The ‘Yidishe Paganini’: Sholem Aleichem's Stempenyu, the Music of Yiddish Theatre and the Character of the Shtetl Fiddler

Abstract

This article explores the music of Yiddish theatre in early twentieth-century New York by considering multiple adaptations of Russian Jewish author Sholem Aleichem's 1888 novel Stempenyu, about a klezmer violinist, which was transformed into two theatrical productions in 1907 and 1929, and finally inspired a three-movement recital work for accompanied violin by Joseph Achron. The multiple versions of Stempenyu present the eponymous musician as an allegory for the ambivalent role of the shtetl – the predominantly Jewish small town of Eastern Europe – in defining diasporic Jewish life in Europe and America, and as a medium for the sonic representation of shtetl culture as it was reformulated in the memories of the first generations of Jewish immigrants. The variations in the evocations of Eastern European klezmer in these renderings of Stempenyu indicate complex changes in the ways Jewish immigrants and their children conceived of their connection to Eastern Europe over four decades. The paper concludes by viewing changes in the symbolic character type of the shtetl fiddler in its most famous and recent manifestation, in the stage and screen musical Fiddler on the Roof.

The Shtetl in the Hebrew Theatre of Mandatory Palestine during the 1930s

“…His character echoed other Sholem Aleichem literary protagonists such as Yosele Solevey, Stempenyu, and the actors in Wandering Stars who yearn for the performing arts. 42 The stage shtetl landscape expressed Zemaleh's desire. In the story, he constantly moved between three locations.…”

Teoria Da Complexidade: Aconselhamento Linguageiro, Emergência E Atratores Na Aprendizagem De Língua Inglesa

“…Outro ornamento característico é o dreydl, com uma técnica semelhante de arco e movimento rápido de mão esquerda, ou, em uma variação, um movimento para frente e para trás na mão esquerda, deslizando o dedo lentamente, em uma velocidade muito inferior à execução regular (Solomon, 2007). (Walden, 2014).…”