Lev Mikhaylovich Pulver (

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 ve ...

pronunciation: Leib Pulver, yi, לייב פּולווער, European spelling: Leo Pulver, russian: link=no, Пульвер, Лев Михайлович), was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

-Jewish musician. He was born on in Verkhnedneprovsk, near

Yekaterinoslav Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

(now Dnipropetrovsk), former

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. ...

(now

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 ...

), and died on 18 March 1970 in Moscow, Russia. He was an offspring of a renowned klezmorim's family. Pulver studied violin since early childhood, at first with his father; later on, he studied with his brother-in-law, a disciple of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

violinist Otakar Sevcik. Pulver graduated from

St. Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...

, where he studied violin and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

under A.K. Lyadov. Initially, he was a violinist and composer in a wandering Ukrainian theatre group. Later on, he was a symphonic concert-master and conductor, a founding member of the

Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, '' Stradivarius'', as well as the collo ...

Quartet. He was the musical director of the State Jewish Theatre in Moscow (the

GOSET The Moscow State Jewish (Yiddish) Theatre (Russian: Московский Государственный Еврейский Театр; Yiddish: Moskver melukhnisher yidisher teater), also known by its acronym GOSET (ГОСЕТ), was a Yiddish theat ...

). Pulver was awarded the titles of People's Artist of RSFSR and Distinguished Arts Master of RSFSR.

Compositions

Pulver composed incidental music for works including

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 natio ...

's ''King Lear'';

Sholom Aleichem ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Pereiaslav, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = New York City, U.S. , occupation = Writer , nationality = , period = , genre = Novels, sh ...

's ''200.000'' and ''The Man of the Air''; ''Adventures of Benjamin the Third'' after

Mendele Mocher Sforim Mendele Mocher Sforim ( yi, , he, מנדלי מוכר ספרים, also known as Moykher, Sfarim; lit. "Mendele the book peddler"; January 2, 1836, Kapyl – December 8, 1917 .S. Odessa), born Sholem Yankev Abramovich ( yi, , russian: Соло ...

;

Abraham Goldfaden Abraham Goldfaden (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם גאָלדפֿאַדען; born Avrum Goldnfoden; 24 July 1840 – 9 January 1908), also known as Avram Goldfaden, was a Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in the languages Yid ...

's ''The Sorceress'' (in collaboration with

Joseph Achron Joseph Yulyevich Achron, also seen as Akhron (Russian: Иосиф Юльевич Ахрон, Hebrew: יוסף אחרון) (May 1, 1886April 29, 1943) was a Russian-born Jewish composer and violinist, who settled in the United States. His preoccu ...

); and Zalman Shneyer's ''Freylekhs'' (in collaboration with Maximilian Shteynberg). He also composed operettas (''Gulliver'', ''Inside the Big Top'', ''What is her name?''), movie scores, songs, and Yiddish folk-song arrangements. Some of his tunes have been considered as Jewish

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. He was one of the important musicians bridging the traditional Eastern European

Jewish music Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish people. There exist both traditions of religious music, as sung at the synagogue and domestic prayers, and of secular music, such as klezmer. While some elements of Jewish music may originate ...

with the Western classical music forms.

Artists about Lev Pulver

L.M. Pulver has a sophisticated sense of incidental music's essence./ ... /.Pulver is especially aware of those moments in scenic plots when a direct calling for the music to sound is there. Moreover, this is not surprising: he started playing since nine years of age as a wandering weddings-musician. Thereafter, while being an already accomplished musician, he went on with playing in theaters, first at the orchestra of the Ukrainian Opera, then at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. His theatrical experience left a lasting impression on all of his works. His music is effectively theatrical. /

Solomon Mikhoels Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels ( yi, שלמה מיכאעלס lso spelled שלוימע מיכאעלס during the Soviet era russian: Cоломон (Шлойме) Михоэлс, – 13 January 1948) was a Latvian born Soviet Jewish actor and the ar ...

/ ... (My) father started a job at Mikhoels' Jewish Theatre .That theatre might have been considered as a musical one. In charge of the orchestra and of all the musical life (there) was an energetic gifted man – Lev Pulver. All of the music was written by him, and he conducted as well. Their productions reminded of the today's musicals. /

Kirill Kondrashin Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin (, ''Kirill Petrovič Kondrašin''; – 7 March 1981) was a Soviet and Russian conductor. People's Artist of the USSR (1972). Early life Kondrashin was born in Moscow to a family of orchestral musicians. Having spent ...

Recordings

A few recordings of his music are available featuring the performances of the

orchestra with

and Benjamin Zuskin, as well as by singers Solomon Khromchenko, Misha Alexandrovich, Nechama Lifshitz, Marina Gordon and actors

Emil Gorovets Rahmil "Emil" Yacovlevich Gorovets (in Russian Рахмиль Яковлевич Горовец; 10 June 1923, in Haisyn, Ukraine – 17 August 2001, in New York) was a famous Soviet Ukrainian singer of Jewish origin, Gorovets standing for Hor ...

and Boris Landau.

References

* 1.Музыка: Большой Энциклопедический словарь. М., 1998 * 2.КЕЭ, том 6, кол. 885–886 * 3. Leyb Pulver, "Epizodn fun mayn lebn" (עפיזאדן פון מיין לעבן), in '' Sovetish Heymland'' ("סאוועטיש היימלאנד", Moscow), 1970, no. 1-2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pulver, Lev 1883 births 1970 deaths Jewish musicians People from Verkhnodniprovsk People's Artists of the RSFSR Soviet composers Russian Jews Soviet musicians Yiddish-language music