Re: Leon Wajner

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

You are very welcome Judy.  Will it be useful for you?  I posted it for two
reasons: 1) I assume it is hard to find, 2) I translated from Spanish and a
person looking for it may not read the language.

Thanks for the date.  I had that from somewhere else, but forgot to put it in!
Please tell me about the LoC authority files.

A dank,
Lorele


Judy Pinnolis wrote:

> 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
> >
> >
>

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+