Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.188 November 20, 1994 1) Jewish folk music (Arre Komar) 2) Mit gots hilf (Zellig Bach) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 02:26:04 -0500 (EST) From: komar@yu1.yu.edu Subject: Jewish folk music First, I would like to thank Anno Siegal for helping me by identifying the song "Oyfn Boydem". With his information I was able to track down information about the song in Ruth Rubin's "Voices of a People." To my surprise it was a composed song: words by B. Benedikt Shafir and music by Perets Hirshbein. Unfortunately the words were not given (so I am not able to fill in the missing 2 lines) nor was there any indication of where to find the music. Could anyone out there help? The Shostakovitch version is very powerful and moving but it does not have the flavor of a folk song (nor was that his intention). Which brings me to Dan Leeson's red herring of what constitutes Jewish music. No, Mozart's mass is not Jewish music; nor is West Side Story, Appalachian Spring or Porgy and Bess, even though the 3 latter works were composed by Jewish composers. To qualify as the music of a people the work must be taken up and absorbed into the oral tradition of a folk. In order to do that the work must speak in some deep sense to their emotional needs and concerns in a familiar and traditional idiom. (Thus even though Oyfn Pripitchik is a composed song it has become a true Yiddish folk song, so much so that most people no longer remember the composer and are quite surprised to learn that he is indeed known. The same can be said of many of the Goldfaden songs, particularly Rozhinkes mit Mandlen.) Frequently the absorption of a song into a culture is facilitated by employing a particular unique musical scale or mode. One sees this in Spanish folk music where the Phrygian mode is conspicuous, in English folk songs where Dorian is very common. Chinese use the pentatonic scale, Japanese have their own distinctive scale (viz. Sakura). In the case of Yiddish music Moshe Beregovski points out that in his magnificent collection of 1500 Yiddish folk songs collected in the East European Pale a full 25% are written in a distinctive mode which he calls altered Phrygian, that is, it is Phrygian except for a raised third. This gives the strange and uniquely Yiddish feel which results from the piece sounding as if it is a minor key despite the fact that the tonic triad is major. (Play the white notes on the piano starting on e with the sole exception of sharping the g.) An additional 12% to 15% of the songs in the collection are in a similarly altered Dorian mode ( the 4th note of the dorian scale -- the scale starting on d -- is sharped). To sum up, while freylakhs, romanzas, horas, and cantorial chants are all Jewish music, only the first in this list qualifies as distinctly Yiddish music and can easily be identified as such. Incidently, to return to the question which provoked this discussion, the Yiddish song "Zayzhe mir gezint mayne tayere eltern, Ikh for fun aykh avek" , a song frequently sung by village badkhens at shtetl weddings, which was employed by Prokoffief in his Overture on Jewish (Yiddish!) Themes, is written in altered Phrygian mode, consistent with Beregovski's observations. Finally, I highly recommend Beregovski's "Old Jewish Folk Music" edited and translated by Mark Slobin and published by Univ. of Pennsylvania Press (1982) for anyone who wishes to pursue these questions in greater detail (or who merely wishes to revel in a treasure trove of Yiddish music). Arre Komar 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 00:11:06 -0500 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: Mit gots hilf A matone far Dvosye Bilik An elterer shnayder in Brooklyn hot koym gemakht a lebn. Afn fentster fun zayn gevelb iz geven geshribn in groyse englishe oysyes "Tayloring," vos af yidish ken men es efsher fartaytshn "shnayderay," dos heyst az keyn naye reklekh oder hoyzn hot er nit gemakht, un er flegt araynnemen kolerley begodim tsu farrikhtn un vos men ruft af english "olterayshns." Nit nor hot im gefelt tsu khayu'ne, nor tsum gezunt oykh, vayl der tsimer vu er hot gearbet iz geven ful mit shtoyb un er hot gehaltn in eyn hustn. Zayn voynung, azoy tsu zogn, iz geven hintern gevelb, un dortn hobn gelebt zayn kranke vayb un zeyere dray tekhter, ale dray, kinanhore, moydn khasune tsu makhn. Flegt der shnayder yedn in der fri--er flegt davnen mitn ershtn minyen--nokh ale tfiles betn dem riboyne-shel-oylem er zol zikh derbaremen af im, af zayn bidne mazl, un aropkukn af zayn mishpokhe, bazundersh ta'ke af zayn kranker vayb and di dray tekhter vos s'iz shoyn tsayt zey khasune tsu makhn ober er hot afile nit keyn tsebrokhenem groshn zey tsu gebn af nadn. Eyn morgn hor er opgezogt in der shtil zayn eygene "tfile," vi geveyntlekh in poshete, heyse, vareme verter in yidish, un iz geblibn zitsn far a vayl fartrakhterheyt. Plutsem hot er dershpirt az er iz der eyntsiker yid in shul. Un ot der fact ta'ke, vi se zet oys, hot batseykhnt zayn mazldike sho. Mit a mol hot er gehert a bas-kol--a shtime fun himl. Er hot koym gegloybt zayne oyern, ober di shtime is geven klor vi der tog: "Mayn kind," hot di shtime gezogt, "der eybershter hot gehert dayn tfile, dayn geveyn un gebet. Zorg zikh nit mer. Efn a krom, a krom far ready-to-wear kleyder." Un di shtime fun oybn hot geendikt ir onzog mit: "Un got vet helfn." Er iz, farshteyt zikh, geven oyser zikh un umbashrayblekh gerirt tsu visn az zayn gebet, in poshete yididhe verter, vos shoyn zint yorn un yorn flegt er zogn yedn tog, iz sof-kol-sof ongekumen afn rikhtikn adres, un s'iz im afile nit ayngefaln zikh tsu vundern vi kumt es vos di himlishe shtime hot genutst dem englishn oysdruk "ready-to-wear"--(kleyder) fartik tsum trogn. Hor er shtilerheyt badankt got far zayn entfer un eytse, un zikh genumen ayln aheym tsu dertseyln vayb un kinder vegn dem groysn vunder vos hot im getrofn. Ober er hot zikh raptem opgeshtelt, zikh umgekert mitn ponem tsum mizrekh, oyfgehoybn zayne oygn tsum himl, un gefregt mit a tsiderdike shtime dray kashes: "Gotenyu, vart, vart! Vu vel ikh nemen dos gelt tsu efenen aza gesheft? Un vu zol ikh es efenen? Un vi zol ikh es rufn?" A minut mit geshpanter shtilkayt iz farbay. Dan hot zikh di shtime fun himl umgekert, un gezogt azoy tsu zogn: "Mayn zun: Kh'hob dir dokh gezogt zikh nit tsu zorgn, un oykh az got vet helfn. Der bank afn vinkl fun dayn gas efnt zikh in tsvey sho arum, vel ikh zey bald heysn dir tsu gebn a halvo'e genug af onheyb gelt tsu efenen dos gesheft; un efn es in der groyser shtot Nyu York, af der raykhster gas vos heyst di finfte evenyu; un yo, du vilst oykh visn vi azoy, mit voser nomen, ontsurufn dem gesheft?" Vider a shvaygndike minutkele, dem shnayder ober hot zikh es oysgedukht lang vi der goles. Un di shtime iz tsurikgekumen: "Ruf es af english, vi ale firmes un gesheftn heysn af der barimter gas, ruf es--Lord and Taylor"... Zellig Bach ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.188 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. 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