David Nowakowsky
Encyclopedia
David Nowakowsky was a Russian
/Ukrainian
Jewish composer, choirmaster and music teacher. Along with several contemporaries, Nowakowsky integrated traditional Jewish liturgical modes with western harmonies and styles, reinvigorating music for the synagogue
. He was also noted as the music director and choirmaster of the Brody Synagogue in Odessa
for 50 years. Acclaimed during his lifetime, his work is not well known today although he is mentioned in Ira Gershwin's song, Tchaikovsky
.
in the Ukraine in 1848, part of the Machnovska. Little of his early life is known, although there are several stories that survive. At 8 he left home, apparently due to the hounding of his stepmother, to sing in a trio with a cantor
in the nearby town of Smelnik. He was later orphaned and joined the choir of cantor Spitzberg in Berditchev. He also studied traditional Jewish liturgical modes with cantor Yerucham (HaKaton) Blindman, and organ, theory and counterpoint at the Conservatory in Berdychiv
. At the age of 13 he began to conduct cantor Spitzberg's choir.
, and to instruct in the choir school that Blumenthal had established.
Blumenthal had experimented with the use of western songs and the German language with traditional Jewish choruses. For instance, he used Handel's "Hallelujah" chorus from The Messiah
sung to the words of Psalm 113: “"Halleluhu: hallelu avdei adonai" ("Praise the Lord, O servants of the Lord").
Nowakowsky followed this concept but used Hebrew instead, adapting Felix Mendelssohn
's Opus 91 setting of Psalm 98 for his chorus. This led to some fame for the synagogue, which was often visited by non-Jews simply to listen to the music. Their use of organ
during services was soon picked up by larger synagogues, who's members were visiting Brody. However, Blumenthal was not widely supportive of Nowakowsky's own compositions.
In 1891 Pinchas Minkowsky replaced Blumenthal at Brody, and started to showcase Nowakowsky's own compositions. It was Minkowsky who first proclaimed Nowakowsky a genius, lauding the composer in his own autobiography of 1924, writing that Nowakowsky "never resorted to 'lemonade music,' with cadenzas from Italian opera, as they do in America." When Nowakowsky sent a symphony to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
for review, Tchaikovsky lamented "It's a pity that you waste your time writing for the synagogue. Symphonic music has lost a great master." During his time at Brody, Nowakowsky also taught music at the Odessa Orphan Asylum as well as three other music schools, and later became a Professor of Theory and Harmony at the People's Conservatory of Odessa.
With the opening of the pogrom
s in 1881, the position of the Jewish population in Odessa steadily declined. Minkowsly fled to the US in 1905, but Nowakowsky remained. Nowakowsky died on 25 July 1921, "deserted and poor", none of his major works having been published. He left five children: Leo, Solomon, Catherina, Rosa, and Dora. His wife is not recorded.
s. By 1924, with the city in a state of chaos, his daughter Rosa smuggled his works to her own daughter, Sophia, who was living in Berlin
. Meanwhile the Brody Synagogue was forced to closed, and converted into the town's archives.
With the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, Nowakowsky was identified as a proscribed composer of "degenerate music" in the infamous Lexikon der Juden in der Musik. This made possession of his works punishable by death. In 1937 Sophia moved 3,500 pages of Nowakowsky's papers to a relative's home in Strasbourg
.
Sophia, herself a concert pianist, attempted to leave Germany, and the family moved about on travel visas. In 1939 Sophia's husband, Boris, was able to obtain Romanian passports for the family, and they moved to the French village of Collonges-sous-Salève
on the Swiss border just outside of Geneva, taking Nowakowsky's papers with them.
When Vichy France was overrun in 1943, Sophia and their son Alexandre fled to Switzerland
. Boris first managed to save the works by burying them at a farm near Archamps
, La Ferme Chosal. According to Berg, they were placed in two ammunition cases and buried under a dung heap. According to other accounts, they were packed in wooden crates and hidden under debris in the farmhouse, and later moved into the fields where they were exposed to the elements. When he attempted to join his family in Switzerland, Boris was captured and interned in Switzerland until the war ended.
Boris returned to dig them up in 1946, and found them pried own and scattered about. Attempts had been made to light them on fire, but they were too wet to light. The collection was brought to the US in 1952 when Alexandre won a scholarship to Columbia University
. The collection found a permanent home in the Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music in New York in 1955.
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
/Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
Jewish composer, choirmaster and music teacher. Along with several contemporaries, Nowakowsky integrated traditional Jewish liturgical modes with western harmonies and styles, reinvigorating music for the synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
. He was also noted as the music director and choirmaster of the Brody Synagogue in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
for 50 years. Acclaimed during his lifetime, his work is not well known today although he is mentioned in Ira Gershwin's song, Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky (song)
"Tschaikowsky " is a patter song with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by Kurt Weill, first performed by American comedian Danny Kaye in the 1941 Broadway musical Lady in the Dark...
.
Early life
Nowakowsky was born in MalynMalyn
Malyn is a city in Zhytomyr Oblast of Ukraine located about 65 miles northwest of Kiev. Population is 28,113 ....
in the Ukraine in 1848, part of the Machnovska. Little of his early life is known, although there are several stories that survive. At 8 he left home, apparently due to the hounding of his stepmother, to sing in a trio with a cantor
Cantor
Cantor is surname of:* Andrés Cantor , Spanish-language soccer announcer* Anthony Cantor , British diplomat* Arthur Cantor , American theatrical producer* Aviva Cantor , American journalist, lecturer and author...
in the nearby town of Smelnik. He was later orphaned and joined the choir of cantor Spitzberg in Berditchev. He also studied traditional Jewish liturgical modes with cantor Yerucham (HaKaton) Blindman, and organ, theory and counterpoint at the Conservatory in Berdychiv
Berdychiv
Berdychiv is a historic city in the Zhytomyr Oblast of northern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Berdychiv Raion , the city itself is of direct oblast subordinance, and is located south of the oblast capital, Zhytomyr, at around .The current estimated population is around...
. At the age of 13 he began to conduct cantor Spitzberg's choir.
Life in Odessa
In 1869 Nowakowsky was offered the post of assistant conductor to Nissim Blumenthal at the newly built Brody Synagogue in OdessaOdessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, and to instruct in the choir school that Blumenthal had established.
Blumenthal had experimented with the use of western songs and the German language with traditional Jewish choruses. For instance, he used Handel's "Hallelujah" chorus from The Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
sung to the words of Psalm 113: “"Halleluhu: hallelu avdei adonai" ("Praise the Lord, O servants of the Lord").
Nowakowsky followed this concept but used Hebrew instead, adapting Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's Opus 91 setting of Psalm 98 for his chorus. This led to some fame for the synagogue, which was often visited by non-Jews simply to listen to the music. Their use of organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
during services was soon picked up by larger synagogues, who's members were visiting Brody. However, Blumenthal was not widely supportive of Nowakowsky's own compositions.
In 1891 Pinchas Minkowsky replaced Blumenthal at Brody, and started to showcase Nowakowsky's own compositions. It was Minkowsky who first proclaimed Nowakowsky a genius, lauding the composer in his own autobiography of 1924, writing that Nowakowsky "never resorted to 'lemonade music,' with cadenzas from Italian opera, as they do in America." When Nowakowsky sent a symphony to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
for review, Tchaikovsky lamented "It's a pity that you waste your time writing for the synagogue. Symphonic music has lost a great master." During his time at Brody, Nowakowsky also taught music at the Odessa Orphan Asylum as well as three other music schools, and later became a Professor of Theory and Harmony at the People's Conservatory of Odessa.
With the opening of the pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s in 1881, the position of the Jewish population in Odessa steadily declined. Minkowsly fled to the US in 1905, but Nowakowsky remained. Nowakowsky died on 25 July 1921, "deserted and poor", none of his major works having been published. He left five children: Leo, Solomon, Catherina, Rosa, and Dora. His wife is not recorded.
Preservation of his works
The pogroms of the earlier years would prove minor in comparison to what was to follow under the BolshevikBolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s. By 1924, with the city in a state of chaos, his daughter Rosa smuggled his works to her own daughter, Sophia, who was living in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Meanwhile the Brody Synagogue was forced to closed, and converted into the town's archives.
With the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, Nowakowsky was identified as a proscribed composer of "degenerate music" in the infamous Lexikon der Juden in der Musik. This made possession of his works punishable by death. In 1937 Sophia moved 3,500 pages of Nowakowsky's papers to a relative's home in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
.
Sophia, herself a concert pianist, attempted to leave Germany, and the family moved about on travel visas. In 1939 Sophia's husband, Boris, was able to obtain Romanian passports for the family, and they moved to the French village of Collonges-sous-Salève
Collonges-sous-Salève
Collonges-sous-Salève is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is located very closely to Geneva, Switzerland. Its population is about 3000 . The name of Collonges designates a colony of farmers situated on land granted, along with certain...
on the Swiss border just outside of Geneva, taking Nowakowsky's papers with them.
When Vichy France was overrun in 1943, Sophia and their son Alexandre fled to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Boris first managed to save the works by burying them at a farm near Archamps
Archamps
Archamps is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.-References:*...
, La Ferme Chosal. According to Berg, they were placed in two ammunition cases and buried under a dung heap. According to other accounts, they were packed in wooden crates and hidden under debris in the farmhouse, and later moved into the fields where they were exposed to the elements. When he attempted to join his family in Switzerland, Boris was captured and interned in Switzerland until the war ended.
Boris returned to dig them up in 1946, and found them pried own and scattered about. Attempts had been made to light them on fire, but they were too wet to light. The collection was brought to the US in 1952 when Alexandre won a scholarship to Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. The collection found a permanent home in the Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music in New York in 1955.
External links
- Nowakowsky: A Forgotten Master, 2006, a short film dramatizing the hiding of his works