Abraham Goldfaden (
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
: אַבֿרהם גאָלדפֿאַדען; born Avrum Goldnfoden; 24 July 1840 – 9 January 1908), also known as Avram Goldfaden, was a
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n-born
Jew
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""Th ...
ish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in the languages
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, author of some 40 plays. Goldfaden is considered the father of modern Jewish theatre.
In 1876 he founded in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
what is generally credited as the world's first professional
Yiddish-language
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
theater troupe. He was also responsible for the first
Hebrew-language
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved t ...
play performed in the United States. The
Avram Goldfaden Festival of
Iaşi, Romania, is named and held in his honour.
Jacob Sternberg called him "the
Prince Charming
Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, incl ...
who woke up the lethargic Romanian Jewish culture."
Israil Bercovici
Israil Bercovici (, yi, ישראל בערקאָװיטש; 1921–1988) was a Jewish Romanian dramaturg, playwright, director, biographer, and memoirist, who served the State Jewish Theater of Romania between 1955 and 1982; he also wrote Yiddis ...
wrote of his works: "we find points in common with what we now call 'total theater'. In many of his plays he alternates prose and verse, pantomime and dance, moments of acrobatics and some of ''jonglerie'', and even of spiritualism..."
Early life
Goldfaden was born in
Starokonstantinov
Starokostiantyniv ( uk, Старокостянтинів; pl, Starokonstantynów, or ''Konstantynów''; yi, אלט-קאָנסטאַנטין ''Alt Konstantin'') is a city in Khmelnytskyi Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. I ...
(Russia; present day
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
). His birthdate is sometimes given as July 12, following the
"Old Style" calendar in use at that time in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. He attended a Jewish religious school (a ''
cheder
A ''cheder'' ( he, חדר, lit. "room"; Yiddish pronunciation ''kheyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language.
History
''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th ...
''), but his middle-class family was strongly associated with the ''
Haskalah
The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...
'', or Jewish Enlightenment, and his father, a watchmaker,
[Berkowitz, 2004, 12] arranged that he receive private lessons in German and Russian. As a child, he is said to have appreciated and imitated the performances of wedding jesters and
Brody singer
The ''Broderzinger'' () or Broder singers, from Brody in Ukraine, were Jewish itinerant performers in Austrian Galicia, Romania, and Russia, professional or semiprofessional songwriters and performers, who from at least the early 19th century sang ...
s to the degree that he acquired the nickname ''Avromele Badkhen,'' "Abie the Jester."
[Sandrow, 2003] In 1857 he began studies at the government-run rabbinical school at
Zhytomyr
Zhytomyr ( uk, Жито́мир, translit=Zhytomyr ; russian: Жито́мир, Zhitomir ; pl, Żytomierz ; yi, זשיטאָמיר, Zhitomir; german: Schytomyr ) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, a ...
, from which he emerged in 1866 as a teacher and a poet (with some experience in amateur theater), but he never led a congregation.
Goldfaden's first published poem was called "Progress"; his ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' obituary described it as "a plea for
Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...
years before that movement developed."
[Noted Jewish Bard Dead]
(January 10, 1908). ''The New York Times''. In 1865 he published his first book of poetry, ''Tzitzim u-Ferahim'' (in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
); The ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1901–1906) says that "Goldfaden's Hebrew poetry ... possesses considerable merit, but it has been eclipsed by his Yiddish poetry, which, for strength of expression and for depth of true Jewish feeling, remains unrivaled." The first book of verse in Yiddish was published in 1866, and in 1867 he took a job teaching in
Simferopol
Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, ...
on the
Crimean Peninsula
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a po ...
.
A year later, he moved on to
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
. He lived initially in his uncle's house, where a cousin who was a good
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
helped him set some of his poems to music. In Odessa, Goldfaden renewed his acquaintance with fellow Yiddish-language writer
Yitzkhok Yoel Linetzky
Yitzkhok Yoel Linetzky ( yi, יצחק יואל לינעצקי, 1839–1915) was a Yiddish language author and early Zionist. Sol Liptzin characterized him as "a master of the picturesque vitriolic phrase." iptzin, 1972, 46 Life
He was raise ...
, whom he knew from Zhytomyr
and met
Hebrew-language
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved t ...
poet
Eliahu Mordechai Werbel (whose daughter Paulina would become Goldfaden's wife) and published poems in the newspaper ''Kol-Mevaser''. He also wrote his first two plays, ''Die Tzwei Sheines'' (''The Two Neighbors'') and ''Die Murneh Sosfeh'' (''Aunt Susie''), included with some verses in a modestly successful 1869 book ''Die Yidene'' (''The Jewish Woman''), which went through three editions in three years. At this time, he and Paulina were living mainly on his meagre teacher's salary of 18
rubles
The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union.
, currencies named ''rub ...
a year, supplemented by giving private lessons and taking a job as a cashier in a hat shop.
In 1875, Goldfaden headed for
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, intending to study medicine. This did not work out, and he headed for
Lvov/Lemberg in
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
-ruled
Galicia, where he again met up with Linetsky, now editor of a weekly paper, ''Isrulik'' or ''Der Alter Yisrulik'' (which was well reputed, but was soon shut by the government). A year later, he moved on to
Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the upp ...
in Habsburg
Bukovina
Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...
, where he edited the Yiddish-language daily ''Dos Bukoviner Israelitishe Folksblatt''. The limits of the economic sense of this enterprise can be gauged from his inability to pay a registration fee of 3000 ducats. He tried unsuccessfully to operate the paper under a different name, but soon moved on to
Iaşi in
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...
on the invitation of Isaac Librescu (1850–1930), a young wealthy communitary activist interested in theatre.
Iaşi
![Bustul lui Avraham Goldfaden din Iaşi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Bustul_lui_Avraham_Goldfaden_din_Ia%C5%9Fi.jpg)
Arriving in
Iaşi (Jassy) in 1876, Goldfaden was fortunate to be better known as a good poet — many of whose poems had been set to music and had become popular songs — than as a less-than-successful businessman. Nevertheless, when he sought funds from Isaac Librescu for another newspaper, Librescu was uninterested in that proposition. Librescu's wife remarked that Yiddish-language journalism was just a way to starve; she suggested that there would be a lot more of a market for Yiddish-language theater. Librescu offered Goldfaden 100 francs for a public recital of his songs in the garden of Shimen Mark, Grădina Pomul Verde ("the Green Fruit-Tree Garden").
