Re: Goldfaden's operettas

[Eliott Kahn <Elkahn...>]

I have the score for "Shulamith" in front of me (NY: Hebrew Publishing Co., 
1912). There are 25 numbers in all (51 p.) and it is scored very simply on two 
piano staves with an "oom-chick" bass and a melody line, or a melody line in 
thirds above. The text (in romanized Yiddish) is written between the staves. 

One of our klezmer folks can give far better explanations than I but I believe 
that Yiddish theatre scores were usually written in a piano/vocal format and 
the musicians improvised from that. Or perhaps there were parts and a 
conductor's score available that are now lost.

I did look at Sholom Secunda's Yiddish theatre scores at NYU a few years ago 
and they were all piano/vocal scores. Although, I'm almost positive Secunda 
wrote out most of his parts for his various ensembles. He was a trained 
musician and I know other pieces of his (and Yiddish theatre composer Abe 
Ellstein) that he arranged and wrote out for instrumental ensemble.

Perhaps there are some conductor's scores with parts in archival collections 
like Rexsite's, but all indications point to the fact that full scores for 
Yiddish theatre productions were not usually published.

Good Shabbes,

Eliott Kahn
  
Dr. Eliott Kahn
Music Archivist
Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
3080 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
WK: (212) 678-8076
FAX (212) 678-8998
elkahn (at) jtsa(dot)edu

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