Stempenyu ( yi, סטעמפּעניו, 1822–79) was the popular name of Iosif Druker (), a
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 ...
violin virtuoso, bandleader and composer from
Berdychiv
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 ...
,
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 was one of a handful of celebrity nineteenth century Jewish folk violinists from Ukraine; others included Aron-Moyshe Kholodenko "
Pedotser
Pedotser ( yi, פדהצור or , 1828–1902), also pronounced Pedutser in some Yiddish dialects, was the popular name of Aron-Moyshe Kholodenko, a nineteenth century Klezmer violin virtuoso, composer and bandeader from Berdychiv, Russian Empire. H ...
" (also from Berdychiv) and Yechiel Goyzman "
Alter Chudnover
Alter Chudnover ( yi, אלטער טשודנאָװער, 1846–1913), whose real name was Yehiel Goyzman or Hausman ( or ), was a nineteenth century Klezmer violinist from the Russian Empire. He was one of a number of virtuosic klezmers of the ni ...
" from
Chudniv
Chudniv ( ua, Чуднів, pl, Cudnów, yi, טשודנאוו, russian: Чу́днов) is a city in Zhytomyr Raion, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine. Prior to 2020, it was the administrative center of the former Chudniv Raion. Population:
History
...
.
Sholem Aleichem
)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Pereiaslav, Russian Empire
, death_date =
, death_place = New York City, U.S.
, occupation = Writer
, nationality =
, period =
, genre = Novels, sh ...
loosely based his 1888 novel ''
Stempenyu: A Jewish Novel'' on the real-life Stempenyu; it was adapted into various stage and film versions in the twentieth century.
Biography
Iosif (Yossele) Druker was born in
Berdychiv
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 ...
,
Kiev Governorate
Kiev Governorate, r=Kievskaya guberniya; uk, Київська губернія, Kyivska huberniia (, ) was an administrative division of the Russian Empire from 1796 to 1919 and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1919 to 1925. It wa ...
, Russian Empire in 1822 (now located in
Zhytomyr Oblast
Zhytomyr Oblast ( uk, Жито́мирська о́бласть, translit=Zhytomyrska oblast), also referred to as Zhytomyrshchyna ( uk, Жито́мирщина}) is an oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. The administrative center of the obla ...
, Ukraine).
His father, Sholem Druker, was a musically literate klezmer clarinet player and bandleader; according to
Joachim Stutschewsky
Joachim-Yehoyachin Stutschewsky, ( he, יהויכין סטוצ'בסקי, russian: Иоахим Стучевский, 7 February 1891 – 14 November 1982) was a Ukraine-born Austrian and Israeli cellist, composer, musicologist.
Biography
Joachim- ...
their family may have come from somewhere else in Kiev Governorate, possibly
Hornostaipil
Hornostaipil ( uk, Горностайпіль, russian: Горностайполь, Yiddish: ''Horensteipl, Hornosteipel'') is a Ukrainian village in northern Ukraine, which is part of Vyshhorod Raion within Kyiv Oblast. It belongs to Ivankiv set ...
or
Radomyshl
Radomyshl ( uk, Радомишль, translit., ''Radomyshl’'', pl, Radomyśl, yi, ראַדאָמישל, russian: Радомышль) is a historic city in Zhytomyr Raion, Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Prior to 2020, it was ...
.
Iosif was sent to
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
to study violin as a youth.
He then returned to Berdychiv and rejoined his father's klezmer orchestra at the age of twelve, although at age fifteen he is thought to have left and spent several years developing his craft in various other towns.
When he returned to Berdychiv he eventually took over his father's orchestra.
He was said to have masterful control over the violin and to be able to deliver a wide range of emotions and interpretations to his performances.
Berdychiv was a large enough to have several competing klezmer ensembles in the late nineteenth century, all with a high level of musicianship: Stempenyu's,
Pedotser
Pedotser ( yi, פדהצור or , 1828–1902), also pronounced Pedutser in some Yiddish dialects, was the popular name of Aron-Moyshe Kholodenko, a nineteenth century Klezmer violin virtuoso, composer and bandeader from Berdychiv, Russian Empire. H ...
's, and that of another bandleader named Moyshe-Abe.
Stempenyu is generally said to have died in 1879, although the details are not specified anywhere.
Legacy
The most recognizable legacy of Stempenyu, which has made him a household name for the past century, is that he was fictionalized in Sholem Aleichem's novel
Stempenyu: A Jewish Novel, a work rich in ethnographic detail about the klezmer world. Sholem Aleichem traveled to Berdychiv in the 1880s (after Stempenyu had already died) to collect information for his novel. He claimed to have been mostly faithful to the facts he gathered about Stempenyu from older people and fellow musicians in Berdychiv. However, Stutschewsky and others have said that it is difficult to know which parts of the novel were true to the historical figure and which were artistic license.
Even
Moisei Beregovsky
Moisei Iakovlevich Beregovsky (russian: Моисей Яковлевич Береговский, yi, משה אהרן בערעגאָווסקי; 1892–1961) was a Soviet Jewish folklorist and ethnomusicologist from Ukraine, who published mainly in ...
, who visited Berdychiv during the Soviet period, found that Druker's grandchildren took the novel as a factual account of their ancestor's life.
After Druker died, his klezmer ensemble was led by his relative Wolf Cherniavsky (himself a relative of
Joseph Cherniavsky
Joseph Cherniavsky ( yi, יוסף טשערניאַװסקי) (c. 1890-1959) was a Jewish American cellist, theatre and film composer, orchestra director, and recording artist. He wrote for the Yiddish theatre, made some of the earliest novelty rec ...
and other American musicians).
Although his compositions were never published in his lifetime, and Druker died before the age of sound recording, some of his works were passed on and written down by other musicians.
A number of these manuscripts have ended up in the collection of the
Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine
The Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, VNLU ( uk, Національна бібліотека України імені В.І. Вернадського) is the main academic library and main scientific information centre in Ukraine, one of t ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stempenyu
1822 births
1879 deaths
Violinists from the Russian Empire
Klezmer musicians
People from Berdychiv
Composers from the Russian Empire
Jewish composers
Ukrainian Jews