Marina Gordon (11 December 1917 – 13 December 2013) was a

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian-born American singer and coloratura soprano. She has been known as a performer of popular songs written to lyrics by contemporaneous authors in

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 ...

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 ...

, and Belarusian in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and in 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 territori ...

Life and career

Marina Gordon was born on December 11, 1917, in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

. At the age of 16, she was accepted into the vocal studio of the Minsk Opera House. Thereafter, she continued studies at the Minsk Conservatory. In 1940 she was granted the option to continue her vocal training at the Glazunov College of Theatre and Music in Moscow, where she graduated in 1946. Meanwhile, she was accepted as a soloist to the USSR State Pop Orchestra. During World War II she got enlisted first into the militia, than drafted into the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

to perform in military arts ensembles for Soviet troops. After World War II she was a soloist of the Moscow Variety Shows Enterprise. Upon retiring, she immigrated to the US in 1977. Gordon died on December 13, 2013, in New York.

Repertoire and recordings

Marina Gordon was performing mostly contemporaneous Russian and Belorussian songs, premiering many works by once highly celebrated Soviet composers like Isaac Dunayevsky, Yuri Milyutin, and the

Pokrass Brothers The Pokrass brothers were Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a ...

. In 1956 she participated in a Jewish concert, the first to be allowed by Soviet authorities since the infamous "

Night of the Murdered Poets The Night of the Murdered Poets (; yi, הרוגי מלכות פֿונעם ראַטנפאַרבאַנד, translit=Harugey malkus funem Ratnfarband, lit=Soviet Union Martyrs) was the execution of thirteen Soviet Jews in the Lubyanka Prison in Mosco ...

". Marina Gordon performed a selection of songs composed to verses by contemporaneous

poets lived in the

. Since then she championed a similar repertoire created by composers

Lev Pulver Lev Mikhaylovich Pulver (Yiddish pronunciation: Leib Pulver, yi, לייב פּולווער, European spelling: Leo Pulver, russian: link=no, Пульвер, Лев Михайлович), was a Russian-Jewish musician. He was born on in Verkhn ...

, Lev Yampolsky, Samuel Polonsky, Rebecka Boyarska, Samuel Senderey and others. She was giving solo performances and was participating in concerts featuring music, poetry and drama by Yiddish actors Leah and Joseph Kolins. She made numerous recordings of contemporary Jewish songs. Her last two albums were recorded in collaboration with concertmaster/pianist David Ashkenazi (the father of the legendary

Vladimir Ashkenazi Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He ...

) and the Soviet State Broadcast Pop Orchestra under direction of Vladimir Terletsky.

References

Sources

*Rita Ottens
«Ich mochte stolz sein auf die Kunst meines Volkes»

Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 'Die'' (; en, " heNew Journal of Music") is a music magazine, co-founded in Leipzig by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke. Its first issue appeared on 3 April 1834. His ...

2006/04 Schott Music.

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

. Germany (in German). {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Marina 1917 births 2013 deaths Musicians from Minsk Soviet emigrants to the United States 20th-century Belarusian women singers Belarusian Jews Jewish American musicians American operatic sopranos Yiddish-language singers 21st-century American women Soviet women in World War II