died.
The chazan’s voice didn’t even falter and he performed above even his most immaculate rendering. His grandson, in America, a Rabbi and Cantor, wrote to me year or so ago asking if I recalled this event, which had gone into family lore, and he had no read details.
Something to remember all my life.****
Gershon Siroto’s grand-niece -also in Dublin- was my girlfriend for several years. She married one of my medical friends and died only last year (Feb) in London. The few Siroto records I have are carefully tucked away. If anyone remembers the popular English singer of the last mid century Lee Laurence, (Leon Siroto) he was The Chazan’s nephew.
Jewish singers: Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Peter Yarrow, Paul Simon, Phil Ochs, Malvina Reynolds, Carly Simon, Al Jolson, Beverly Sills, Richard Tucker, Joseph Schmidt – my father’s favorite). Jan Peerce, (of the ones whose names I know.)
“Brian Samuel Epstein (/??psta?n/;[1] 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from January 1962 until his death. He was referred to as the “fifth Beatle” due to his role in the group’s business affairs, image and rise to global fame…”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Epstein#:~:text=Brian%20Samuel%20Epstein%20(%2F%CB%88%C9%9B,January%201962%20until%20his%20death.
“Remembering the Jewish refugee who composed the All India Radio signature tune”
https://qz.com/india/287319/remembering-the-jewish-refugee-who-composed-the-all-india-radio-caller-tune/
The Spielberg Jewish Film Archive – Eddie Cantor in Israel for the United Jewish Appeal, 1950. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qNCVYCXeaE
“Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz;[1][2] January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American “illustrated song” performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor, and songwriter.[3] Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, this “Apostle of Pep” was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife Ida and five daughters. Some of his hits include “Makin’ Whoopee,” “Ida (Sweet as Apple Cider),” “If You Knew Susie,” “Ma! He’s Makin’ Eyes at Me,” “Mandy,” “My Baby Just Cares for Me,” “Margie,” and “How Ya Gonna Keep ’em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree)?” He also wrote a few songs, including “Merrily We Roll Along”, the Merrie Melodies Warner Bros. cartoon theme.
His eye-rolling song-and-dance routines eventually led to his nickname, “Banjo Eyes.” In 1933, artist Frederick J. Garner caricatured Cantor with large round eyes resembling the drum-like pot of a banjo. Cantor’s eyes became his trademark, often exaggerated in illustrations, and leading to his appearance on Broadway in the musical Banjo Eyes (1941).
His charity and humanitarian work was extensive, and he helped to develop March of Dimes (and is credited with coining its name). He was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1956 for distinguished service to the film industry.” He was also one of the early presidents of the Screen Actor’s Guild and the Arab League boycotted him for his work raising support for Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Cantor
“Edgar Yipsel Harburg (born Isidore Hochberg; April 8, 1896 – March 5, 1981) was an American popular song lyricist and librettist who worked with many well-known composers. He wrote the lyrics to the standards “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (with Jay Gorney), “April in Paris”, and “It’s Only a Paper Moon”, as well as all of the songs for the film The Wizard of Oz, including “Over the Rainbow”.[1] He was known for the social commentary of his lyrics, as well as his liberal sensibilities. He championed racial and gender equality and union politics. He also was an ardent critic of religion.[2][3]…Harburg, the youngest of four surviving children (out of ten), was born Isidore Hochberg on the Lower East Side of New York City on April 8, 1896.[1][4] His parents, Lewis Hochberg and Mary Ricing,[5] were Yiddish-speaking[4] Orthodox Jews[6] who had emigrated from Russia.[7]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yip_Harburg
“Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music,[2] who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz (lyrics by Yip Harburg), including “Over the Rainbow”, Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the Great American Songbook. “Over the Rainbow” was voted the 20th century’s No. 1 song by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).[3][4]” Jewish, son of a cantor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Arlen
“Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershowitz, December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 20th century.[1]
With George he wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows, featuring songs such as “I Got Rhythm”, “Embraceable You”, “The Man I Love” and “Someone to Watch Over Me”. He was also responsible, along with DuBose Heyward, for the libretto to George’s opera Porgy and Bess.
The success the Gershwin brothers had with their collaborative works has often overshadowed the creative role that Ira played. His mastery of songwriting continued, however, after the early death of George. He wrote additional hit songs with composers Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill, Harry Warren and Harold Arlen.
