Shostakovich From Jewish Folk Poetry

[Geraldine Auerbach <jewishmusic...>]

You may be interested to know that in 1984 in the first London Jewish Music
Festival we presented the Shostakovich Song Cycle in a translation back into
Yiddish!  It was performed by Carole Rosen mezzo, Helen Lawrence soprano and
Louis Garb, tenor with Anthony Saunders making the piano sound all but an
orchestra.

It was so unusual that we recorded this soon afterwards in a studio,
together with Samuel Alman’s Yiddish opera King Ahaz.  We still have the
recordings of this, (only on cassette) and they are available at £10
including postage if anyone wants one.  We have been thinking about putting
it on to a CD, but not sure if there is sufficient demand.

Geraldine

Geraldine Auerbach MBE
Director, Jewish Music Institute
SOAS, University of London
P O Box 232, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 2NN
Tel 020 8909 2445   Fax 020 8909 1030
E-mail jewishmusic (at) jmi(dot)org(dot)uk
Website www.jmi.org.uk



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
[mailto:owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org]On Behalf Of nrmpiano
Sent: 12 January 2004 20:27
To: World music from a Jewish slant
Subject: Re: Art songs to Yiddish lyrics

>From the liner notes of AUS JUDISCHER VOLKSPOESIER, Op. 79:

Shostakovich wrote his song cycle entitled From Jewish Folk Poetry in 1948,
the year of the infamous Communist Party resolution condeming contemporary
music trends. The work was doubtless intended as subtle protest against
anti-Semetic trends engendered by Stalin's paranoia.  It was not published
or premiered until 1955.  In 1962 he adapted it for orchestra, most likely
in connection with his 13th Symphony based on poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko,
whose first movement deals with the mass extermination of Jews by the Nazis
at Babi-Yar in the Ukraine.

Shostakovich drew on the Russian translation of Hebrew and Yiddish Folk
songs, which he had found in a collection without melodies.  Here as in
other works, he employed Jewish intonations, since he sensed an affinity
between his own earthly experience and stance and that which forms the basis
for this musical language.  'It may appear joyful and yet in reality be
profoundly tragic' (Shostakovich quoted by Solomon Volkov).

Nancy

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