RE: Yiddish musical theater books

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

Judy,

>There are very few works that provide _musical analysis_ as well as 
history
>of who wrote what title or show. There is a lot of work to be done and the
>history of Yiddish musical theater in America --a worthwhile project is
>awaiting someone.

Secunda really did this in his serialized biography in the Yiddish Forwards 
during the 1960's, but when his daughter in law, writer Victoria Secunda, 
reworked the articles to construct an English version biography, she left 
much of the knitty gritty details out.  But then, of course, Secunda wrote 
only about his music and only about the plays he composed for.

However, the Hebrew Actors Union archive, an extraordinary treasure trove 
of primary source material, has all the actual original books, notes, 
scores, pads, scripts, notations, music, scraps,.... from all the Yiddish 
shows.  The president of the union, the great star and historian of the 
Yiddish theater, Seymour Rexite, is willing to donate the collection to a 
major library, but the catch is that he will do so only if are willing to 
personally pay him $100,000 so that he will sit with a scholar and explain 
the material and annotate it for you.  Anyone got a library which will pay 
$100,000 for this extraordinary collection?  I was recently at a dinner 
party with a theater department chairperson of a New York college who was 
working on getting the treasure trove, but it was a no go.

We should note that a tremendous amount of work has already been done on 
Yiddish theater.   There is also the multi-volumed Encyclopedia of Yiddish 
Theater, but it's in Yiddish.
BTW, I believe Mark Slobin also has articles on theater songs, but I can't 
quote you any titles.


Reyzl


----------
From:  Judy Pinnolis [SMTP:pinnolis (at) brandeis(dot)edu]
Sent:  Wednesday, January 05, 2000 10:14 AM
To:  World music from a Jewish slant
Subject:  Yiddish musical theater books

Bob:
Vagabond Stars is a terrific book, reads well, and should be read by every
Yiddish theater lover. It covers Yiddish theater not only in America, but
provides an historical overview of the theater in Europe as well. It's not
a book solely focused on the US by any stretch. However, while it's
historical, it doesn't discuss the music in depth... per se.

Slobin does have chapters in his books that actually look at the music.
Slobin has also done a service for us all for example, in providing a score
in his "Yiddish Theater in America" as part of the Garland series
"Nineteenth-Century American Musical Theater," for people who may need
access to scores in order to stage an actual production. While there are
some problems with the Garland edition, it does gives anyone who wants it,
broad access to two works "David's Violin" (a warhorse of a show) and
"Shloyme Gorgl". Slobin has a really wonderful worthwhile introduction to
this Yiddish theater music in this volume which you may want to read. (I
reviewed this work in Notes, Dec. 97.)

There are very few works that provide _musical analysis_ as well as history
of who wrote what title or show. There is a lot of work to be done and the
history of Yiddish musical theater in America --a worthwhile project is
awaiting someone.
Judy


At 02:19 PM 1/4/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Bob,
>
>
>Off the top of my head,
>
>There are several books on Yiddish Theater in English, but I don't 
remember
>all the titles at the moment, except for "Vagabond Stars".  I do remember
>some authors' names though, e.g., Joseph C. Landis (American), Faina Burko 
>(Soviet theater), Marvin Seiger (American), Edna Nachshon (on the Artef
>Yiddish Theater= Communist) of JTS.   Theirs are PHd works written before
>1985.   There should be a Yiddish and English bibliography in Nahma
>Sandrow's Vagabond Stars of works written before the publication of her
>book (don't remember the year.)  I am sure that there are many titles and
>articles since then, which will require a search on the web.
>
>I have several Yiddish books on Yiddish theater, but sorry, I don't have
>time to look through my large library and it won't help you much since I
>don't know exactly where and how much those books discuss theater songs.
> If you are serious, you will walk into the YIVO library and the 
librarians
>will quickly get you the material you need.  You realize of course that if 
>you will walk into the YIVO archives, they will ask you for the name of 
the
>composer you want and you will be touching and perusing the private papers 
>and works of a great many composers of the Yiddish theater.   Of course,
>there a very large collection of sheet music, much of it from theatrical
>sources, here and Europe.  So, if you are serious in your query, the place 
>to go is YIVO.
>
>The Mlotek song book collections also very often indicate the sources of
>the songs.  Other collections indicate the same.  I think that Mark Slobin 
>wrote about theater songs, but at this moment I don't remember the
>title(s).  He must have a web page with a bibliography or else a web 
search
>will yield his works.  You can search for theater songs there.  Same goes
>for recordings of the Yiddish theater stars, too many to mention here.
> there should also be a great deal of material in the Lincoln Center 
branch
>of the NY Public Library.
>
>There was a PHd thesis written about 2 years ago by Joel Berkowitz, who
>focused on Shakespearian productions in the Yiddish theater.  He may have 
a
>recent bibliography on the Yiddish theater there.   But these days you
>should get that easily online in/from any public or research library
>
>Reyzl
>
>
>----------
>From:  robert wiener [SMTP:wiener (at) mindspring(dot)com]
>Sent:  Tuesday, January 04, 2000 11:28 AM
>To:  World music from a Jewish slant
>Subject:  Re: Fw: Yiddish Songs
>
>Reyzl,
>
>That's great to know -- even for those of us for whom the material in
>Yiddish is less accessible.
>
>What would you recommend, in Yiddish or English?
>
>Bob
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl (at) flash(dot)net>
>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Date: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 11:10 AM
>Subject: RE: Fw: Yiddish Songs
>
>
>>There is a lot of material - in Yiddish.
>>
>>There are several books in English on Yiddish theater and they must
>discuss the songs.
>>
>>
>>Reyzl
>>
>>
>>----------
>>From:  robert wiener [SMTP:wiener (at) mindspring(dot)com]
>>Sent:  Tuesday, January 04, 2000 9:01 AM
>>To:  World music from a Jewish slant
>>Subject:  Re: Fw: Yiddish Songs
>>
>>Hankus,
>>
>>I was going to mention "Tenement Songs" (which I do own, along with
>>the tape), but it seemed to me that there must be some book out there
>>devoted entirely to Yiddish theater music.  Certainly there is plenty
>>of material.  And there are many recordings, including one by Jan
>>Peerce.
>>
>>Maybe someone on the list will fill the gap.
>>
>>Bob
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: HNetsky (at) aol(dot)com <HNetsky (at) aol(dot)com>
>>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>>Date: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 8:40 AM
>>Subject: Re: Fw: Yiddish Songs
>>
>>
>>>
>>>In a message dated 1/3/00 4:04:10 PM, you wrote:
>>>
>>><<While looking on my shelves for information on Bertha Kalich, I
>>>
>>>realized that I have no books on music of the Yiddish theater (aside
>>>
>>>from books of the music itself).  Any recommendations?
>>>
>>>
>>>Bob
>>>
>>>This is one of those shameful gaps.  "Tenement Songs" is a start,
>but
>>a full
>>>length volume (or ten) is sorely needed.  --hankus
>>>
>>>
>>>----------------------
>>jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+
>>>