His critically acclaimed 1959 book Lyrics on Several Occasions, an amalgam of autobiography and annotated anthology, is an important source for studying the art of the lyricist in the golden age of American popular song.[2]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Gershwin
“Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (/?hæm?rsta?n/; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for vocalists and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs.
He is best known for his collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers, as the duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, whose musicals include Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. Described by Stephen Sondheim as an “experimental playwright,”[1] Hammerstein helped bring the American musical to new maturity by popularizing musicals that focused on stories and character rather than the lighthearted entertainment that the musical had been known for beforehand.
He also collaborated with Jerome Kern (with whom he wrote Show Boat), Vincent Youmans, Rudolf Friml, Richard A. Whiting, and Sigmund Romberg.”HIs father was Jewish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Hammerstein_II
“Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American composer, known largely for his work in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most significant American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant impact on popular music.
He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart, with whom he wrote several musicals throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including Pal Joey, A Connecticut Yankee, On Your Toes and Babes in Arms, and Oscar Hammerstein II, with whom he wrote musicals through the 1940s and 1950s such as Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. His collaborations with Hammerstein, in particular, are celebrated for bringing the Broadway musical to a new maturity by telling stories that were focused around characters and drama rather than the light-hearted entertainment that the genre was known for beforehand.
Rodgers was the first person to win what is considered the top American entertainment awards in television, recording, movies, and Broadway – an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award — now known collectively as an EGOT.[1] In addition, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, making him one of only two people to receive all five awards (Marvin Hamlisch is the other).[2] In 1978, Rodgers was awarded The Kennedy Center Honors for his lifetime achievement in the arts.[3]” Geman Jewish-American
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rodgers
Marvin Hamlisch is Jewish.
“Hamlisch is one of only 15 people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. This collection of all four is referred to as an “EGOT”. He is one of only two people to have won those four prizes and a Pulitzer Prize (Richard Rodgers is the other).[28] He is one of ten people to win three or more Oscars in one night and the only one other than a director or screenwriter to do so. Hamlisch also won two Golden Globes. He earned ten Golden Globe Award nominations, winning twice for Best Original Song, with “Life Is What You Make It” in 1972 and “The Way We Were” in 1974.[29]
He shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1976 with Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, and Edward Kleban for his musical contribution to the original Broadway production of A Chorus Line.[6] Hamlisch received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 at the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent, Belgium. He was also inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2008.[30] In 2008, he appeared as a judge in the Canadian reality series Triple Sensation which aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The show was aimed to provide a training bursary to a talented young man or woman with the potential to be a leader in song, dance, and acting.[31][32] In 2008, Hamlisch was also inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.[33]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Hamlisch
How about that. George Gerswhin was LItvak on his mother’s side. He’s not in any of the lists of famous LItvaks, either. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gershwin
Jerome Kern was Jewish. “Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as “Ol’ Man River”, “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”, “A Fine Romance”, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”, “The Song Is You”, “All the Things You Are”, “The Way You Look Tonight”, “Long Ago (and Far Away)” and “Who?”. He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg.
A native New Yorker, Kern created dozens of Broadway musicals and Hollywood films in a career that lasted for more than four decades. His musical innovations, such as 4/4 dance rhythms and the employment of syncopation and jazz progressions, built on, rather than rejected, earlier musical theatre tradition. He and his collaborators also employed his melodies to further the action or develop characterization to a greater extent than in the other musicals of his day, creating the model for later musicals. Although dozens of Kern’s musicals and musical films were hits, only Show Boat is now regularly revived. Songs from his other shows, however, are still frequently performed and adapted. Many of Kern’s songs have been adapted by jazz musicians to become standard tunes…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Kern
Emile Berliner was Jewish. “Emile Berliner (May 20, 1851 – August 3, 1929), originally Emil Berliner, was an American inventor. He is best known for inventing the vertical-cut flat disc record (called a “gramophone record” in British and American English) used with a phonograph. He founded the United States Gramophone Company in 1894,[1] The Gramophone Company in London, England, in 1897, Deutsche Grammophon in Hanover, Germany, in 1898, Berliner Gram-o-phone Company of Canada in Montreal in 1899 (chartered in 1904), and Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901 with Eldridge Johnson…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_Berliner
Erno Rappee, Hungarian Jewish but born in Estonia (my grandmother’s cousin):
“Ernö Rapée (or Erno Rapee) (4 June 1891 – 26 June 1945) was an Estonian-born American symphonic conductor in the first half of the 20th Century whose prolific career spanned both classical and popular music. His most famous tenure was as the head conductor of the Radio City Symphony Orchestra, the resident orchestra of the Radio City Music Hall, whose music was also heard by millions over the air.