Instead of a simple recital, Goldfaden expanded the program into something of a
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
performance; either this or an indoor performance he and his fellow performers gave later that year in
Botoşani is generally counted as the first professional
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 revues ...
performance. However, in the circumstances, the designation of a single performance as "the first" may be nominal: Goldfaden's first actor,
Israel Grodner
Israel (Yisrol) Grodner ( yi, ישראל גראָדנער; ca. 1848 – 1887) was one of the founding performers in Yiddish theater. A Lithuanian Jew who moved at the age of 16 to Berdychiv, Ukraine, Russian Empire, the Broder singer and actor ...
, was already singing Goldfaden's songs (and others) in the salons of Iaşi; also, in 1873, Grodner sang in a concert in
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
(songs by Goldfaden, among others) that apparently included significant improvised material between songs, although no actual script.
Although Goldfaden, by his own account, was familiar at this time with "practically all of Russian literature", and also had plenty of exposure to Polish theater, and had even seen an
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
tragedian,
Ira Aldridge
Ira Frederick Aldridge (July 24, 1807 – August 7, 1867) was an American-born British actor, playwright, and theatre manager, known for his portrayal of Shakespearean characters. James Hewlett and Aldridge are regarded as the first Black Ameri ...
, performing
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
,
the performance at Grădina Pomul Verde was only a bit more of a play than Grodner had participated in three years earlier. The songs were strung together with a bit of character and plot and a good bit of improvisation. The performance by Goldfaden, Grodner,
Sokher Goldstein
Sokher Goldstein (c. 1859 – 1887), first name also spelled Suher, Soher, Socher, or Sukher, was a singer and actor, one of the founding performers in Yiddish theater. A Jew, presumably of Ukraine, Ukrainian or Romanian origin, nothing is know ...
, and possibly as many as three other men went over well. The first performance was either ''Di bobe mitn einikl'' (''Grandmother and Granddaughter'') or ''Dos bintl holts'' (''The Bundle of sticks''); sources disagree. (Some reports suggest that Goldfaden himself was a poor singer, or even a non-singer and poor actor; according to Bercovici, these reports stem from Goldfaden's own self-disparaging remarks or from his countenance as an old man in New York, but contemporary reports show him to have been a decent, though not earth-shattering, actor and singer.)
After that time, Goldfaden continued miscellaneous newspaper work, but the stage became his main focus.
As it happens, the famous Romanian poet
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...
, then journalist, saw one of the Pomul Verde performances later that summer. He records in his review that the company had six players. (A 1905 typographical error would turn this into a much-cited sixteen, suggesting a grander beginning for Yiddish theater.) He was impressed by the quality of the singing and acting, but found the pieces "without much dramatic interest.
[Bercovici, 1998, 58] His generally positive comments would seem to deserve to be taken seriously: Eminescu was known generally as "virulently
antisemitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
." Eminescu appears to have seen four of Goldfaden's early plays: a
satiric
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
musical revue ''Di velt a gan-edn'' (''The World and Paradise''), ''Der farlibter maskil un der oyfgeklerter hosid'' (a dialogue between "an infatuated philosopher" and "an enlightened
Hasid
Ḥasīd ( he, חסיד, "pious", "saintly", "godly man"; plural "Hasidim") is a Jewish honorific, frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. It denotes a person who is scrupulous in his observ ...
"), another musical revue ''Der shver mitn eidem'' (''Father-in-law and Son-in-Law''), and a comedy, ''Fishl der balegole un zayn knecht Sider'' (''Fishel the Carter and His Servant Sider'').
Searching for a theater
As the season for outdoor performances was coming to a close, Goldfaden tried and failed to rent an appropriate theater in Iaşi. A
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
owner named Reicher, presumably Jewish himself, told him that "a troupe of Jewish singers" would be "too dirty." Goldfaden, Grodner, and Goldstein headed first to
Botoşani, where they lived in a garret and Goldfaden continued to churn out songs and plays. An initial successful performance of ''Di Rekruten'' (''The Recruits'') in an indoor theater ("with loges!" as Goldfaden wrote) was followed by days of rain so torrential that no one would come out to the theater; they pawned some possessions and left for
Galaţi, which was to prove a bit more auspicious, with a successful three-week run.
In Galaţi they acquired their first serious set designer, a
housepainter
A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...
known as
Reb Moishe Bas. He had no formal artistic training, but he proved to be good at the job, and joined the troupe, as did
Sara Segal, their first actress. She was not yet out of her teens. After seeing her perform in their Galaţi premiere, her mother objected to her unmarried daughter cavorting on a stage like that. Goldstein – who, unlike Goldfaden and Grodner, was single – promptly married her and she remained with the troupe. (Besides being known as Sara Segal and Sofia Goldstein, she became best known as Sofia Karp, after a second marriage to actor
Max Karp.)
After the successful run in Galaţi came a less successful attempt in
Brăila
Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila.
According to the 2011 Romanian census there were 180,302 pe ...
, but by now the
company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
had honed its act and it was time to go to the capital,
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
.
Bucharest
As in Iaşi, Goldfaden arrived in Bucharest with his reputation already established. He and his players performed first in the early spring at the salon Lazăr Cafegiu on Calea Văcăreşti (
Văcăreşti Avenue, in the heart of the Jewish quarter), then, once the weather turned warm, at the Jigniţa garden, a pleasant tree-shaded
beer garden
A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees.
Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...
on Str. Negru Vodă that up until then had drawn only a neighborhood crowd. He filled out his cast from the great pool of Jewish vocal talent: synagogue
cantors
A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds.
In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...
. He also recruited two eminently respectable classically trained
prima donna
In opera or commedia dell'arte, a prima donna (; Italian for "first lady"; plural: ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given.
''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pers ...
s, the sisters
Margaretta and
Annetta Schwartz.
