Pedotser and Guzikov

[Joshua Horowitz <horowitz...>]

To continue on... Matt Jaffey wrote in his email the following some time
ago:

Here's another comment by Zev made at a workshop in KlezKanada led by
Kurt Bjorling. Something like: "There is a strong possibility that a
large part of the European klezmer repertoire was composed by two
virtuoso musicians - the violinist Peducer and the tsimblist Gusikow".
That sounds pretty controversial. Does it make any sense?

My answer:
That's a bit mouthful. Assuming that this could be an overstatement
resulting from its being repeated 2nd hand, I want to say a coupla
things, because the more general theme here is the relationship of the
individual composer to the genre. 

The known facts about Pedotser (or Peducer or Aron Moyshe Kholodenko,
which was his name at birth):

He was born in Berdichev, lived 1828-1902. He had many students. Some of
his pieces were written down, probably by his students, but the person
credited by Beregovski for meticulously preserving Pedotsers notebooks
was Nokhem Noten, who was probably so-named precisely because he wrote
*noten* (which means musical notes in Yiddish). Nokhem lived around the
same time as Pedotser (1839-1905) and was born in Podoloy. He had works
sent to him by coach from Uman, amoung which were the works of Pedotser.
Possibly Pedotser had notated some of these himself. Nokhem led a
kapelye in Bershad. His son, Moyshe David (b. 1871) was one of
Beregovski's informants. Nokhem gave his notebooks to Beregovski. 
Beregovski published some of the pieces. The 19 Variations of Pedotser,
however, are yet to be published. They are written for solo violin and
are virtuosic-sounding and well written, if not a bit schematically
conceived - not great art by the standards set up by the heavyweight
classical variation composers of the 19th century, but certainly
interesting as a crossover between the folk and classical milieaus of
the 19th century. Believe it or not, one of his compositions was learned
by another important informant of Beregovski's, Gershfeld, whose
grandson(?), Joseph Viazovsky (St. Petersburg) learned it from him and
still plays it! Izaly Zemtsovski made a tape of him some years ago and
gave it to me. Pedotser also composed good-ol' melodies as well, but so
did:

Yossele Druker (also from Berdichev, otherwise known as Stempenyu ,
1822-1876) and his father: Sholem Druker (1798-1876). 

In summary, as regards Pedotser, it would be more accurate to say that a
good portion of Beregovski's finer wrought compositions came from the
above composers than to say that  *There is a strong possibility that a
large part of the EUROPEAN klezmer repertoire* was composed by them.

As for Guzikov, I would have to disappoint you there. While it's true
that Guzikov played Jewish and Gentile weddings BEFORE he was famous,
his longest concert stop on his monumental European tour was in Vienna,
where he stayed for many months, and by the time he was making this
tour, he was no longer playing weddings, just concerts. I've gathered as
much as I could find on him there (over 20 pages of newspaper reviews, 1
poster, poems, lithographs, Lexicon entries, etc.) Guzikov's fame rested
upon his ability to make virtuosic variations on light classical themes
on his primitive xylophone. There is only one actual known composition
of his - a setting of Shir Ha Milot. Pretty rudimentary, in F freygish,
published first by the Khazan, A.M. Bernstein (1866-1932). Otherwise,
his fame rested upon his outspinnings of Weber, Hummel, Hoffmeister,
Paganini, etc. Yes, his concert programmes did include *Fantasias and
Variations* on Polish, Russian, French, German and even Jewish folk
tunes, but these were generally played as encores or as the last pieces
on his program. He could not have penetrated the upper crust as he did
with these alone, but rather used them for effect. Before he played the
xylophone, his main instrument was the flute, prior to which he dabbled
with the tsimbl as a kid. 

Guzikov's fame as a legendary klezmer today has rested upon scant,
hopeful statements by Idelssohn and Beregovski, who tried to raise the
status of Jewish folk art by using Guzikov as a *klezmer who made it
big.* Neither Idelsohn nor Beregovski researched and analyzed what kind
of music Guzikov's fame rested upon, nor the basis of his fame. There is
no evidence whatsoever which points to Guzikov's music having entered
the general functional klezmer repertoire of the 19th century. 

What I find more interesting is the fact that both Pedotser and Guzikov
placed such importance on the Variation form. In light of the fact that
this was the quintessential form for showcasing virtuosic instrumental
talent in the classical world in the early 19th Century ( as opposed to
the earlier Rococco Sonatas, Baroque Ricercares and Fugues, and
Renaissance Pavannes and Preludiae) this is interesting in that it shows
early examples of Klezmer musicians with a foot in both worlds striving
to synthezise them musically, meaning that the chasm between folk and
classical was not as big as some historians and observers would like us
to believe, and that the sophistication we find in klezmer music today
has a longer history than ideological depictions suggest. 

There were other famous tsimblists as well, including Jankiel Cimbalist
(formerly Liebermann), and Mordko Fajerman (1810-1880) both of whom
played tsimbl, both of whom might also have played variations. On the
new Budowitz CD, I have recorded a Theme and Variations for the Tsimbl
which follows that cryptic lost *tradition* (Attention! Plug!)

So that's all for now. Josh

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