A virtuoso pianist, Rapée is also remembered for popular songs that he wrote in the late 1920s as photoplay music for silent films. When not conducting live orchestras, he supervised film scores for sound pictures, compiling a substantial list of films on which he worked as composer, arranger or musical director.
Contents
1 Biography
2 Compositions
3 Film music
4 Publications
5 Selected filmography
6 External links
Biography
Rapée was born in Narva, Estonia and later on moved to Budapest, Hungary where he studied as a pianist and later conductor at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music. Later, he was assistant conductor to Ernst von Schuch in Dresden. As a composer, his first piano concerto was played by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Vienna, and after a tour of America as a guest conductor, began performing at the Rialto Theater in New York as assistant to Hugo Riesenfeld, where he began composing and conducting for silent films.
Following positions at the Rialto and Rivoli theaters, he was hired by Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel as the musical director of the Capitol Theatre’s 77-member orchestra in New York. It was at the Capitol that Rapée made his most famous classical arrangement of Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 13. While at the Capitol, he pioneered orchestral radio broadcasts over station WEAF as part of the Roxy’s Gang programs. He also engaged Eugene Ormandy as the Capitol’s concertmaster and assistant conductor. The Capitol orchestra made a number of commercial recordings under Rapée’s direction in 1923-24 for the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company.
Rapée’s next move was to Philadelphia, where he conducted an orchestra of 68 at the Fox Theatre. Percy Grainger was one of his guest artists during this engagement. After his tenure at the Fox, Rapée went on to international success in Berlin with an orchestra of 85 at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo. While there he was invited to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert. Later he appeared as conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic and other European orchestras.
In 1926, he returned to America after notable European successes. He began an engagement at the Roxy Theatre in New York, opening the theater in March 1927, as music director of its 110-player Roxy Symphony Orchestra. (At the time this was world’s largest permanent orchestra, outnumbering the New York Philharmonic by three musicians). Millions of listeners heard his symphonic concerts over the air on Sunday afternoon during The Roxy Hour radio broadcasts, and he also conducted for the General Motors Concerts.
Finally, in 1932, Rapée reached the apex of his career as the musical director and head conductor of the symphony orchestra at Roxy Rothafel’s new Radio City Music Hall, a position Rapée held until his death in New York City, New York, from a heart attack on June 26, 1945.
Compositions
During his years conducting for silent films on Broadway, Rapée arranged and composed a bulk of his library. In 1923, Robbins-Engel Music began publishing the music of Rapée and his associates under the banner of the “Capitol Photoplay Series”. Under their “Gold Seal” series (carefully selected pieces chosen to be printed on high-quality paper), his song “When Love Comes Stealing” was published the same year. Five years later, it became the theme song of the Paul Leni film, The Man Who Laughs.
Film music
Collaborating with Dr. William Axt, Rapée co-wrote an eminent collection of photoplay music, which included a series of three Agitatos, Appassionato No. 1, Debutante, Frozen North, Screening Preludes 1 and 2 and Tender Memories. Other pieces written solo included The Clown’s Carnival and Pollywog’s Frolic.
In 1926, Rapée collaborated with composer Lew Pollack on “Charmaine” for the film, What Price Glory? (1926), “Diane”, for the Fox Film production, Seventh Heaven (1927), and “Marion” for the Fox production 4 Devils (1928). Rapée and Pollack’s songs were covered by Mantovani, Frank Sinatra, Jim Reeves and numerous other artists, including 1960s hits for the Irish M-O-R group The Bachelors.
Publications
Rapée also wrote several music books that were first published in the 1920s. The following are still in print:
Encyclopedia of Music for Pictures, Belwin, NY, 1925. Reprinted in 1970 by the Arno Press. ISBN 0-405-01634-4
Motion Picture Moods for Pianists and Organists, G. Schirmer, NY, 1924. Reprinted in 1974 by the Arno Press. ISBN 0-405-01635-2
Selected filmography
Nero (1922)
The Iron Horse (1924), uncredited
A Waltz Dream (1925)
The Brothers Schellenberg (1926)
When She Starts, Look Out (1926)
The Prince and the Dancer (1926)
Whispering Winds (1929)
The Dance Goes On (1930)
The Right of Way (1931)
Conquer by the Clock (1942)”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ern%C3%B6_Rap%C3%A9e
Elmer Bernstein was Jewish.