Among the cantors in his casts that year were
Lazăr Zuckermann (also known as Laiser Zuckerman; as a song-and-dance man, he would eventually follow Goldfaden to New York and have a long stage career), Moishe Zilberman (also known as Silberman), and Simhe Dinman, as well as the 18-year-old
Zigmund Mogulescu (Sigmund Mogulesko), who soon became a stage star. Orphaned by his teen years, Mogulescu had already made his way in the world as a singer – not only as a soloist in the Great Synagogue of Bucharest but also as a performer in cafes, at parties, with a visiting French
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
company, and even in a church choir. Before his voice changed, he had sung with Zuckerman, Dinman, and Moses Wald in the "Israelite Chorus," performing at important ceremonies in the Jewish community. Mogulescu's audition for Goldfaden was a scene from ''Vlăduţu Mamei'' (''Mama's Boy''), which formed the basis later that year for Goldfaden's light comedy ''
Shmendrik, oder Die Komishe Chaseneh'' (''Shmendrik or The Comical Wedding''), starring Mogulescu as the almost painfully clueless and hapless young man (a role later famously played in New York and elsewhere by actress
Molly Picon
Molly Picon ( yi, מאָלי פּיקאָן; born Malka Opiekun; February 28, 1898 – April 5, 1992) was an American actress of stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller.
She began her career in Yidd ...
).
This recruiting of cantors was not without controversy: Cantor Cuper (also known as Kupfer), the head cantor of the Great Synagogue, considered it "impious" that cantors should perform in a secular setting, to crowds where both sexes mingled freely, keeping people up late so that they might not be on time for morning prayers.
While one may argue over which performance "started" Yiddish theater, by the end of that summer in Bucharest Yiddish theater was an established fact. The influx of Jewish merchants and middlemen to the city at the start of the
Russo-Turkish War
The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...
had greatly expanded the audience; among these new arrivals were
Israel Rosenberg
Israel (also Yisroel or Yisrol) Rosenberg (c. 1850 – 1903 or 1904; Yiddish/Hebrew: ישראל ראָזענבערג) founded the first Yiddish theater troupe in Imperial Russia.
Life
Having been a "hole-and-corner lawyer" (without a diplom ...
and
Jacob Spivakovsky
Jacob Spivakofsky, a Russian Jew, was one of the first stars in the early years of Yiddish theater.
Although Spivakofsky’s birthday is unknown, it is estimated to be in 1844 or 1845. He was born the highly cultured scion of a wealthy Odesa Jewis ...
, the highly cultured scion of a wealthy Russian Jewish family, both of whom actually joined Goldfaden's troupe, but soon left to found the first
Yiddish theater
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 ...
troupe in
Imperial Russia
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
.
Goldfaden was churning out a repertoire – new songs, new plays, and translations of plays from Romanian, French, and other languages (in the first two years, he wrote 22 plays, and would eventually write about 40) – and while he was not always able to retain the players in his company once they became stars in their own right, he continued for many years to recruit first-rate talent, and his company became a ''de facto'' training ground for Yiddish theater. By the end of the year, others were writing Yiddish plays as well, such as
Moses Horowitz
Moses Ha-Levi Horowitz (February 27, 1844Baker 1998. – March 4, 1910), also known as Moishe Hurvitz, Moishe Isaac Halevy-Hurvitz, etc., was a playwright and actor in the early years of Yiddish theater.Bercovici, ''O sută de ani…'' Jacob Adle ...
with ''Der tiranisher bankir'' (''The Tyrannical Banker''), or Grodner with ''Curve un ganev'' (''Prostitute and Thief''), and Yiddish theater had become big theater, with elaborate sets, duelling choruses, and extras to fill out crowd scenes.
Goldfaden was helped by
Ion Ghica
Ion Ghica (; 12 August 1816 – 7 May 1897) was a Romanian statesman, mathematician, diplomat and politician, who was Prime Minister of Romania five times. He was a full member of the Romanian Academy and its president many times (1876–1882, ...
, then head of the
Romanian National Theater
The National Theatre Bucharest ( ro, Teatrul Naţional "Ion Luca Caragiale" București) is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest.
Founding
It was founded as the ''Teatrul cel Mare din București'' ("Gra ...
to legally establish a "dramatic society" to handle administrative matters. From those papers, we know that the troupe at the Jigniţa included Moris Teich, Michel Liechman (Glückman), Lazăr Zuckermann, Margareta Schwartz, Sofia Palandi, Aba Goldstein, and Clara Goldstein. We also know from similar papers that when Grodner and Mogulescu walked out on Goldfaden to start their own company, it included (besides themselves)
Israel Rosenberg
Israel (also Yisroel or Yisrol) Rosenberg (c. 1850 – 1903 or 1904; Yiddish/Hebrew: ישראל ראָזענבערג) founded the first Yiddish theater troupe in Imperial Russia.
Life
Having been a "hole-and-corner lawyer" (without a diplom ...
,
Jacob Spivakovsky
Jacob Spivakofsky, a Russian Jew, was one of the first stars in the early years of Yiddish theater.
Although Spivakofsky’s birthday is unknown, it is estimated to be in 1844 or 1845. He was born the highly cultured scion of a wealthy Odesa Jewis ...
,
P. Şapira,
M. Banderevsky,
Anetta Grodner, and
Rosa Friedman
Rosa or De Rosa may refer to:
People
*Rosa (given name)
*Rosa (surname)
*Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose)
Places
*223 Rosa, an asteroid
*Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States
*Rosa, Germany, in Thuringia, Ger ...
.
Ion Ghica
Ion Ghica (; 12 August 1816 – 7 May 1897) was a Romanian statesman, mathematician, diplomat and politician, who was Prime Minister of Romania five times. He was a full member of the Romanian Academy and its president many times (1876–1882, ...
was a valuable ally for Yiddish theater in Bucharest. On several occasions he expressed his favorable view of the quality of acting, and even more of the technical aspects of the Yiddish theater. In 1881, he obtained for the National Theater the costumes that had been used for a Yiddish pageant on the coronation of King Solomon, which had been timed in tribute to the actual coronation of
Carol I of Romania
Carol I or Charles I of Romania (20 April 1839 – ), born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (''Domnitor'') from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He w ...
.
Turning serious
While light comedy and satire might have established
Yiddish theater
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 ...
as a commercially successful medium, it was Goldfaden's higher aspirations for it that eventually earned him recognition as "the Yiddish Shakespeare."
