Isabelle Yakovlevna Kremer ( Russian : Изабелла Яковлевна Кремер ; 21 October 1887 – 7 July 1956) was a soprano of Russian Jewish descent who at various times of her life held citizenship in Russia, the United States, and Argentina. She first drew notice as a teenager for her revolutionary poetry which was published in an Odessa newspaper. She began her professional singing career as an opera singer in Europe during the second decade of the 20th century. By the time of her relocation to the United States in 1924, she had abandoned her opera career in favor of performing as a concert soloist and recitalist.
51-466: The Last Tango (Russian: Последнее танго ) is a 1918 silent film directed by Vyacheslav Viskovsky. The film is based on the words of a song performed by Iza Kremer in Odessa . This article related to Russian film is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Iza Kremer As a recitalist Kremer not only sang works from the classical repertoire, but also performed folk music from
102-410: A Jew a simple one, Wrote Yiddish-German (translations) for women and for the regular folk, was a writer of humor He circled the world like Kapparot The whole world does well, and he, oh my, was in trouble. But when the world is laughing applauding and slapping their knee, he sickened - only God knows this in secret, so no-one sees. In 1997, a monument dedicated to Sholem Aleichem
153-427: A Sholem Aleichem website was launched to mark the 100th anniversary of Sholem Aleichem's death. The website is a partnership between Sholem Aleichem's family, his biographer Professor Jeremy Dauber , Citizen Film , Columbia University's Center for Israel and Jewish Studies, The Covenant Foundation, and The Yiddish Book Center . The website features interactive maps and timelines, recommended readings, as well as
204-474: A Yiddish school, Sholem Aleichem College is named after him. Several Jewish schools in Argentina were also named after him. In Rio de Janeiro , Brazil a library named BIBSA – Biblioteca Sholem Aleichem was founded in 1915 as a Zionist institution by a local Jewish group. Next year, in 1916, the same group that created BIBSA founded a Jewish school named Escola Sholem Aleichem; it closed in 1997. BIBSA had
255-634: A highly successful practice in Buenos Aires . The couple lived together in Argentina until Isa's death of stomach cancer at the age of 69 in Córdoba, Argentina in 1956. Her daughter, Toussia, remained in the United States, marrying Dr. Kermit Pines of New Jersey. In Argentina, Kremer suffered much hardship. Bermann was a socialist and close to the communist party and both husband and wife were blacklisted by
306-679: A list of centennial celebration events taking place worldwide. The website also features resources for educators. Hertz Grosbard recited many of his works in so called "word concerts". A reading in Yiddish of his monologue If I Were a Rothschild and several others can be found on the Grosbard Project . The writer's brother, Wolf Rabinovich, published the memoir "My Brother Sholom Aleichem" in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR , in 1939. Sholem Aleichem's granddaughter, Bel Kaufman , by his daughter Lala (Lyalya),
357-642: A thank you letter in which he wrote, “If I tried to tell you a hundredth part of the way I feel about you, I know that that would be sheer profanation. If I am fated to live a few years longer than I have been expecting, I shall doubtless be able to say that it’s your fault, yours and that of all the other friends who have done so much to carry out your idea of ‘the redemption of the imprisoned.’” Sholem Aleichem moved to New York City again with his family in 1914. The family lived at first in Harlem at 110 Lenox Avenue (at 116th Street) and later moved to 968 Kelly Street in
408-426: A variety of countries and in many languages. She was possibly the first woman to perform Yiddish song on the concert stage. In 1927 she began performing as a vaudeville artist while continuing to perform extensively as a recitalist. In 1938, she moved to Argentina where she lived the last 18 years of her life. In 2000 her life was the subject of a television documentary entitled Isa Kremer: The People's Diva which
459-446: A very active theatrical program in Yiddish for more than 50 years since its foundation and consistently performed Sholem Aleichem plays. In 1947 BIBSA became Associação Sholem Aleichem, under which name it continues to exist. Both the library and club became communist institutions due to a normal transition of power in the founding group, although non-communist members left to found their own school, Colégio Eliezer Steinbarg , in 1956. It
510-499: A wealthy landowner's daughter, Olga (Hodel) Loev (1865–1942). From 1880 to 1883 he served as crown rabbi in Lubny . On May 12, 1883, he and Olga married, against the wishes of her father, whose estate they inherited a few years later. Their first child, a daughter named Ernestina (Tissa), was born in 1884. In 1890, Sholem Aleichem lost their entire fortune in stock speculation and fled from his creditors. Daughter Lyalya (Lili)
561-445: A writer, his friend and colleague Jacob Dinezon spearheaded a committee with Dr. Gershon Levine, Abraham Podlishevsky, and Noach Pryłucki to buy back the publishing rights to Sholem Aleichem’s works from various publishers for his sole use in order to provide him with a steady income. At a time when Sholem Aleichem was ill and struggling financially, this proved to be an invaluable gift, and Sholem Aleichem expressed his gratitude in
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#1732854816193612-404: A yid a posheter Geshriben yidish-daitsh far vayber Un faren prosten folk hot er geven a humorist a shrayber Di gantse lebn umgelozt geshlogen mit der welt kapores Di gantse welt hot gut gemakht Un er - oy vey - geveyn oyf tsores Un dafka demolt geven der oylem hot gelacht geklutchet un fleg zikh fleyen Doch er gekrenkt dos veys nor got Besod, az keyner zol nit zeen Here lies
663-681: Is a greeting in traditional Hebrew and Yiddish. Solomon Naumovich (Sholom Nohumovich) Rabinovich ( Russian : Соломо́н Нау́мович (Шо́лом Но́хумович) Рабино́вич ) was born in 1859 in Pereiaslav and grew up in the nearby shtetl of Voronkiv , in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in the Kyiv Oblast of central Ukraine ). (Voronkiv has become the prototype of Aleichem's Kasrilevka . ) His father, Menachem-Nukhem Rabinovich,
714-519: Is named after the first director of Escola Sholem Aleichem, a Jewish writer born in Romania who immigrated to Brazil. In the Bronx, New York, a housing complex called The Shalom Aleichem Houses was built by Yiddish speaking immigrants in the 1920s, and was recently restored by new owners to its original grandeur. The Shalom Alecheim Houses are part of a proposed historic district in the area. On May 13, 2016,
765-734: The Bronx . His son, Misha, ill with tuberculosis, was not permitted entry under United States immigration laws and remained in Switzerland with his sister Emma. Sholem Aleichem died at his Bronx apartment in 1916. He is buried in the main (old) section of Mount Carmel Cemetery in Queens, New York City . Like his contemporaries Mendele Mocher Sforim , I.L. Peretz , and Jacob Dinezon , Sholem Rabinovitch started writing in Hebrew , as well as in Russian . In 1883, when he
816-742: The Instituto Judio de Investigaciones in Buenos Aires. They include her vast concert repertoire of folk music; which encompasses works in a total of 24 languages. Sholem Aleichem Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich ( Russian : Соломон Наумович Рабинович ; March 2 [ O.S. February 18] 1859 – May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem ( Yiddish and Hebrew : שלום עליכם , also spelled שאָלעם־אלייכעם in Soviet Yiddish , [ˈʃɔləm aˈlɛjxəm] ; Russian and Ukrainian : Шо́лом-Але́йхем ),
867-570: The Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater ; including portraying Mimì and the role of Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi 's La traviata . "It was there she first discovered that her singing talent was not most suited to arias and she turned to folk music in Yiddish and other languages." She became highly active in intellectual circles, and notably became close friends with Sholem Aleichem , Hayim Nahman Bialik , Mendele Mocher Sforim , and Mark Warshawski . It
918-643: The Palace Theatre . That same year she made talking films for Vitaphone . She later starred in a musical at a theatre on Second Avenue in the Yiddish Theater District in 1930 opposite Seymour Rechzeit which was entitled The Song of the Ghetto. One of the songs in the musical, "Mayn shtetele Belz", was written for her by American-Jewish composer Alexander Olshanetsky . The song was about her native city and became quite famous. She also made recordings in
969-835: The Cantor's Son , and was buried at Old Mount Carmel cemetery in Queens . At the time, his funeral was one of the largest in New York City history, with an estimated 100,000 mourners. The next day, his will was printed in the New York Times and was read into the Congressional Record of the United States . Sholem Aleichem's will contained detailed instructions to family and friends with regard to burial arrangements and marking his yahrtzeit . He told his friends and family to gather, "read my will, and also select one of my stories, one of
1020-563: The Odessa News, who was 27 years older than she was. Their marriage produced one child, their daughter Toussia who was born in 1917. In 1922, Kremer came to America, where her concerts were very successful. M. Osherovitsh wrote: "Hearing Isa Kremer sing Yiddish folksongs is a must for the Jewish intelligentsia. While Odessa was her home, Kremer was also actively performing as a guest artist throughout Europe in concerts, operettas, and operas during
1071-538: The Philharmonic Concert Hall. The riot, she later said, and other experiences of antisemitism in Europe, prompted her to relocate to the United States. Kremer first came to the United States in the autumn of 1922; arriving in New York City where she signed a contract with artistic manager Sol Hurok . She made her acclaimed American concert debut at Carnegie Hall on 29 October 1922. She eventually moved to
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#17328548161931122-560: The Soviet Union (Scott #2164, 1959); Romania (Scott #1268, 1959); and Ukraine (Scott #758, 2009). An impact crater on the planet Mercury also bears his name. On March 2, 2009, 150 years after his birth, the National Bank of Ukraine issued an anniversary coin depicting and celebrating Aleichem. Vilnius , Lithuania has a Jewish school named after him and in Melbourne , Australia
1173-599: The United States with Brunswick Records and Columbia Records . While living in the United States, Kremer continued to tour extensively throughout the world during the 1920s and 1930s. She gave tours in the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, Palestine, and Latin America. On many occasions, she was confronted by antisemitism; but in spite of this continued to include Jewish songs in nearly all her concerts. She notably insisted upon including Yiddish songs in her concerts at Berlin's Jüdischer Kulturbund , an institution created with
1224-659: The United States with her daughter and parents in 1924; ultimately becoming a United States citizen. She appeared regularly in concerts in NYC at Carnegie Hall and the Manhattan Opera House over the next two decades; making her final New York appearance on 3 December 1950 at Carnegie Hall. She was chiefly known in the United States as a folk singer; performing folk songs in English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Yiddish. On 27 September 1927 she made her vaudeville debut at
1275-533: The age of fifteen, he composed a Jewish version of the novel Robinson Crusoe . He adopted the pseudonym Sholem Aleichem, a Yiddish variant of the Hebrew expression shalom aleichem , meaning "peace be with you" and typically used as a greeting. In 1876, after graduating from school in Pereiaslav, he began to work as a teacher. During 1877-1880 in Sofijka village, Bohuslav region, he spent three years tutoring
1326-621: The almanac's third issue, which had been edited but was subsequently never printed. Tevye the Dairyman , in Yiddish טבֿיה דער מילכיקער Tevye der Milchiker , was first published in 1894. Over the next few years, while continuing to write in Yiddish, he also wrote in Russian for an Odesa newspaper and for Voskhod , the leading Russian Jewish publication of the time, as well as in Hebrew for Ha-melitz, and for an anthology edited by YH Ravnitzky . It
1377-756: The catalyst for writing his autobiography, Funem yarid [From the Fair]. He thus missed the first Conference for the Yiddish Language , held in 1908 in Czernovitz ; his colleague and fellow Yiddish activist Nathan Birnbaum went in his place. Sholem Aleichem spent the next four years living as a semi-invalid. During this period the family was largely supported by donations from friends and admirers (among his friends and acquaintances were fellow Yiddish authors I. L. Peretz , Jacob Dinezon , Mordecai Spector , and Noach Pryłucki ). In 1909, in celebration of his 25th Jubilee as
1428-591: The consent of the Nazis for the purpose of presenting performances for the Jewish population after Jewish performers were no longer hireable in "Aryan theatres." In 1931, a book of twenty-four Yiddish folk songs named after Kremer's popular concert series, A Jewish Life in Song was published by Chappell & Co. in London. In 1938 Kremer emigrated to Argentina. There she met the lauded psychiatrist Dr. Gregorio Bermann who operated
1479-422: The dictator Juan Perón . As a result, they experienced serious financial difficulties and political harassment during the 1940s and 1950s. Many of her concerts in that country during those years were for benefits that aided Nazi victims or striking workers. Several of these concerts were given in collaboration with the exiled Spanish Republican writer María Teresa León . After her death, her archives were donated to
1530-629: The family lived briefly in Berlin but ultimately settled in Paris, France. Soon thereafter, Kremer separated from her husband. