David Beigelman

David Beigelman (1887 – February 1945), also known as Dawid Bajgelman and Dawid Beigelman,[1] was a Polish violinist, orchestra leader, and composer of Yiddish theatre music and songs.

David Beigelman
Born1887
Ostrowiec, Congress Poland, Russian Empire
DiedFebruary 1945(1945-02-00) (aged 57–58)
Auschwitz-Birkenau, German-occupied Poland
Other namesDawid Bajgelman, Dawid Beigelman
OccupationMusician

Biography

He was born in Ostrowiec, Congress Poland[2] to a musical family in Łódź where he composed and performed in Yiddish theatres at a young age.[3][4] He became director of the Lodz Yiddish Theater in 1912.[2]

He wrote the music for Julius Adler's operettas Dos Skoytn-meydl and Di mume Gnendil and Yankev Vaksman's Di Sheyne Berta, all of which were staged in Łódź, and arranged the music for S. Ansky's The Dybbuk. In 1929 he was composer and music director for the Ararat Theater in Łódź.[2]

In 1940 he was forced to move to the Ghetto Litzmannstadt in Łódź, where he took part in the ghetto's cultural life as a conductor[5] – the ghetto's first symphony concert was performed under his direction on 1 March 1941 – and as a composer of orchestral works and songs.[4] Two well-known Beigelman songs that have survived and are performed to this day are Kinder yorn (the years of childhood) and Tsigaynerlid (Gypsy Song), dedicated to the Romani living in the ghetto.[4] He wrote songs to lyrics by Isaiah Spiegel including Makh tsu di eygelekh (Close Your Little Eyes) and Nisht keyn rozhinkes, nisht keyn mandlen (No raisins, no almonds).[6] He also collaborated with Moishe Broderzon writing well-known songs such as Nisim, nisim and Yidn, Shmidn. He also collaborated with Moyshe Nudelman, David Herman, and Yakov Rotbaum.[7]

In 1944, Beigelman was deported to Auschwitz, where he died in February 1945.[3][4][8]

See also

References
  1. Lucjan Dobroszycki (Ed.). The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984, Index to the English edition.
  2. Zalmen Zylbercweig. Leksikon fun Yidish theater, Book one, column 161.
  3. Kramer, Aaron (1999). Saul Lishinsky (ed.). The Last Lullaby: Poetry from the Holocaust. Syracuse University Press. p. 99. ISBN 0-8156-0579-X.
  4. SaveTheMusic.com, David Beigelman. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  5. Susan Willoughby Art, Music, and Writings from the Holocaust 2003 p56 Excerpt from Gypsy Song by David Beigelman - "David Beigelman was a professional composer and musician in Poland before the war. He was sent to the Lodz ghetto where he was the musical director for the ghetto theater."
  6. Zemerl, Makh Tsu Di Eygelekh Archived 2009-05-11 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
  7. Fater, Isaschar (1970). Jewish Music in Poland between the Two World Wars, pp 53-58
  8. Kramer, Aaron; Lishinsky, Saul (1999). The Last Lullaby: Poetry from the Holocaust. Syracuse University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-8156-0579-9.
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