As a man broadly read in several languages, he was acutely aware that there was no Eastern European Jewish tradition of dramatic literature – that his audience was used to seeking just "a good glass of
Odobeşti and a song." Years later, he would paraphrase the typical Yiddish theatergoer of the time as saying to him: "We don't go to the theater to make our head swim with sad things. We have enough troubles at home... We go to the theater to cheer ourselves up. We pay up a coin and hope to be distracted, we want to laugh from the heart."
Goldfaden wrote that this attitude put him "pure and simply at war with the public." His stage was not to be merely "a masquerade"; he continued: "No, brothers. If I have arrived at having a stage, I want it to be a school for you. In youth you didn't have time to learn and cultivate yourself... Laugh heartily if I amuse you with my jokes, while I, watching you, feel my heart crying. Then, brothers, I'll give you a drama, a tragedy drawn from life, and you, too, shall cry – while my heart shall be glad." Nonetheless, his "war with the public" was based on understanding that public. He would also write, "I wrote ''Di kishefmakhern'' (''
The Witch
A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft.
Witch, WITCH, or variations thereof may also refer to:
Animals
* Witch (lefteye flounder) (''Arnoglossus scapha''), a Pacific flatfish
* Witch (righteye flounder) (''Glyptocephalus cynoglossus''), a Euro ...
'') in Romania, where the populace – Jews as much as Romanians – believe strongly in witches." Local superstitions and concerns always made good subject matter, and, as Bercovici remarks, however strong his inspirational and didactic intent, his historical pieces were always connected to contemporary concerns.
Even in the first couple of years of his company, Goldfaden did not shy away from serious themes: his rained-out vaudeville in Botoşani had been ''Di Rekruten'' (''The Recruits''), playing with the theme of the
press gangs
Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is the taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice. European navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means. The large size of ...
working the streets of that town to
conscript
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
young men into the army. Before the end of 1876, Goldfaden had already translated ''Desolate Island'' by
August von Kotzebue
August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (; – ) was a German dramatist and writer who also worked as a consul in Russia and Germany.
In 1817, one of Kotzebue's books was burned during the Wartburg festival. He was murdered in 1819 by Karl L ...
; thus, a play by a German aristocrat and Russian spy became the first non-comic play performed professionally in Yiddish. After his initial burst of mostly vaudevilles and light comedies (although ''Shmendrik'' and ''The Two Kuni-Lemls'' were reasonably sophisticated plays), Goldfaden would go on to write many serious
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
-language plays on Jewish themes, perhaps the most famous being ''Shulamith'', also from 1880. Goldfaden himself suggested that this increasingly serious turn became possible because he had educated his audience.
Nahma Sandrow Nahma Sandrow is a scholar of theater and cultural history,Freedman, Samuel G. (December 3, 1984).A Goldfadn Hit of 1880 Is Reborn Off Broadway. ''New York Times''. Retrieved 2016-12-28. and author of the books ''Vagabond Stars: A World History ...
suggests that it may have had equally as much to do with the arrival in Romania, at the time of the
Russo-Turkish War
The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...
, of Russian Jews who had been exposed to more sophisticated
Russian language
Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
theater. Goldfaden's strong turn toward almost uniformly serious subject matter roughly coincided with bringing his troupe to
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
.
Goldfaden was both a theoretician and a practitioner of theater. That he was in no small measure a theoretician – for example, he was interested almost from the start in having set design seriously support the themes of his plays – relates to a key property of Yiddish theater at the time of its birth: in general, writes Bercovici, theory ran ahead of practice. Much of the Jewish community, Goldfaden included, were already familiar with contemporary theater in other languages. The initial itinerary of Goldfaden's company – Iaşi, Botoşani, Galaţi, Brăila, Bucharest – could as easily have been the itinerary of a Romanian-language troupe. Yiddish theater may have been seen from the outset as an expression of a Jewish national character, but the theatrical values of Goldfaden's company were in many ways those of a good Romanian theater of the time. Also, Yiddish was a German dialect which became a well-known language even among non-Jews in
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...
(and
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
), an important language of commerce; the fact that one of the first to write about Yiddish theater was Romania's
national poet
A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbo ...
,
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...
, is testimony that interest in Yiddish theater went beyond the Jewish community.
Almost from the first, Yiddish theater drew a level of theater criticism comparable to any other European theater of its time. For example, Bercovici cites a "brochure" by one G. Abramski, published in 1877, that described and gave critiques of all of Goldfaden's plays of that year. Abramski speculated that the present day might be for Yiddish theater a moment comparable to the
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
for English theater. He discussed what a Yiddish theater ought to be, noted its many sources (ranging from
Purim play
A Purim spiel (also spelled Purimshpil, yi, פּורימשפּיל, , see also spiel) or Purim play is an ensemble of festive practices for Purim. It is usually a comic dramatization of the Book of Esther, the central text and narrative that d ...
s to
circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...
pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
), and praised its incorporation of strong female roles. He also criticized where he saw weaknesses, noting how unconvincingly a male actor played the mother in ''Shmendrik'', or remarking of the play ''Di shtume kale'' (''The Mute Bride'') — a work that Goldfaden apparently wrote to accommodate a pretty, young actress who in the performance was too nervous to deliver her lines — that the only evidence of Goldfaden's authorship was his name.
Russia
Goldfaden's father wrote him to solicit the troupe to come to
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, which was then part of
Imperial Russia
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
. The timing was opportune: the end of the war meant that much of his best audience were now in Odessa rather than Bucharest; Rosenberg had already quit Goldfaden's troupe and was performing the Goldfadenian repertoire in Odessa.
With a loan from Librescu, Goldfaden headed east with a group of 42 people, including performers, musicians, and their families. After the end of the Russo-Turkish War he and his troupe travelled extensively through Imperial Russia, notably to
Kharkov
Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine. (also in Ukraine), Moscow, and
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.
Jacob Adler
Jacob Pavlovich Adler (Yiddish: יעקבֿ פּאַװלאָװיטש אַדלער; born Yankev P. Adler; February 12, 1855 – April 1, 1926)IMDB biography was a Jewish actor and star of Yiddish theater, first in Odessa, and later in London and ...
later described him at this time as "a ''bon vivant''," "a cavalier," "as difficult to approach as an emperor." He continued to turn out plays at a prolific pace, now mostly serious pieces such as ''Doctor Almasada, oder Die Yiden in Palermo'' (''
Doctor Almasada, or The Jews of Palermo''), ''Shulamith'', and ''
Bar Kokhba
Simon ben Koseba or Cosiba ( he, שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר כֹסֵבָא, translit= Šīmʾōn bar Ḵōsēḇaʾ ; died 135 CE), commonly known as Bar Kokhba ( he, שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר כּוֹכְבָא, translit=Šīmʾōn bar ...
