Re: Leon Wajner

[Judy Pinnolis <pinnolis...>]

Lori:
Thank you very much for this bio.
FYI: According to a Library of Congress authority file, he died in 1979.
Judy

Lori Cahan-Simon wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
>

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