“Elmer Bernstein (April 4, 1922 – August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his film scores. In a career that spanned more than five decades, he composed “some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history”, including over 150 original movie scores, as well as scores for nearly 80 television productions.[1] Examples of his widely popular and critically acclaimed works are scores to The Ten Commandments (1956), The Magnificent Seven (1960), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), The Great Escape (1963), The Rookies (1972–76), Animal House (1978), Airplane! (1980), Heavy Metal (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), The Black Cauldron (1985), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Wild Wild West (1999) and Far from Heaven (2002). Early in his career, he also scored the infamous camp classic Robot Monster…’
‘Bernstein won an Oscar for his score to Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) and was nominated for 14 Oscars in total. He also won two Golden Globe Awards, an Emmy Award, and was nominated for two Grammy Awards…’
‘…Bernstein wrote the theme songs or other music for more than 200 films and TV shows, including The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Ten Commandments (1956), True Grit, The Man with the Golden Arm, To Kill a Mockingbird, Robot Monster, Ghostbusters and the fanfare used in the National Geographic television specials.[6]’
‘His theme for The Magnificent Seven is also familiar to television viewers, as it was used in commercials for Marlboro cigarettes. Bernstein also provided the score to many of the short films of Ray and Charles Eames.’
‘In 1961 Bernstein co-founded Äva Records, an American record label based in Los Angeles together with Fred Astaire, Jackie Mills and Tommy Wolf.’
‘Broadway
In addition to his film music, Bernstein wrote the scores for two Broadway musicals, How Now, Dow Jones, with lyricist Carolyn Leigh, in 1967 and Merlin, with lyricist Don Black, in 1983.[7]’
‘One of Bernstein’s tunes has since gained a lasting place in U.S. college sports culture. In 1968, University of South Carolina football head coach Paul Dietzel wrote new lyrics to “Step to the Rear”, from How Now, Dow Jones. The South Carolina version of the tune, “The Fighting Gamecocks Lead the Way”, has been the school’s fight song ever since…”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Bernstein
Sebastien Zorn Said:
https://ingleshayday.com/features/four-centuries-of-violin-making/
https://www.jpost.com/magazine/features/did-jews-invent-the-violin
all his teachers were Jewish. Ignaz Moscheles was Jewish. “it was after hearing Moscheles play at Carlsbad that the boy Robert Schumann was fired to become a piano virtuoso himself.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Moscheles
He wrote a memoir. He knew Beethoven and Salieri among others.
Kurt Weill was Jewish. Gustav Mahler. The Cellist Mtslav Rostropovich was halachically Jewish. His mother was Russian Jewish. Janos Starker, Gregor Piatagovsky, were all Jewish. Three of the greatest cellists of the 20th century, of all time, actually.
Yuri Bashmet, the greatest violist in the world is Jewish. Maxim Vengerov, one of the greatest violinists in the world is Jewish. Both Russian Jewish.
I know a violist from Khazakhstan who studied with Bashmet. He said all his tgec
Erich Wolfgang Goldmark was an Austrian Jewish composer in Hollywood who wrote the scores for some of the most famous films of the 30s such as The Adventures of Robin Hood, Anthony Adverse, The Private LIves of Elizabeth and Essex, Prince and the Pauper, The Sea Hawk, The Sea Wolf, Kings Row, Captain Blood, and he arranged for Midsummer NIght’s Dream though the music is Mendelssohn’s work of the same name. Heifetz premiered and championed his violin concerto, which has since become part of the standard repetoire, and combines the themes of some of his most famous film scores.
Not a musician but I just learned that producer Joseph Papp had a Lithuainian Jewish mother and a Polish Jewish father who came to the US when it was all Russia. He’s not in any of the lists of famous LItvaks.
Many people don’t know that Henryk Wieniawski was Jewish
@ Michael S:
Yes, that’s what he was most famous for before “The Producers.” My favorite comedic bit of his is where, in the original film version of the Producers, Mostel proposes killing the actors to save themselves after the they oversold shares in what was supposed to be a guaranteed flop, “Springtime for Hitler,” that was so bad it became a hit, and, when Wilder exclaims, “We can’t kill the actors; actors are people, ” Mostel quips, “Oh, yeah, you ever eat with one?” I’m always reminded of this line when wealthy liberal Hollywood stars shoot their mouths off about politics.