'', the last being a rather dark operetta about
Bar Kokhba's revolt
The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Roman province of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, aga ...
, written after the
pogroms in Russia
Pogroms in the Russian Empire (russian: Еврейские погромы в Российской империи) were large-scale, targeted, and repeated anti-Jewish rioting that began in the 19th century. Pogroms began to occur after Imperial Ru ...
following the 1881 assassination of Czar
Alexander II.
As it happens, a
Frenchman
The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France.
The French people, especially the nati ...
named Victor Tissot happened to be in
Berdichev
Berdychiv ( uk, Берди́чів, ; pl, Berdyczów; yi, באַרדיטשעװ, Barditshev; russian: Берди́чев, Berdichev) is a historic city in the Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center ...
when Goldfaden's company was there. He saw two plays – ''Di Rekruten'', first premiered in Botoşani, and the later ''Di Shvebleh'' (''Matches''), a play of intrigue. Tissot's account of what he saw gives an interesting picture of the theaters and audiences Goldfaden's troupe encountered outside of the big cities. "Berdichev," he begins, "has not one cafe, not one restaurant. Berdichev, which is a boring and sad city, nonetheless has a theatrical hall, a big building made of rough boards, where theater troupes passing through now and then put on a play." Although there was a proper stage with a curtain, the cheap seats were bare benches, the more expensive ones were benches covered in red percale. Although there were many full beards, "there were no long caftans, no skullcaps." Some of the audience were quite poor, but these were assimilated Jews, basically secular. The audience also included Russian officers with their wives or girlfriends.
In Russia, Goldfaden and his troupe drew large audiences and were generally popular with progressive Jewish intellectuals, but slowly ran afoul of both the Czarist government and conservative elements in the Jewish community. Goldfaden was calling for change in the Jewish world:
: ''Wake up my people''
: ''From your sleep, wake up''
: ''And believe no more in foolishness.''
A call like this might be a bit ambiguous, but it was unsettling to those who were on the side of the status quo. Yiddish theater was banned in Russia starting September 14, 1883, as part of the anti-Jewish reaction following the assassination of Czar
Alexander II. Goldfaden and his troupe were left adrift in Saint Petersburg. They headed various directions, some to England, some to New York City, some to Poland, some to Romania.
The prophet adrift
While Yiddish theater continued successfully in various places, Goldfaden was not on the best terms at this time with Mogulescu. They had quarrelled (and settled) several times over rights to plays, and Mogulescu and his partner
Moishe "Maurice" Finkel now dominated Yiddish theater in Romania, with about ten lesser companies competing as well. Mogulescu was a towering figure in Bucharest theater at this point, lauded on a level comparable to the actors of the National Theater, performing at times in Romanian as well as Yiddish, drawing an audience that went well beyond the Jewish community.
Goldfaden seems, in Bercovici's words, to have lost "his theatrical elan" in this period. He briefly put together a theater company in 1886 in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, with no notable success. In 1887 he went to New York (as did Mogulescu, independently). After extensive negotiations and great anticipation in the Yiddish-language press in New York ("Goldfaden in America," read the headline in the 11 January 1888 edition of the ''New Yorker Yiddishe Ilustrirte Zaitung''), he briefly took on the job of director of Mogulescu's new "Rumanian Opera House"; they parted ways again after the failure of their first play, whose production values were apparently not up to New York standards. Goldfaden attempted (unsuccessfully) to found a theater school, then headed in 1889 for
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, rather low on funds. There he wrote some poetry, worked on a play that he didn't finish at that time, and put together a theater company that never got to the point of putting on a play (because the cashier made off with all of their funds). In October 1889 he scraped together the money to get to
Lvov
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...
, where his reputation as a poet again came to his rescue.
Lviv
Lviv was not exactly a dramatist's dream. Leon Dreykurs described audiences bringing meals into the theater, rustling paper, treating the theater like a beer garden. He also quotes Jacob Schatzky: "All in all, the Galician milieu was not favorable to Yiddish theater. The intellectuals were assimilated, but the masses were fanatically religious and they viewed Jewish 'comedians' with disdain."
[Bercovici, 1998, 88]
Nonetheless, Iacob Ber Ghimpel, who owned a Yiddish theater there, was glad to have a figure of Goldfaden's stature. Goldfaden completed the play he'd started in Paris, ''Rabi Yoselman, oder Die Gzerot fun Alsas'' ("Rabbi Yoselman, or The Alsatian Decree"), in five acts and 23 scenes, based on the life of
Josel of Rosheim Josel of Rosheim (alternatively: Joselin, Joselmann, Yoselmann, german: Josel von Rosheim, he, יוסף בן גרשון מרוסהים ''Joseph ben Gershon mi-Rosheim'', or ''Joseph ben Gershon Loanz''; c. 1480 – March, 1554) was the great advoca ...
. At this time he also wrote an operetta ''Rothschild'' and a semi-autobiographical play called ''Mashiach Tzeiten'' (''Messiah Times'') that gave a less-than-optimistic view of America.
Kalman Juvelier, an actor in Ber Ghimpel's company, credited Goldfaden with greatly strengthening the caliber of performance in Lviv during his brief time there, reporting that Goldfaden worked with every actor on understanding his or her character, so as to ensure that the play was more than just a series of songs and effects, and was respected by all.
Bucharest
![Goldfaden - a zecea porunca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Goldfaden_-_a_zecea_porunca.jpg)
Buoyed by his success in Lvov, he returned to Bucharest in 1892, as director of the Jigniţa theater. His new company again included Lazăr Zuckermann; other players were Marcu (Mordechai) Segalescu, and later Iacob Kalich, Carol Schramek, Malvina Treitler-Löbel and her father H. Goldenbers. Among his notable plays from this period were ''Dos zenteh Gebot, oder Lo tachmod'' (''The Tenth Commandment, or Thou Shalt Not Covet''), ''Judas Maccabaeus'', and ''Judith and Holofernes'' and a translation of
Johann Strauss
Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ove ...
's ''Gypsy Baron''.
However, it was not a propitious time to return to Romania. Yiddish theater had become a business there, with slickly written advertisements, coordinated performances in multiple cities using the same publicity materials, and cutthroat competition: on one occasion in 1895, a young man named Bernfeld attended multiple performances of Goldfaden's ''Story of Isaac'', memorized it all (including the songs), and took the whole package to Kalman Juvilier, who put on an unauthorized production in Iaşi. Such outright theft was possible because once Ion Ghica headed off on a diplomatic career, the National Theater, which was supposed to adjudicate issues like unauthorized performances of plays, was no longer paying much attention to Yiddish theater. (Juvilier and Goldfaden finally reached an out-of-court settlement.)
Cutthroat competition was nothing to what was to follow. The 1890s were a tough time for the Romanian economy, and a rising tide of anti-Semitism made it an even tougher time for the Jews. One quarter of the Jewish population emigrated, with intellectuals particularly likely to leave, and those intellectuals who remained were more interested in politics than in theater: this was a period of social ferment, with Jewish
socialists
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...
in Iaşi starting ''Der Veker'' (''The Awakener'').
Goldfaden left Romania in 1896; soon Juvilier's was the only active Yiddish theater troupe in the country, and foreign troupes had almost entirely ceased coming to the country. Although
Lateiner, Horowitz, and Shumer kept writing, and occasionally managed to put on a play, it was not a good time for Yiddish theater – or any theater – in Romania, and would only become worse as the economy continued to decline.
Goldfaden wandered Europe as a poet and journalist. His plays continued to be performed in Europe and America, but rarely, if ever, did anyone send him royalties. His health deteriorated – a 1903 letter refers to
asthma
Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...
and spitting up blood – and he was running out of money. In 1903, he wrote
Jacob Dinesohn from Paris, authorizing him to sell his remaining possessions in Romania, clothes and all. This gave him the money to head once more to New York in 1904.
New York City
In America, he again tried his hand at journalism, but a brief stint as editor of the ''New Yorker Yiddishe Ilustrirte Zaitung'' resulted only in getting the paper suspended and landing himself a rather large fine. On March 31, 1905, he recited poetry at a benefit performance at
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
to raise a pension for Yiddish poet
Eliakum Zunser
Eliakum Zunser (Eliakim Badchen, Elikum Tsunzer) (October 28, 1840 – September 22, 1913) was a Lithuanian Jewish Yiddish-language poet, songwriter, and ''badchen'' who lived out the last part of his life in the U.S. A 1905 article in ''The New ...
, even worse off than himself because he had found himself unable to write since coming to America in 1889. Shortly afterwards, he met a group of young people who had a Hebrew language association at the
Dr. Herzl Zion Club, and wrote a Hebrew-language play ''David ba-Milchama'' (''David in the War''), which they performed in March 1906, the first Hebrew-language play to be performed in America. Repeat performances in March 1907 and April 1908 drew successively larger crowds.
He also wrote the spoken portions of ''Ben Ami'', loosely based on
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...
's ''
Daniel Deronda
''Daniel Deronda'' is a novel written by Mary Ann Evans under the pen name of George Eliot, first published in eight parts (books) February to September 1876. It was the last novel she completed and the only one set in the Victorian society ...
''. After Goldfaden's former bit player
Jacob Adler
Jacob Pavlovich Adler (Yiddish: יעקבֿ פּאַװלאָװיטש אַדלער; born Yankev P. Adler; February 12, 1855 – April 1, 1926)IMDB biography was a Jewish actor and star of Yiddish theater, first in Odessa, and later in London and ...
— by now the owner of a prominent New York Yiddish theater — optioned and ignored it, even accusing Goldfaden of being "senile," it premiered successfully at rival
Boris Thomashefsky
Boris Thomashefsky (russian: Борис Пинхасович Томашевский, sometimes written Thomashevsky, Thomaschevsky, etc.; yi, באָריס טאָמאשעבסקי) (1868–1939), born Boruch-Aharon Thomashefsky, was a Ukrainian-b ...
's People's Theater December 25, 1907, with music by H. Friedzel and lyrics by Mogulescu, who was by this time an international star.
Goldfaden died in New York City in 1908. A contemporary account in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' estimated that 75,000 people turned out for his funeral, joining the procession from the People's Theater on
Bowery
The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...
to
Washington Cemetery Washington Cemetery may refer to:
*Washington Cemetery (Brooklyn)
*Washington Cemetery (Washington Court House, Ohio)
{{Disambiguation ...
in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
; in recent scholarship the number of mourners has been given as 30,000. In a follow-up article ''The New York Times'' called him "both a poet and a prophet," and noted that "there was more evidence of genuine sympathy with and admiration for the man and his work than is likely to be manifested at the funeral of any poet now writing in the English language in this country."
In November 2009, Goldfaden was the subject of postage stamps issued jointly by Israel and Romania.
Zionism
Goldfaden had an on-again off-again relationship with
Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...
. Some of his earliest poetry was Zionist ''avant la lettre'' and one of his last plays was written in Hebrew; several of his plays were implicitly or explicitly Zionist (''Shulamith'' set in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, ''Mashiach Tzeiten?!'' ending with its protagonists abandoning New York for
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
); he served as a delegate from Paris to the World Zionist Congress in 1900.
[Berkovitz, 2004, 15-16] Still, he spent most of his life (and set slightly more than half of his plays) in the
Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement (russian: Черта́ осе́длости, '; yi, דער תּחום-המושבֿ, '; he, תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, ') was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 19 ...
and in the adjoining Jewish areas in Romania, and when he left it was never to go to Palestine, but to cities such as New York, London or Paris. This might be understandable when the number of his potential Jewish spectators in Palestine in his time was very small.
Works
Plays
![Goldfaden Bar Kochba](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Goldfaden_Bar_Kochba.jpg)
Sources disagree about the dates (and even the names) of some of Goldfaden's plays. The titles here represent
YIVO
YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word '' ...
Yiddish>English transliteration, though other variants exist.
* ''Di Mumeh Soseh'' (''Aunt Susie'') wr. 1869
[Date according t]
Partial list of plays by Goldfaden
Many of these may be on the mark, but some (such as the absurdly early 1877 for a serious work such as ''Rabi Yoselman'') are obviously mistaken.[Date according to erkowitz, 2004/ref>
* ''Di Tzvey Sheynes'' (''The Two Neighbours'') wr. 1869] (possibly the same as ''Di Sheynes'' 1877[Date according to ercovici, 1998 Bercovici's dates have been boldfaced where dates are disputed; they may reasonably be seen as authoritative if no earlier date is given, since most are based on specific, cited theater productions.]
* ''Polyeh Shikor'' (''Polyeh, the Drunkard'') 1871
* ''Anonimeh Komedyeh'' (''Anonymous Comedy'') 1876
* ''Di Rekruten'' (''The Recruits'') 1876, 1877
* ''Dos Bintl Holtz'' (''The Bundle of Sticks'') 1876
* ''Fishl der balegole un zayn knecht Sider'' (''Fishel the Carter and His Servant Sider'') 1876
* ''Di Velt a Gan-Edn'' (''The World and Paradise'') 1876
* ''Der Farlibter Maskil un der Oifgeklerter Hosid'' (''The Infatuated Philosopher and the Enlightened Hasid'') 1876
* ''Der Shver mitn eydem'' (''Father-in-Law and Son-in-Law'') 1876
* ''Di Bobeh mit dem Eynikel'' (''The Grandmother and the Granddaughter'') 1876, 1879
* ''The Desolate Isle'', Yiddish translation of a play by August von Kotzebue
August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (; – ) was a German dramatist and writer who also worked as a consul in Russia and Germany.
In 1817, one of Kotzebue's books was burned during the Wartburg festival. He was murdered in 1819 by Karl L ...
, 1876
* ''Di Intrigeh oder Dvosye di pliotkemahern'' (''The Intrigue or Dvoisie Intrigued'') 1876, 1877
* ''A Gloz Vaser'' (''A Glass of Water'') 1877
* ''Hotye-mir un Zaytye-mir'' (''Leftovers'') 1877
* ''Shmendrik, oder Di komishe Chaseneh'' ('' Schmendrik or The Comical Wedding'') 1877, 1879
* ''Shuster un Shnayder'' (''Shoemaker and Tailor'') 1877
* ''Di Kaprizneh Kaleh, oder Kaptsnzon un Hungerman'' (''The Capricious Bride or Pauper-son and Hunger-man'') 1877[Date according to androw, 2003as a conservative date (that is, the play is known to have been written by this time).] presumably the same play as ''Di kaprizneh Kaleh-Moyd'' (''The Capricious Bridemaid'') 1887
* ''Yontl Shnayder'' (''Yontl the Tailor'') 1877
* ''Vos tut men?'' (''What Did He Do?'') 1877
* ''Di Shtumeh Kaleh'' (''The Mute Bride'') 1877, 1887
* ''Di Tsvey Toybe'' (''The Two Deaf Men'') 1877
* ''Der Gekoyfter Shlof'' (''The Purchased Sleep'') 1877
* ''Di Sheynes'' (''The Neighbors'') 1877
* ''Yukel un Yekel'' (''Yukel and Yekel'') 1877
* ''Der Katar'' (''Catarrh'') 1877
* ''Iks-Miks-Driks'', 1877
* ''Di Mumeh Sose'' (''Aunty Susie'') 1877
* ''Brayndele Kozak'' ('' Breindele Cossack''), 1877
* ''Der Podriatshik'' (''The Purveyor''), 1877
* ''Di Alte Moyd'' (''The Old Maid'') 1877
* ''Di Tsvey fardulte'' (''The Two Scatter-Brains'') 1877
* ''Di Shvebeleh'' (''Matches'') 1877
* ''Fir Portselayene Teler'' (''Four Porcelain Plates'') 1877
* ''Der Shpigl'' (''The Mirror'') 1877
* ''Toib, Shtum un Blind'' (''Deaf, Dumb and Blind'') 1878
* '' Der Ligner, oder Todres Bloz'' (''The Liar, or, Todres, Blow'') (or ''Todres the Trombonist'') 1878
* '' Ni-be-ni-me-ni-cucurigu'' (''Not Me, Not You, Not Cock-a-Doodle-Doo'' or ''Neither This, Nor That, nor Kukerikoo''; Lulla Rosenfeld also gives the alternate title ''The Struggle of Culture with Fanaticism'') 1878
* ''Der Heker un der Bleher-yung'' (''The Butcher and the Tinker'') 1878
* '' Di Kishefmakhern'' (''The Sorceress'', also known as ''The Witch of Botoşani
''The Witch of Botoşani'' or simply ''The Witch'' or ''The Sorceress'' (original Yiddish title ''Di Kishefmakhern'') was an 1878, or possibly 1877, play by Abraham Goldfaden. Like most of Goldfaden's major works, it included music.
The play was b ...
'') 1878, 1887
* ''Soufflé'', 1878
* ''Doy Intriganten'' (''Two Intriguers'') 1878
* ''Di tsvey Kuni-lemels'' (''The Fanatic, or The Two Kuni-Lemls
''The Flying Matchmaker'' (also: ''Two Kuni Lemel'', ''Shnei Kuni Leml'' or שני קוני למל) is a 1966 Israeli film musical directed by Israel Becker. The story is based on the 1880 Yiddish play ''Di tsvey Kuni-Lemels'' by Abraham Goldfaden ...
'') 1880
* ''Tchiyat Hametim'' (''The Winter of Death'') 1881
* ''Shulamith'' (''Shulamith'' or ''The Daughter of Jerusalem'') wr. 1880, 1881
* ''Dos Zenteh Gebot, oder Lo Tachmod'' (''The Tenth Commandment, or Thou Shalt Not Covet'') 1882, 1887
* ''Der Sambatyen'' (''Sambation
According to rabbinic literature, the Sambation () is the river beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were exiled by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V (Sanchairev).
Location
In the earliest references, such as the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the ...
'') 1882
* ''Doktor Almasada, oder Di Yiden in Palermo'' (''Doctor Almasada, or The Jews of Palermo'' also known as ''Doctor Almasado'', ''Doctor Almaraso'', ''Doctor Almasaro
''Doctor Almasaro, or The Jews of Palermo'' (Yiddish: ''Doctor Almasaro, oder Die Yiden in Palermo'') is a historical, dramatic play in rhymed couplets by Abraham Goldfaden, written some time between 1880 and 1883. The title character's name is al ...
'') 1880, 1883
* ''Bar Kokhba
Simon ben Koseba or Cosiba ( he, שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר כֹסֵבָא, translit= Šīmʾōn bar Ḵōsēḇaʾ ; died 135 CE), commonly known as Bar Kokhba ( he, שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר כּוֹכְבָא, translit=Šīmʾōn bar ...
'', 1883, 1885
* ''Akeydos Yitschok'' (''The Sacrifice of Isaac''), 1891
* ''Dos Finfteh Gebot, oder Kibed Ov'' (''The Fifth Commandment, or Honor Thy Father''), 1892
* ''Rabi Yoselman, oder Di Gzerot fun Alsas'' ('' Rabbi Yoselman, or The Alsatian Decree'') 1877, 1892
* ''Judas Maccabeus'', 1892
* ''Judith and Holofernes'', 1892
* ''Mashiach Tzeiten?!'' (''The Messianic Era?!'') 1891 1893
* Yiddish translation of Johann Strauss
Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ove ...
's '' Gypsy Baron'' 1894
* ''Sdom Veamora'' (''Sodom and Gomorrah'') 1895
* ''Di Katastrofe fun Brayla'' (''The Catastrophe in Brăila'') 1895
* ''Meylits Yoysher'' (''The Messenger of Justice'') 1897
* ''David ba-Milchama'' (''David in the War'') 1906, in Hebrew
* ''Ben Ami'' (''Son of My People'') 1907, 1908
Songs and poetry
Goldfaden wrote hundreds of songs and poems. Among his most famous are:
* ''"Der Malekh"'' ("The Angel")
* ''"Royzhinkes mit mandlen"'' ( Raisins and Almonds)
* ''"Shabes, Yontev, un Rosh Khoydesh"'' ("Sabbath, Festival, and New Moon")
* ''"Tsu Dayn Geburtstag!"'' ("To Your Birthday!")
See also
* Yiddish theater
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 ...
* List of Jewish Romanians
This is a list of Romanian Jews who are or were Jewish or of Jewish ancestry.
Academics
* Aaron Aaronsohn, botanist
* J. J. Benjamin, historian
* Martin Bercovici, energy engineer
* Randolph L. Braham, political scientist, historian
* Nicolae ...
Notes and references
Notes
References
References
* — "East Side Honors Poet of its Masses; Cooper Union Throng Cheers Eliakum Zunser," ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', March 31, 1905, p. 7.
* —, "Noted Jewish Bard Dead," ''The New York Times'', January 10, 1908, p. 7.
* —, "75,000 at Poet's Funeral," ''The New York Times'', January 11, 1908, p. 1.
* —, "Burial of a Yiddish Poet," ''The New York Times'', January 12, 1908, p. 8.
* —
Partial list of plays by Goldfaden
the names are useful, but some of the dates are certainly incorrect. Retrieved January 11, 2005.
* Adler, Jacob, ''A Life on the Stage: A Memoir'', translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld, Knopf, New York, 1999, .
* Bercovici, Israil, ''O sută de ani de teatru evreiesc în România'' ("One hundred years of Yiddish/Jewish theater in Romania"), 2nd Romanian-language edition, revised and augmented by Constantin Măciucă. Editura Integral (an imprint of Editurile Universala), Bucharest (1998). . ''See the article on the author for further publication information.'' This is the primary source for the article. Bercovici cites many sources. In particular, the account of the 1873 concert in Odessa is attributed to ''Archiv far der geşihte dun idişn teater un drame'', Vilna-New York, 1930, vol. I, pag. 225.
* Berkowitz, Joel
Avrom Goldfaden and the Modern Yiddish Theater: The Bard of Old Constantine
archived 18 Feb 2006 from th
original
(PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
), ''Pakn Treger'', no. 44, Winter 2004, 10–19.
* Jacobs, Joseph and Wiernik, Peter
Goldfaden, Abraham B. Hayyim Lippe
in the ''Jewish Encyclopedia
''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
'' (1901–1906). The article is not terribly well researched, but is useful for the names of books, etc.
* Benjamin Nathans, Gabriella Safran (ed),''Culture Front - Representing Jews in Eastern Europe'', University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.
* Michael Riff, ''The Face of Survival: Jewish Life in Eastern Europe Past and Present''. Vallentine Mitchell, London, 1992, .
* Sandrow, Nahma, "The Father of Yiddish Theater,
''Zamir'', Autumn 2003
(PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
), 9-15. There is much interesting material here, but Sandrow does retail a story about Goldfaden being a poor stage performer, which Bercovici debunks.
* Wolitz, Seth L. (August 9, 2010).
Goldfadn, Avrom
" ''YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe''.
External links
*
Literature by and about Abraham Goldfaden in University Library JCS Frankfurt am Main: Digital Collections Judaica
* Anca Mocanu, Avram Goldfaden şi teatrul ca identitate, Editura Fundaţia Culturală „Camil Petrescu” - revista „Teatrul Azi”, 201
Avram Goldfaden and Theater as Identity
The Camil Petrescu Cultural Foundation - „Teatrul Azi” magazine Publishing, Romanian Theater Gallery series http://www.fnt.ro/2012/en/Program/Avram-Goldfaden-and-Theater-as-Identity/
* McBee, Richard . ''The Jewish Press
''The Jewish Press'' is an American weekly newspaper based in Brooklyn, New York, and geared toward the Modern Orthodox Jewish community. It describes itself as "America's Largest Independent Jewish Weekly".
''The Jewish Press'' has an online v ...
'' (New York) January 7, 2004: review of a 2003 performance of Goldfaden's operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
''Akeydes Yitskhok'' (''"The Sacrifice of Isaac
Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...
"'').
Avraham Levinson - article in Hebrew about Goldfaden on line
Abraham Goldfaden Collection
at the YIVO
YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word '' ...
Institute for Jewish Research, NY
* Free song lyrics in Yiddish and sheet music by Abraham Goldfaden http://ulrich-greve.eu/free/goldfaden.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldfaden, Abraham
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