Re: Leon Wajner

[Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan...>]

Khaverim,

A while ago I asked you if anyone had any information on the composer
Leon Wajner.  Some suggested he was the same person as Lazar Weiner, but
I knew he was not.  I just hit the jackpot and found a bio in a
collection of his songs, Cantos de lucha y resurgimiento (Songs of
Struggle and Resurrection).  I will summarize for you:

Leon Wajner was born in Lodz in 1898 into a family of cantors.  He
studied viola, conducting, etc., from the State Conservatory in Warsaw.
Between the years 1915 and 1939 he was a prize winning violist and
toured Europe, taught singing and music in various schools and directed
various choirs and orchestras, was musical director of the Polish
Military Theater in Lublin, as well as acting as Minister of Religion
and Culture.

He was called to service in the Polish army and was imprisoned by the
Russians on September 17, 1939 and held in Rovno, Volinia, where Wajner
organized various choruses, again touring throughout Russia, 1940-1944,
ending in Biro Bidyan (which I believe was the area set aside for a
"Jewish Homeland" by the Russians.  Even though the land was said to be
fertile, the effort was unsuccessful.)

At the end of WWII he was repatriated to Poland where he found not one
member of his family.  His wife and daughter ended their days in the
Warsaw Ghetto.  Eventually he heard from some surviving relatives in
Chile and Israel.

Until 1948 he took up his old occupations and began composing to honor
and remember the heroes and those killed.  He collaborated with Shmerke
Kaczerginski to produce a collection of 96 songs of the Ghetto and of
the Partisans entitled Undzer Gezang, 23 of which were Wajner's
compositions. He also published a musical setting for the poem by
Wladyslaw Broniewski, "To the Jews of Poland", dedicated to the heroes
of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, in the form of a cantata for soloists,
chorus and orchestra.  It was premiered on April 19, 1948, the 5th
anniversary of the uprising, during the unveiling of the monument to
those heroes in Warsaw in the presence of Jewish delgates from around
the world.  During this period he began a professional relationship with
the singer Rivka Klinicki, who later became his wife.  In 1948 they
worked in Paris and Italy, teaching and concertizing.

In 1949 they moved to Buenos Aires and Wajner taught and conducted for
many schools and organizations, and continued touring with his wife as
singer throughout Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.  He also continued his
composing, being prolific in his works in memory of the European Jewish
communities and turning toward the next generation with songs for
children (which is where I first encountered his work).  Some later
titles include:  "Expresiones" for viola and piano; "Meditations on
Jewish and Argentinian motifs", fantasia for piano;  "Jewish Dance" for
piano.  Many articles were published about Wajner and Klinicki, from
1938 to 1962, in Europe, the U.S. and South America.  Sadly, the pre-war
compositions of Leon Wajner are lost to us.

I hope you have enjoyed my short recounting of the life and work of
composer, conductor, performer, and educator Leon Wajner.

Lorele