Wandering Stars
Stars of David - Singers of Jewish Heritage
Volume 2 of the Audio Encyclopedia
Introduction
This second volume of the Audio Encyclopedia must rank as the most
ambitious collection of recordings ever to be put on one disc. It includes
almost 600 selections of over 150 artists, as well as short biographical
sketches, pictures of the artists, and images of many of the early labels from
which their recordings are drawn. Every musical selection is complete, and
included are a number of extended works, including song cycles and the Bloch
Avodath Ha-Kodesh.
The inspiration for this collection was the astounding experience of a
cantor singing a cantorial with all of the verve and virtuosity of a tenor in
grand opera - with a better voice than most to boot. From there, it was only a
short leap to other cantors exhibiting similar attributes, and then to the world
of opera and song as performed by other Jewish singers.. Looking at the
collection of fine vocal artists here makes one wonder at the great amount of
talent found within such a relatively small group. It is also fascinating to see
the varied geographic areas from which they come, evidence of the wide
dispersion of persons of Jewish origin. Yet, one thing ties them all together
- a common Jewish heritage and a love of singing which has been traditional
among Jews since the days of King David.
All but one of the singers here represented were born of at least one
Jewish parent, and although some of them may not have followed the Jewish faith
throughout their lives, they are included not because of religious practice, but
based on their beginnings, the childhood experiences which may have shaped their
development. In addition, one must cite many fine artists who preceded the days
of recording and, thus, could not be represented. Among these were Giuditta
Pasta (1798-1865), Pauline Lucca (1841-1908), Heinrich Sontheim (1820-1912),
Paul Kalisch (husband of Lilli Lehmann) (1855-1946), Angelo Neumann (1838-1910),
and John Braham (1774-1856).
As to the singers included, I'm sure a certain amount of controversy will
arise as to whether some were really Jewish. Every attempt has been made to
establish that they were and many for whom documentation was sketchy have been
omitted. These include Conchita Supervia, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Claudia
Muzio, Tito Gobbi, and Tito Schipa. The rest have been documented in one way or
another, but there is little doubt that some may have slipped through in error.
However, it also also highly probable that there were many other Jewish artists
we have not been able to identify at all. In any case, if we have erred, we can
only apologize and hope that, at least, you enjoy the recordings. As to the
recordings, some of them are very old, going back almost a century, but
otherwise how could one hear such important artists as Maurice Renaud, Leon
Melchissedec, David Ney, Pauline Donalda, Grete Forst, etc. The quality of sound
varies from very poor on some of them to amazingly good, considering their age
and the conditions under which they were recorded. In addition, many of the
original recordings are in very poor physical condition, due to the primitive
equipment used to play them. In every case, we used the cleanest copy we could
find, but for some there was little choice because of the rarity of the discs.
All we can say is that if the sound offends your ears, there is enough material
on the disc of good sound quality to present alternatives.
This collection focusses on artists with substantial careers in classical
or religious fields. We have omitted here those most noted for their
contributions to popular theater and recordings. There are 'popular' titles here
in many languages, but they are complementary to the cantorials, arias and songs
which form the basis of the collection. It should be noted in passing that the
biographies often refer to a singer "as guest" in an opera house. That
is a technical term referring to one who was featured for specific works but was
not on the permanent roster. For example, it would be expected that a great
dramatic tenor would be imported 'als Gast' for a new production of Tannhäuser
even though his home base was at another theater.
The choice of recordings was difficult since many of the artists were
prolific recorders. In those cases we attempted to include selections that
represented them best, or in material rarely heard. In the cases of the rarer
artists, we had an easier choice to make - we included what we had available. It
was necessary to omit some important singers because suitable recordings could
not be located; in a few instances, we chose to omit lesser material to avoid
overemphasizing an artist's contribution. For some of the best known artists, we
have included only a few representative or rare recordings of special interest,
relying on your local outlet to provide depth. Modern technology has provided
the resources to deliver truly encyclopedic coverage on a single disc, which we
have happily exploited here.
An exhaustive effort was made to ensure that all biographical information
was as accurate as possible, but since one is dependent on material available,
there is little doubt that inaccuracies have crept in. Multiple resources were
used to gather the information, and one quickly realizes that errors and
misinformation found in one are perpetuated in another. We have tried, wherever
possible, to avoid these errors, but there is little doubt that we will also be
perpetuating some of them. In a work of this magnitude, it would be difficult
not to be guilty of such malfeasance, and we hope we can be forgiven.
