Henech Kon
Encyclopedia
Henech Kon, Henryk Kon, 1890-1972, born in Łódź to a Chassidic family, sent at the age of 12 to his grandfather in Kutno
, where he studied torah but also studied with local klezmers, absorbing folk music from players and badkhonim. When his family realized he would never be a rabbi, they sent him to music school in Berlin.
In 1912 he returned to Poland where he was drawn into literary artistic circles of Jewish Warsaw, particularly the "artistic culture salon" of the famous Polish actress Tea Artsishevska (nee Miryam Isroels), later a member of the revi-teater Azazel. Her then husband, sculptor Bernard Kratko, introduced Kon to Isaac Leib Peretz and Kon set several of Peretz's works to music, including Treyst mayn folk (Comfort My People) and the play Bay nakht oyfn alten mark (A Night in the Old Marketplace).
In 1922 "proletarian Lodz was tired of earnest dramas and light comedies." Responding to the new popularity of satire, Kon - with poet Moishe Broderzon
and painter Yitschok Broyner - created the marionette theater Chad-Gadya, the first of a string of revi-teaters (venues for music theater revues) in Polish towns and cities.
He later was also closely associated with the kleynkunst (small art) venue Ararat. He composed music for around 40 theater productions. including Sholem Asch
's Kiddush ha-Shem, Shakespeare's Shylock, Aaron Zeitlin (Tseytlin)'s Yidnshtot, Moshe Lipshitz' Hershele Ostropolyer, Dovid Bergelson's Di broytmil (The bread mill), H. Leyvik's Der Golem, and many others.
His opera David and Batsheba was written (with Moshe Broderson) and presented in Warsaw in 1924. Kon himself sang in the production, as did Moshe Shneur's chorus.
He is strongly associated with the Warsaw Yung-teater, the Yiddish avant-garde theater company which emerged from Michal Weichert's Yiddish Theater Studio. He wrote the music for Boston, about Sacco and Vanzetti
, Trupe Tanentzap, an Abraham Goldfaden
spectacle, Napoleon's Treasure, based on a Sholem Aleichem story, and many others.
After the Second World War Kon worked with the Yiddish Art Theater in Paris. Beginning in 1934 Henech Kon also worked in film; he composed the music for The Dybbuk (film)
and Zygmund Turkow's Di freylekhe kabtsonim (The Jolly Paupers) among others. He moved to America, where he was never particularly successful,, and died in New York City.
Kutno
Kutno is a town in central Poland with 48,000 inhabitants and an area of 33,6 km2. Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship , previously in Płock Voivodeship . It is the capital of Kutno County....
, where he studied torah but also studied with local klezmers, absorbing folk music from players and badkhonim. When his family realized he would never be a rabbi, they sent him to music school in Berlin.
In 1912 he returned to Poland where he was drawn into literary artistic circles of Jewish Warsaw, particularly the "artistic culture salon" of the famous Polish actress Tea Artsishevska (nee Miryam Isroels), later a member of the revi-teater Azazel. Her then husband, sculptor Bernard Kratko, introduced Kon to Isaac Leib Peretz and Kon set several of Peretz's works to music, including Treyst mayn folk (Comfort My People) and the play Bay nakht oyfn alten mark (A Night in the Old Marketplace).
In 1922 "proletarian Lodz was tired of earnest dramas and light comedies." Responding to the new popularity of satire, Kon - with poet Moishe Broderzon
Moishe Broderzon
Moishe Broderzon was a Yiddish poet, theatre director, and the founder of the Łódź literary group Yung-yidish....
and painter Yitschok Broyner - created the marionette theater Chad-Gadya, the first of a string of revi-teaters (venues for music theater revues) in Polish towns and cities.
"Henekh Kon was Moyshe Broderson's closest collaborator, building with him all the kleynkunst theaters in Poland: the marionette-theater Khad-Gadye (1922) in Lodz, the kleynkunst theater Azazel (1925) in Warsaw, Sambatiyon (1926) and Azazel (1927). His was the musical spirit behind all of them."
He later was also closely associated with the kleynkunst (small art) venue Ararat. He composed music for around 40 theater productions. including Sholem Asch
Sholem Asch
Sholem Asch, born Szalom Asz , also written Shalom Asch was a Polish-born American Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language.-Life and work:...
's Kiddush ha-Shem, Shakespeare's Shylock, Aaron Zeitlin (Tseytlin)'s Yidnshtot, Moshe Lipshitz' Hershele Ostropolyer, Dovid Bergelson's Di broytmil (The bread mill), H. Leyvik's Der Golem, and many others.
His opera David and Batsheba was written (with Moshe Broderson) and presented in Warsaw in 1924. Kon himself sang in the production, as did Moshe Shneur's chorus.
He is strongly associated with the Warsaw Yung-teater, the Yiddish avant-garde theater company which emerged from Michal Weichert's Yiddish Theater Studio. He wrote the music for Boston, about Sacco and Vanzetti
Sacco and Vanzetti
Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were anarchists who were convicted of murdering two men during a 1920 armed robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States...
, Trupe Tanentzap, an Abraham Goldfaden
Abraham Goldfaden
Abraham Goldfaden ; was an Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in the languages Yiddish and Hebrew, author of some 40 plays.Goldfaden is considered the father of the Jewish modern theatre.In 1876 he founded in...
spectacle, Napoleon's Treasure, based on a Sholem Aleichem story, and many others.
After the Second World War Kon worked with the Yiddish Art Theater in Paris. Beginning in 1934 Henech Kon also worked in film; he composed the music for The Dybbuk (film)
The Dybbuk (film)
The Dybbuk is a 1937 Yiddish language Polish fantasy film drama directed by Michał Waszyński. It is based on the play The Dybbuk by S. Ansky....
and Zygmund Turkow's Di freylekhe kabtsonim (The Jolly Paupers) among others. He moved to America, where he was never particularly successful,, and died in New York City.