Alexander Olshanetsky (1892–1946) was a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
-American
composer,
conductor, and
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist. He was a major figure within the
Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revu ...
scene in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
from the mid-1920s until his death in 1946.
Life and career
![Alexander-Olshanetsky-34](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Alexander-Olshanetsky-34.jpg)
Was born in
Odessa, of
Lithuanian Jewish
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent area ...
descent, Olshanetsky began studying the
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
at the age of 6. While a teenager he became a member of the orchestra at the
Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater
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, image = Operniy-5.jpg
, image_size = 270px
, caption = Odesa Theatre of Opera and Ballet
, address = Tchaikovsky Lane 1
, city = Odesa
, country =
, designation = Architectural Landmark
, coordinates =
, archite ...
; notably touring with the ensemble throughout Imperial Russia. He then worked as chorusmaster for a touring
operetta troupe in Russia. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he served as a regimental bandmaster in the Russian Army. With the army band he traveled to Harbin, Manchuria, and to Northeast China. In Harbin he began working as a composer and conductor for a Yiddish theater group.
In 1922 Olshanetsky emigrated to the United States. In 1937, his extended family members finally began to come to United States. He quickly became a major presence in the Yiddish theatre scene, and produced numerous musical works for the Lennox Theater in Harlem and the Liberty Theater in Brooklyn. His works were successful, and revivals of most of his works occurred in major cities throughout the United States. He also served as the Concord Hotel's first musical director.
References
External links
Alexander Olshanetsky recordingsat the
Discography of American Historical Recordings.
1892 births
1946 deaths
American male composers
American male conductors (music)
American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish American composers
Ukrainian Jews
20th-century American conductors (music)
20th-century American composers
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century American Jews
Soviet emigrants to the United States
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