To comment on the effort presented here - especially with additional
information and corrections, please contact the compiler, Hal Byrnes, at
hbyrnes@mindspring.com
or the editor, Mike Richter at
mrichter@mindspring.com
2600 Colby
Av
Los Angeles, CA 90064-3716
310-477-7969
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to many for their support in this effort, but we must
single out two sources in particular. The Rogers and Hammerstein Archive of the
New York Public Library at Lincoln Center supplied and approved our use of three
recordings of Cantor Meyer Schorr, the father of the great baritone, Friedrich
Schorr. They are a unique contribution because of their age and rarity. From
Cantor Richard Allen, we have both a complete Bloch Avodath Ha-Kodesh and
assurance that the tradition of excellence, both in the synagogue and on stage
will be continued. With Cantor Schorr and Cantor (now also Rabbi) Allen, we can
hear continuity from 1903 to the present day.
In addition, we wish to acknowledge and thank the following for their
assistance in making this disc possible by their provision of rare recordings,
pictures, or documentation
Larry Holdridge
William Kasimer
Robert
Kosovsky
Robert Levitt
Houston Maples
Roger Steele
Robert Stern
Macintosh users are urged to read macread.htm or
macread.txt on this disc as well as the following.
Most of the files on this disc are recorded in MP3 format. Players for such
compressed audio are available for most platforms. Since most users of personal
computers when this disc was published have 32-bit Windows installed on their
systems, we include a licensed browser and a freeware player which handle not
only MP2 and MP3 files but also a specific format of playlist for MP3 termed
M3U. Most users of these discs will find that they automatically load the
browser and its support programs; in that case, all functions should be directly
accessible in the same way they would be with any other browser.
Those running Windows who do not find that the browser begins automatically
may start it by running I_VIEW.EXE from the root of the CD-ROM drive. Those
running other systems, such as Mac and Unix boxes, will need both a browser and
an installed MPEG player. Even Windows users may use their preferred browsers
equipped with MPEG players. Operation with any browser other than the one on the
disc requires that you point it to the CD-ROM and WELCOME.HTM as the URL.
However, you will have to build your own playlists with whatever resources the
software provides in order to connect MP3 segments into complete works.
Playlists for the included browser are indicated in bolded italic
type.
Every effort has been made to ensure that all files are accessible to all
users. The prototype of this disc was tested on a variety of computers and all
reasonably modern ones have managed to work in the configurations tested. There
is little that can be done if your computer has problems with these files short
of upgrading the computer. As an indication of its modest needs, the disc proved
fully functional on a Pentium 75 laptop with 8 MB of RAM and a 2x CD-ROM drive.
Using the software
Those using their own browsers will certainly need no assistance from me.
That is fortunate, since it would be difficult to cover all the options of
browsers and MP3 plugins and helpers. If you are running the I_VIEW browser on
the disc, you should find all operations familiar. Simply click on a link to
access it. If you have trouble seeing everything in the browser, please make
sure that the page is maximized by clicking the icon one to the left and one
down from the top-right corner. Unfortunately, the browser does not 'remember'
that setting and you will need to click the icon each time you start the
program.
One easy way to integrate MP3 playback into your browser is to visit
http://www.audioactive.com and to download and install the helper appropriate
for your system. At the time of publication, they offered helpers not only for
Win95 and NT, but also for Windows 3.x and Macintosh.
Note that playlists are set off by bolded italic type; no harm will
be done if you select such a link from your own browser, but the link may fail.
For technical reasons, most combinations of browsers and MP3 players do not
properly support playlists from a CD-ROM, though of course the one on this disc
does. For that reason, we have used playlists sparingly.
The WinAmp player here is not the current, shareware version. However, it
is an excellent freeware release quite sufficient for the needs of this disc. It
has been preset to the values needed for operation - which is fortunate, since
those values cannot be recorded to the CD-ROM and therefore will return to the
presets whenever the disc is first accessed. This disc contains only monaural
files and is preset for monaural playback. I urge those with more general
interest in MP3 playback and those seeking players for other browsers to explore
http://www.nullsoft.com/ and http://www.winamp.com/ for the current offerings
for Mac and PC.