Max Leibowitz ( yi, מאקס לײבאװיטש) (born c.1884 in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

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 ...

, died 1942,

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) was an American

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

violinist, composer and bandleader in

primarily in the 1910s and 1920s.

Biography

Early life

Leibowitz was born in

in June 1883 or 1884. Little is known about his family background, whether he was from a klezmer family, or what his musical training was. In September 1905 he emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

along with his wife Sarah. He had 3 children: Isadore (born c.1908), Molly (c.1911) and Albert (born 1920).

Music career

It isn't clear what Leibowitz did for the first decade he was in the United States, although in the 1910 census he did list his occupation as musician. It was in June 1916, possibly because

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 ...

made local musicians more valuable to record companies, that he was first recruited to record a test pressing for the

Victor Recording Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidia ...

. He then followed it with a disc released on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

of himself playing violin accompanied by

cimbalom The cimbalom (; ) or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by V. Josef Schunda in 1874 in ...

, a highly traditional pairing in Eastern Europe, but one which was only rarely recorded in American Jewish music. Those recordings were made with the cimbalom player "Silver", who may be Jacob Silber (1882-1952), who otherwise played percussion in Leibowitz's and other klezmer orchestras, as well as the

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...

in later years. Max Leibowitz orchestra from 1921 score cover (Cropped)

He was a contemporary of other Romanian-born klezmer bandleaders and recording artists in the

area that included Abe Schwartz,

Joseph Moskowitz Joseph Moskowitz ( yi, יאָסעלע מאָשקאָװיטש, 1879 – 1954) was a Romanian-born American cimbalom player, composer, restaurant owner and recording artist in New York City during the first half of the twentieth century. A desce ...

Abe Katzman Abraham "Abe" Katzman (1868–1940, yi, אברהם קאצמאן) was a Klezmer violinist, bandleader, composer, and Brunswick Records recording artist of the 1920s. He was the father of film producer Sam Katzman, uncle of American arranger and b ...

, and Milu Lemisch (in Philadelphia). He is listed as composer of some Yiddish songs recorded in the early twentieth century, such as ''Der yold is mich mekone'' ("The fool envies me.") and ''Es iz shoin farfallen''. Irene Heskes, compiler of Yiddish popular music listings, lists Leibowitz as part of a large cohort of "Jewish bandsmen" such as

Naftule Brandwein Naftule Brandwein, or Naftuli Brandwine, ( yi, נפתלי בראַנדװײַן, 1884–1963) was an Austrian-born Jewish American Klezmer musician, clarinetist, bandleader and recording artist active from the 1910s to the 1940s. Along with ...

Dave Tarras Dave Tarras (c. 1895 – February 13, 1989) was a Ukrainian-born American klezmer clarinetist and bandleader, a celebrated klezmer musician, instrumental in Klezmer revival. Biography Early life Tarras was born David Tarasiuk in Teplyk, Ukrai ...

Harry Kandel Harry Kandel (c. 1885–1943) was an American clarinetist and klezmer bandleader of the early twentieth century. His recording career with the Victor Recording Company lasted from 1916 to 1927, during which he released dozens of Jewish music r ...

and others who "fashioned unique qualities for the Jewish dance tunes in America" during that era. There was often tough competition between these bandleaders; in 1923 Leibowitz sued Naftule Brandwein for allegedly plagiarizing a klezmer tune he had already copyrighted. The case ended up being dismissed because Leibowitz had still been a Romanian citizen when he had copyrighted the work, which gave him less protection than an American citizen would have had. After that lawsuit, the two men must have reconciled, because they continued to work together. In 1926 Leibowitz and his son Isidore opened a short-lived Romanian restaurant in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

in 1942 at age 57. He was buried in the

Baron Hirsch Cemetery Baron Hirsch Cemetery is a large Jewish cemetery in the neighborhood of Graniteville, on Staten Island, in New York City, and named for Baron Maurice de Hirsch. History Baron Hirsch was established in 1899. In January 1960, the cemetery drew ...

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

Selected recordings

* Yiddischer tanz/Yiddisch chusidel (1916) * Tanzt, Tanzt, Yiddelach/Beim Rebeh's Sideh (1917) * Orientalishe Melodien (1919) * Der Galitzianer Chosid/Yiddisher Bulgar (1920) * Russian Sher Quadril/Mazel Tov (1920)

External links

Handwritten scores
of klezmer music by Max Leibowitz in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Yiddish American Popular Sheet Music collection

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leibowitz, Max Klezmer musicians American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Romanian emigrants to the United States 1884 births Musicians from Iași American violinists Composers from New York City American bandleaders