My favorite film of his is the less well-known “Rhinoceros,” also with Gene Wilder an allegory about the rise of fascism that has never been more timely. Every so often, I post the last scene from youtube. It’s very moving, and as is usually the case, the score really helps as well. It’s a monologue by Gene Wilder, one of my favorites, and his greatest in film. He is the last human being in a world where everybody else has turned into raging mobs of rhinoceri.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzI2wy31K9s
Yes, that’s what he was most famous for before “The Producers.” My favorite is the less well-known “Rhinoceros,” also with Gene Wilder an allegory about the rise of fascism that has never been more timely. Every so often, I post the last scene from youtube. It’s very moving, and as is usually the case, the score really helps as well. It’s a monologue by Gene Wilder, one of my favorites, and his greatest in film. He is the last human being in a world where everybody else has turned into raging mobs of rhinoceri.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzI2wy31K9s
@ Sebastien Zorn:
HI, Sebastien.
Zero was indeed an actor. Probably his most famous stage performance was playing “Tevye” in Fiddler on the Roof, which had a very long run on Broadway. He got to sing plenty of pieces there, such as “If I were a rich man”.
Concerning the Holocaust article, there was a very dark side to Jewish musical talent, including the Nazis’ using Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz to musically “greet” the “shipments” of Hungarian Jews as they debarked from the trains on their way to their death.
Music can be beautiful, and politics is usually ugly. Mostel was blacklisted for a while by the House Unamerican Activities Committee. Nowadays, it is the Left that does most of the blacklisting.
short film starring Heifetz, Piatagorsky and Rubinstein, arguably the greatest violinist, cellist and pianist in the world at the time, All Jews. Heifetz had just returned from Israel. They have speaking lines, as well as playing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxpKz4CoLPc
His sister, Orli Shaham
Israeli violinist Gil Shaham in Japan – Sarasate, Zapateado (HQ)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzrjP6uq1oM
Leonard Bernstein in Beersheba, Israel, November 20, 1948
by Susan Gould
Leonard Bernstein made musical history over and over throughout his lifetime, but only once did he also indirectly bring about unanticipated military history, when a concert of his put fear of a country’s army into the armed forces of its enemy….https://leonardbernstein.com/about/conductor/historic-concerts/beersheba-1948
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSghX91xdPc
“JEWISH MUSICIANS IN HUNGARY”
“…Significant development of classical music in Hungary, including music education, did not begin until well into the second half of the nineteenth century… Jewish participation was significant in all Hungarian music institutions, as in other cultural fields. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the proportion of Jews at opera performances was so high that the political right-wing objected to state subsidy for the opera. Nevertheless, by 1888, the Jewish Gustav Mahler was serving as music director. Jews also participated actively in Opera House productions. One of the most popular singers in the company’s early history was the Jewish bass David Ney, and repetiteurs included Antal Dorati (Antal Deutsch, 1927-1929) and Georg Solti (1933-1939). Solti made his highly successful conducting debut here in March 1938 with Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. On the other hand, Dorati conducted concerts with the Opera orchestra – that is, with the Philharmonic Society – in 1932 and 1933.’
‘Jews also made up a significant proportion of teachers and students at the National Conservatoire as well as the Academy. Ferenc Weisz, who later as Franz Weisz was a leading composer and pianist in Holland (until he was deported to Terezín and subsequently murdered), undertook all his studies at the Conservatoire. At the Academy, teachers included the cellist David Popper (the son of a Prague chazzan) already in the 1880s. The Jewish pianist István Thomán was a favourite student of Liszt before becoming a teacher at the Academy. Among others, he taught Dohnányi and Bartók. Composer and chamber music tutor Leó Weiner, one of the most influential teachers in Hungary, was on the teaching staff from 1908. Jewish students at the Academy included conductors Antal Dorati, Fritz Reiner and Georg Solti, pianists Louis Kentner and Ilona Kabos and violinist Joseph Szigeti. Many Jewish musicians who trained at the National Conservatoire and at the Academy perished in the Holocaust.’
