Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.269 April 3, 1997 1) "Frumele" un "Bald vet geyn a regn" (Bess Katz) 2) Second Commandment (Etan Cohen) 3) The Second Commandment (Leybl Botvinik) 4) Klezmorim in der literatur (Leybl Botvinik) 5) Fis af di pleytses (Stanley Matoren) 6) Did Sholem Aleichem play the violin? (Louis Fridhandler) 7) Did Sholem Aleichem play the violin? (Louis Fridhandler) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 16 Mar 1997 11:30:29 -0500 (EST) From: bessk@aol.com Subject: "Frumele" un "Bald vet geyn a regn" We are looking for a source for the music and lyrics for two Yiddish songs: Frumele, and bald vet geyn a regn. Alternatively, if anyone has the music and lyrics for these two songs and is willing to photocopy and mail that to me, I'll e-mail my mail address. Thanks for any help. Bess Katz 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 16 Mar 1997 13:31:43 -0500 From: ecohen@husc.harvard.edu Subject: Second Commandment [see 6.268] In Sholem Aleichem's Motl Peyse dem Khazn's (Motl the Cantor's Son), Motl is chastised for drawing. In his article "Bouncing Back," Dan Miron explains this chastisement as probably stemming from the prohibition against graven images. [Other explanations are possible -- artistic painting is associated in Motl with housepainting and the shame, for the son of a cantor, of physical labor. Motl also generates rebuke by using his talents to satire his family. But these could work in concert with Miron's explanation.] Etan Cohen 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 08:08:06 +0200 (IST) From: leybl@telecomm.tadiran.co.il Subject: The Second Commandment :: dos tsveyte gebot mit yorn tsurik (an erekh 20?) fleg ikh geyn oyf di farsheydene kultur-raykhe ovntn in dem yidishn biblyotek in montreal. dort flegn kumen redn, zingen tsi oyftretn fun tsvishn di beste un vikhtikste yidishe pen-mentshn, zingers, shoyshpilers. ikh dermon zikh in aza ovnt, vu der diskhter hirsh osherovitsh hot forgeleyent fun zayne verk. eyne fun zey hot geheysn "moylokh" (dakht zikh) vegn dem opgot, vi men dint im, brengt far im lebedike karbones (kinderlekh), un vi men revoltirt. say dos lid, say osherovitshes kol zaynen geven mole koyekh. dos lid gefint zikh in eyne fun zayne bikher (dakht zikh 'tanakh lider'?). es iz vert tsu leyenen, un bikhlal zayne lider zaynen sheyne. di vos hobn a tsutrit tsu der montrealer biblyotek hobn nokh a gevins, vos bemeshekh fun di letste 30-40 yor hot men kimat yedn kultur ovnt oyfgenumen oyf a magnetofon. ot o der kultur ovnt oykh. ikh veys ober nit oyb punkt yenem ovnt ken men hern. ober tomer ye, iz es take a fargenign geven, un s'loynt zikh di mi dos oyftsuzukhn. leybl botvinik netanya 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 08:16:09 +0200 (IST) From: leybl@telecomm.tadiran.co.il Subject: Klezmorim in der literatur ikh hob amol geshribn a mayse vegn a yungn amerikaner vos fort tsurik in 'der alter heym', opzukhn dem zeydns fidl. di mayse heyst: "di geplatste strunes" un men ken dos gefinen in der yugnt-zamlung "vidervuks", aroysgegebn gevorn mit a tsol yorn tsurik fun yugntruf. agev, dos iz geven insperirt fun tsvey mekoyres: fun sutskevers lid "unter dayne vayse shtern", un sore-rokhl shekhters a lid vegn a gitare (ikh dermon zikh punkt nit vi dos hot geheysn). leybl botvinik netanya 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 10:29:51 +0100 From: matoren@epsilon.nl Subject: Fis af di pleytses [see 6.261] Mayn feter, mames bruder het mir amol gezogt az ven er iz avekgelofn fun sovietishe byelorusia in 1923 aribern poylishe grents kday tsu kumen ken Amerika un hot gezen soldaten vos zaynen nit gezayn azoi mekabl ponim, hot er gezogt tsu zayn khaver: "Lomer nemen di fis af di pleytses un makhen di playte!"l Stanley Matoren 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 17:13:43 -0500 (EST) From: lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Did Sholem Aleichem play the violin? In (6.266, 7) Chana Mlotek quotes from her article in "Di Goldene Keyt" in which she writes that Sholem Aleichem learned to play the violin. I wrote in 6.268 that he never learned to play though he longed to be able to play. My bases were 1) that I can't recall anything in Fun'm Yarid (up to age 21) to indicate that he had instruction; 2) I can recall nothing from the memoirs of I.D. Berkowitz (Undzere Rishoynim, mainly about the last eleven years of his life) that indicate that Sholem Aleichem played the violin; and 3) the following passage from Sholem Aleichem's daughter's biography. _He relaxed best by sitting down at the piano to improvise, though he had no formal musical training._ (from My Father, Sholem Aleichem, by Marie Waife-Goldberg, New York: Simon and Shuster, 1968, p. 141.) Some people learn without formal training, but this is the first I heard of Sholem Aleichem actually playing the violin. A plea to Chana Mlotek. What have I missed? What is the source of that statement? Louis Fridhandler 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 14:55:29 -0500 (EST) From: lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Did Sholem Aleichem play the violin? I've found a couple of passages in the literature bearing on this question. While still a student in the Pereyaslav District Russian school (age 15 or 16) Sholem Aleichem took advantage of association with those who could play the violin. He did learn to play a little. His brother relates this episode. To quote: A fidele - fleg mir Sholem zogn - farmogt a harts. A fidl badarf men nemen nit azoy mit di hent, vi mitn hartsn, un nit nor mitn smitshik aroystsien fun di strunes a nign, nor mitn gantsn hartsn. Azoy fleg Sholem shpiln afn fidl. Di tekhnik fun shpiln hot er gekont shvakh (Mayn Bruder, Sholem-Aleykhem, fun Vevik Rabinovitsh, Kiev: Melukhe Farlag Far di Natsionale Minderhaytn in USSR, 1939, p. 26). [My translation] Sholem used to assure me that a violin possesses a heart. A violin must be taken not so much with hands as with the heart, and draw out a melody from the strings not only with a bow but with the whole heart. That's how Sholem played the violin. His technique was weak. Allowing for the generosity of a brother, that opinion of Sholem Aleichem's technique is telling. This was a brief encounter partly because of incessant demands by these associates on Sholem for money. Later, at age 17, after graduating, he went to Rzhishtshev (a town close to Pereyaslav) and earned a little money as a tutor. Again, he associated with musicians, notably Avrom der Klezmer. Der maestro aleyn hot im gelernt fidl shpiln (Fun'm Yarid, Driter Tayl, kapitl 5, A Halb Yor Navenad, New York: Folksfond Oysgabe, Vol. XXVII, 1923, p. 146). [Translation] The maestro himself taught him how to play the violin. That, too, was a brief encounter because conditions in that town were simply too difficult to bear. Shortly thereafter, he moved back to Pereyaslav. As far as I can tell, there seems little to indicate that playing the violin was anything more than a casual part of his life. When was there time? At about eighteen-and-a-half he was hired as a tutor to Olga Loyev (future wife) at a farming estate in Sofievka. Later, he published a few Hebrew pieces, then was a rabiner in Loubny about three years, then came marriage and a busy career as a prolific Yiddish author, also a prolific writer of letters. His sensitive ear for music (including the music of mame-loshn), and great energy probably would have served him well as a violinist had he had more extensive opportunities. Louis Fridhandler ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.269