Max Helfman

Max Helfman ( yi, מאַקס העלפמאַן, 1901–1963) was a Polish-born American Jewish composer, choral conductor, pianist, singer, and educator. He had a long career arranging both secular and religious Jewish music and was considered to have a gift for writing music that was both singable and emotionally complex, which was modern and original and yet rooted in traditional folk and synagogue melodies.

Among his best known works are his (1942), a Sabbath Cantata, and his (1948), a Yiddish-language Cantata about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He directed many choirs and educational institutes on both the east and west coasts, most famously the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in California for seventeen years; his influence is most strongly felt on the religious music of Reform Judaism. He was also well known for socialist and pro-Zionist causes and affiliations.

Biography

Early life

He was born Motel Helfman on 25 May 1901 in Radzyń Podlaski, Congress Poland. His mother was named Eva Daniels and his father Nathan Helfman taught and led a choir as well as working as a mohel and hazzan. Max sang in his father's choir from a young age and was already noticed for his excellent singing voice. They lived in Warsaw for a time before emigrating. In August 1909, the family left Poland, sailing from Rotterdam to New York City and settling in the Lower East Side.

He continued to develop his youthful interest in music and singing, and almost immediately after the family arrived in 1909, he was already performing solos in school productions and as an alto in synagogues. Joseph Rumshinsky supposedly heard Helfman singing as a boy sololist and was impressed by his "silver bell"-like voice. He graduated from high school in 1918 with a music award that gave him a scholarship at the Mannes School of Music in New York. He completed a degree at the Mannes School, and his graduating composition won a prize. In April 1926 he married his wife Florence, a fellow pianist. They had two children, David and Naomi. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1939.

Music career

In the mid-1920s, Helfman attempted to make a name for himself as a composer, and also worked as an organist and choir director at various places in New York and New Jersey. Although his training was in Classical music, Helfman mainly dedicated himself to both Secular and religious Jewish music. One of his early large works, , surprised audiences with its complexity. As well, he soon found that he had a gift for directing a choir, even a very large one. In 1928 his early success gained him a fellowship at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying under such figures as Fritz Reiner (conducting), Ralph Leopold (piano), and Rosario Scalero (composition). He stayed at the Curtis Institute until 1931.

As the 1930s went on Helfman took on more leadership roles and his prestige increased as a choir conductor and arranger. He became known for his innovative techniques in physically directing the choir, arranging music that had a Jewish feel in every voice part, and improvising interesting changes with each performance. The largest of these secular choirs was the 200-member, communist-affiliated Freiheit Gezang Farein (founded by Lazar Weiner), which he became director of in 1936–7 when Jacob Schaefer died. He also led other secular choirs during the 1930s; a 50-person Arbeter Ring choir based in Paterson and one in Passaic, New Jersey. When booked for a large event he would sometimes bring multiple choirs together to sing with four or five hundred voices. In 1938 he became director of the Handel Choir in Westfield, New Jersey