Yiddish song is a general description of several genres of music sung 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 ver ...

which includes songs of

Yiddish theatre Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revu ...

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 ...

songs, and "Yiddish art song" after the model of the German

Lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

and French

mélodie A ''mélodie'' () is a form of French art song, arising in the mid-19th century. It is comparable to the German ''Lied''. A ''chanson'', by contrast, is a folk or popular French song. The literal meaning of the word in the French language is "melod ...

The Yiddish language and song

From the fourteenth century secular songs were sung in Yiddish, though rabbis of the period directed that sacred songs were only to be sung in Hebrew.

Yiddish folk songs

One of the main genres of Yiddish folk song in Central and Eastern Europe is

, which was also exported to America and Israel, though Henry Sapoznik (2005) writes "Historically, Yiddish song and theater have had a higher visibility than klezmer music in Israel." Generally 17th and 18th century songs and lullabies are anonymous, but the composers of others such as are known; such as "On The Hearth" by

Mark Warshawsky Mark Markovich Warshawsky (Varshavsky) (russian: Марк Маркович Варшавский, yi, מאַרק וואַרשאַווסקי; 26 November 1848In contrast to more recent scholarship, Noach Prilutski (1882-1941), in an article translat ...

Yiddish theatre songs

In Europe many of the songs of the

companies were composed as incidental music to musical theatre, or at least plays with strong musical content, whereas others are "hit" individual arias and numbers culled from Yiddish operetta. In America, aside from America's own Yiddish theatres, songwriters and composers employed Yiddish folk and theatre songs, along with synagogue modes and melodies, as material for the music of

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and Hollywood.

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russi ...

was one of the popular composers to move from Yiddish song to English songs. is an example of a Yiddish song which was later recast as an English hit.

Yiddish political and secular choral song

Di Shvue "" ( yi, links=no, די שבֿועה, literally: "The Oath"; also known as "") was written by S. Ansky in 1902. This Yiddish song became the anthem of the socialist, General Jewish Labour Bund in the early 1900s.http://www.stanford.edu/class/heb ...

'' "The Oath" (1902) was the Yiddish anthem of the socialist, General Jewish Labour Bund in early 1900s Russia. Another song by the same composer,

S. Ansky Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport (1863 – November 8, 1920), known by his pseudonym S. Ansky (or An-sky), was a Jewish author, playwright, researcher of Jewish folklore, polemicist, and cultural and political activist. He is best known for his play ' ...

(Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport), was '' In Zaltsikn Yam'' "In the Salty Sea". Yiddish workers' choral societies continued - including that led by Lazar Weiner in New York until the 1960s. ''

Zog Nit Keyn Mol "Zog nit keyn mol" (''Never Say''; yi, זאָג ניט קיין מאָל, ) sometimes "Zog nit keynmol" or "Partizaner lid" 'Partisan Song'' is a Yiddish song considered one of the chief anthems of Holocaust survivors and is sung in memorial ...

'' "Never say (this is the end of the road)" was a partisan song written in 1943 by

Hirsh Glick Hirsch Glick (1922 in Wilno, Poland – 1944 in Estonia) was a Jewish poet and partisan. Glick was born in Wilno in 1922 (at the time a part of inter-war Poland). He began to write Yiddish poetry in his teens and became co-founder of '' Yungvald ...

, for the

Vilna Ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered Reichskommissariat Ostland. During the approximat ...

resistance.

Yiddish art songs

Composers of self-consciously "serious" Yiddish art songs include the composers of the

Society for Jewish Folk Music The Jewish art music movement began at the end of the 19th century in Russia, with a group of Russian Jewish classical composers dedicated to preserving Jewish folk music and creating a new, characteristically Jewish genre of classical music. The ...

founded in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1908 which was associated with composers including "the Jewish Glinka" Michael Gniessin,

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 ...

, Moses Milner,

Lazare Saminsky Lazare Saminsky, born Lazar Semyonovich Saminsky (russian: Лазарь (Элиэзер) Семенович Саминский; Valehotsulove (now Dolynske), near Odessa, 27 October 1882 O.S. / 8 November N.S. – Port Chester, New York, 30 Jun ...

Alexander Krein Alexander Abramovich Krein (; 20 October 1883 in Nizhny Novgorod – 25 April 1951 in Staraya Ruza, Moscow Oblast) was a Soviet composer. Background The Krein family was steeped in the klezmer tradition; his father Abram (who moved to Russia fr ...

, and Solomon Rosowsky. In America composers included young immigrants

Lazar Weiner Lazar Weiner (October 24, 1897 in Cherkassy – January 10, 1982 in Flushing, Queens) was an Imperial Russian-born, American-naturalized composer of Yiddish song.Obituary ''Jewish folklore and ethnology newsletter'' American Folklore Society ...

, Solomon Golub, film composer

Henech Kon Henech Kon or Henryk Kon (9 August 1890 – 20 April 1972) was a Polish composer and cabaret performer. Kon was born in Łódź to a Chassidic family, and sent at the age of 12 to his grandfather in Kutno, where he studied Torah but also studied w ...

, and Los Angeles cantor Paul Lamkoff. Though like many German Lieder and French mélodies Yiddish art songs may make sensitive use of folk tunes. One example of a conscious 21st Century approach to the Yiddish folk song as art song, as tribute to Schubert, are the ''A Yiddish Winterreise'' and cycles of folk songs arranged by Alexander Knapp for English baritone

Mark Glanville Mark Glanville (born London, England) is an English classical singer and writer. He grew up in West London with his father, the writer Brian Glanville. Writer Mark chronicled his early life, including flirtations with the world of football hooli ...

. New settings of Yiddish poetry continue today as well including (2012), a selection of

Abraham Sutzkever Abraham Sutzkever ( yi, אַבֿרהם סוצקעווער, Avrom Sutskever; he, אברהם סוצקבר; July 15, 1913 – January 20, 2010) was an acclaimed Yiddish poet. ''The New York Times'' wrote that Sutzkever was "the greatest poet o ...

poems set to music by

Judith Shatin Judith Shatin (Allen) (b. November 21, 1949) is an American composer. Currently, she is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor at the University of Virginia. She also founded and is Director of the Virginia Center for Computer Music.Anna Margolin,

Rachel Korn Rachel (Rokhl) Häring Korn ( yi, רחל קאָרן, 15 January 1898 – 9 September 1982) was a Polish-born Canadian Yiddish language poet and author. In total, she published eight collections of poetry and two of prose. Seymour Mayne characteriz ...

, and others by

Alex Weiser Alex Weiser is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Biography Weiser was born in New York City to a Jewish family. He attended Stuyvesant High School and Yale University, and received a master's degree in Music Theory and Compos ...

which was named a 2020 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Music.

Selected Recordings

Art song * ''The Yiddish Art Song'' Leon Lishner, bass;

, piano. Omega * ''A Yiddish Winterreise'' Mark Glanville, baritone; Alexander Knapp, piano. Naxos. Includes songs by Mordecai Gebirtig, and others.

References

{{reflist Jewish music Yiddish-language literature