‘Jewish participation in cultural fields, as in other fields, was hampered by the numerus clausus law passed in 1920…The Jewish laws did not eliminate Jewish participation from Hungarian musical life. The database for Budapest concerts – in autumn 2012 under construction at the Hungarian Institute for Musicology – shows Jewish artists in evidence in public concerts. In 1939, distinguished pianists Ignaz Friedman, Lajos Heimlich Hernádi, and Annie Fischer and violinist Joseph Szigeti all performed on Budapest concert stages; Imre Ungár and Annie Fischer appeared in 1940. The Music Academy’s public concert stage continued to serve Jewish students and ex-students such as singer Vera Rózsa, composer Sándor Vándor, and pianist Jen? Deutsch. Annie Fischer performed at the Music Academy in 1941, and Imre Ungár appeared as late as 1943 and 1944 in the prestigious Pesti Vigadó concert hall, as did composer-pianist György Kósa (although the latter at the Scottish Mission). [The Scottish Mission, a Protestant group, had been active in Budapest since 1841. They opened their doors to everyone during the Jewish persecution. Their leader, Jane Marianne Haining was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz.] Gradually, however, Jewish artists were squeezed out of public concert life…”
http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/hungary/‘
@ Michael S:
Zero Mostel was an actor not a musician and I mentioned Elvis Presley 4th in the first post.
Here’s another, that it wouldn’t let me post for some reason. http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/hungary/?fbclid=IwAR1jrZ0Vg0fd53Y7xNGuFdsaxnQZ7BpHzOy847cv_DyD3VXrzVrUyM54ThI
@ Sebastien Zorn:
You left out Zero Mostel, a Galician Jew (and my cousin), and Elvis Presley, an American Jew
Sebastien Zorn Said:
Sebastien Zorn Said:
http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/hungary/
“…Significant development of classical music in Hungary, including music education, did not begin until well into the second half of the nineteenth century… Jewish participation was significant in all Hungarian music institutions, as in other cultural fields. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the proportion of Jews at opera performances was so high that the political right-wing objected to state subsidy for the opera. Nevertheless, by 1888, the Jewish Gustav Mahler was serving as music director. Jews also participated actively in Opera House productions. One of the most popular singers in the company’s early history was the Jewish bass David Ney, and repetiteurs included Antal Dorati (Antal Deutsch, 1927-1929) and Georg Solti (1933-1939). Solti made his highly successful conducting debut here in March 1938 with Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. On the other hand, Dorati conducted concerts with the Opera orchestra – that is, with the Philharmonic Society – in 1932 and 1933.’
‘Jews also made up a significant proportion of teachers and students at the National Conservatoire as well as the Academy. Ferenc Weisz, who later as Franz Weisz was a leading composer and pianist in Holland (until he was deported to Terezín and subsequently murdered), undertook all his studies at the Conservatoire. At the Academy, teachers included the cellist David Popper (the son of a Prague chazzan) already in the 1880s. The Jewish pianist István Thomán was a favourite student of Liszt before becoming a teacher at the Academy. Among others, he taught Dohnányi and Bartók. Composer and chamber music tutor Leó Weiner, one of the most influential teachers in Hungary, was on the teaching staff from 1908. Jewish students at the Academy included conductors Antal Dorati, Fritz Reiner and Georg Solti, pianists Louis Kentner and Ilona Kabos and violinist Joseph Szigeti. Many Jewish musicians who trained at the National Conservatoire and at the Academy perished in the Holocaust.’
‘Jewish participation in cultural fields, as in other fields, was hampered by the numerus clausus law passed in 1920…The Jewish laws did not eliminate Jewish participation from Hungarian musical life. The database for Budapest concerts – in autumn 2012 under construction at the Hungarian Institute for Musicology – shows Jewish artists in evidence in public concerts. In 1939, distinguished pianists Ignaz Friedman, Lajos Heimlich Hernádi, and Annie Fischer and violinist Joseph Szigeti all performed on Budapest concert stages; Imre Ungár and Annie Fischer appeared in 1940. The Music Academy’s public concert stage continued to serve Jewish students and ex-students such as singer Vera Rózsa, composer Sándor Vándor, and pianist Jen? Deutsch. Annie Fischer performed at the Music Academy in 1941, and Imre Ungár appeared as late as 1943 and 1944 in the prestigious Pesti Vigadó concert hall, as did composer-pianist György Kósa (although the latter at the Scottish Mission). [The Scottish Mission, a Protestant group, had been active in Budapest since 1841. They opened their doors to everyone during the Jewish persecution. Their leader, Jane Marianne Haining was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz.] Gradually, however, Jewish artists were squeezed out of public concert life…”
http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/hungary/‘
http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/hungary/‘
“…Significant development of classical music in Hungary, including music education, did not begin until well into the second half of the nineteenth century… Jewish participation was significant in all Hungarian music institutions, as in other cultural fields. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the proportion of Jews at opera performances was so high that the political right-wing objected to state subsidy for the opera. Nevertheless, by 1888, the Jewish Gustav Mahler was serving as music director. Jews also participated actively in Opera House productions. One of the most popular singers in the company’s early history was the Jewish bass David Ney, and repetiteurs included Antal Dorati (Antal Deutsch, 1927-1929) and Georg Solti (1933-1939). Solti made his highly successful conducting debut here in March 1938 with Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. On the other hand, Dorati conducted concerts with the Opera orchestra – that is, with the Philharmonic Society – in 1932 and 1933.’
‘Jews also made up a significant proportion of teachers and students at the National Conservatoire as well as the Academy. Ferenc Weisz, who later as Franz Weisz was a leading composer and pianist in Holland (until he was deported to Terezín and subsequently murdered), undertook all his studies at the Conservatoire. At the Academy, teachers included the cellist David Popper (the son of a Prague chazzan) already in the 1880s. The Jewish pianist István Thomán was a favourite student of Liszt before becoming a teacher at the Academy. Among others, he taught Dohnányi and Bartók. Composer and chamber music tutor Leó Weiner, one of the most influential teachers in Hungary, was on the teaching staff from 1908. Jewish students at the Academy included conductors Antal Dorati, Fritz Reiner and Georg Solti, pianists Louis Kentner and Ilona Kabos and violinist Joseph Szigeti. Many Jewish musicians who trained at the National Conservatoire and at the Academy perished in the Holocaust.’
‘Jewish participation in cultural fields, as in other fields, was hampered by the numerus clausus law passed in 1920…The Jewish laws did not eliminate Jewish participation from Hungarian musical life. The database for Budapest concerts – in autumn 2012 under construction at the Hungarian Institute for Musicology – shows Jewish artists in evidence in public concerts. In 1939, distinguished pianists Ignaz Friedman, Lajos Heimlich Hernádi, and Annie Fischer and violinist Joseph Szigeti all performed on Budapest concert stages; Imre Ungár and Annie Fischer appeared in 1940. The Music Academy’s public concert stage continued to serve Jewish students and ex-students such as singer Vera Rózsa, composer Sándor Vándor, and pianist Jen? Deutsch. Annie Fischer performed at the Music Academy in 1941, and Imre Ungár appeared as late as 1943 and 1944 in the prestigious Pesti Vigadó concert hall, as did composer-pianist György Kósa (although the latter at the Scottish Mission). [The Scottish Mission, a Protestant group, had been active in Budapest since 1841. They opened their doors to everyone during the Jewish persecution. Their leader, Jane Marianne Haining was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz.] Gradually, however, Jewish artists were squeezed out of public concert life…”
http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/hungary/‘
https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/music/12568/
Abridged list of LItvaks who have made their mark in music:
Jascha Heifetz, Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Elvis Presley, Al Jolson, Pink (Aleca Moore) , Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Leopold Godowsky, Itamar Golan, Paul Zukofsky.
Hungarian Jews:
Composers
Pál Ábrahám (Paul Abraham)
Károly Goldmark
Gábor Darvas
André Hajdu,composer, educator
Imre Kálmán (Emmerich Kálmán)
György Kurtág (half Jewish)
Sándor Kuti, composer
György Ligeti
Miklós Rózsa, composer
Rezs? Seress
Sándor Vándor, composer, educator
László Weiner, composer
Leó Weiner, composer
Conductors
Ádám Fischer
Ivan Fischer
Ferenc Fricsay (half Jewish through mother)
György Justus, composer, musicologist, choir master
István Kertész
Jen? Ormándy (Eugene Ormandy)
Fritz Reiner
Sir Georg Solti
György Széll (George Szell)
Musicians
Pál Budai, pianist, composer
Ádám Fischer, conductor
Peter Frankl, pianist
Endre Granat, violinist
István Kertész, conductor
Ervin Nyiregyházi, pianist[55] (half Jewish through mother)
György Pauk, violinist
Tommy Ramone, drummer for The Ramones (born Erdélyi Tamás)
János Sándor, conductor
Ervin Schiffer, violist
György Schiffer, cellist
Georg Solti, conductor
Performers of music
Gitta Alpár – voice, soprano & actress
Geza Anda- piano (half Jewish)
Ilona Fehér – violin
Annie Fischer – piano
Joseph Joachim – violin
Endre Granat – violin
Klara Korda – violin
István Nádas – piano
György Pauk – violin
László Polgár (bass) – voice, bass
Ede Reményi – violin
Márk Rózsavölgyi – violin
András Schiff – piano
János Starker – violoncello
Mihály Székely – voice, bass
Joseph Szigeti – violin
Russian Jewish musicians:
usicians
Joseph Achron, composer
Modest Altschuler, cellist, conductor, and composer[1]
Lera Auerbach, composer/pianist[121]
Vladimir Ashkenazi, pianist (Jewish father)
Nina Brodskaya, singer
Yefim Bronfman, pianist
Simon Barere, pianist
Rudolf Barshai, conductor
Dimitri Bashkirow, pianist
Yuri Bashmet, violist[53]
Irving Berlin composer and lyricist[122]
Lazar Berman, pianist[123]
Mark Bernes, singer and actor
Matvei Blanter, composer, author of Katyusha
Shura Cherkassky, pianist
Bella Davidovich, pianist
Issay Dobrowen, pianist and composer
Isaak Dunayevsky, composer
Mischa Elman, violinist[124]
Mark Ermler, conductor[125]
Anthony Fedorov, singer, American Idol finalist[126]
Samuil Feinberg, composer[127][128]
Vladimir Feltsman, pianist
Veniamin Fleishman, composer
Yakov Flier, pianist
Yan Frenkel, composer
Grigory Frid, songwriter
Artur Friedheim, composer
Kirill Gerstein, pianist
Josef Gingold (1909–1995) violinist[129]
Grigory Ginsburg, pianist
Emil Gilels, pianist[130]
Grigory Ginzburg, conductor
Mark Gorenstein, conductor
Riva Gorohovskaya, pianist
Emil Gorovets, singer
Maria Grinberg, pianist
Natalia Gutman, cellist
Jascha Heifetz, violinist
Mordechai Hershman, chazzan
Jascha Horenstein, conductor
Vladimir Horowitz, pianist
Aleksey Igudesman, violinist
Oleg Kagan, violinist
Ilya Kaler, violinist
Tina Karol, singer[131]
Boris Khaykin, conductor[10]
Evgeny Kissin, pianist
Alexander Knaifel, composer
Leonid Kogan, violinist
Mikhail Kopelman, violinist
Yakov Kreizberg, conductor
Maya Kristalinskaya, singer
Josef Lhévinne, pianist
Alexander Lokshin, composer (Jewish father)
Arthur Lourié, composer
Oleg Maisenberg, pianist
Samuel Maykapar, composer/pianist[132]
Nathan Milstein, violinist
Shlomo Mintz, violinist
Boris Moiseev, dancer, showmaker
Benno Moiseiwitsch, pianist
Larisa Mondrus, singer
Alexander Mordukhovich, composer
Vadim Mulerman, singer
David Oistrakh, violinist
Igor Oistrakh, violinist (Jewish father)
Leo Ornstein, composer
Gregor Piatigorsky, cellist
Pokrass brothers, composers
Mikhael Rauchverger, pianist and composer
Alexander Rosenbaum, singer/songwriter
Anton Rubinstein, pianist/composer
Nikolai Rubinstein, pianist/composer
Samuil Samosud, conductor
Alfred Schnittke, composer (Jewish father)
Joseph Schillinger, composer, music theorist, and composition teacher
Daniil Shafran, cellist
Leo Sirota, pianist[133]
Regina Spektor, singer-songwriter and pianist[134]
Isaac Stern, violinist[135]
Yevgeny Sudbin, pianist[136][137]
Alexander Tsfasman, jazz pianist, composer, conductor, arranger
Sophie Tucker, singer
Leonid Utyosov, singer and actor
Aida Vedishcheva, singer
Maxim Vengerov, violinist
Alexander Veprik, composer
Maria Yudina, pianist
Yakov Zak, pianist
Inna Zhvanetskaya, composer
Efrem Zimbalist, Russian-born American violinist
Yuri Bashmet, Russian Violist, conductor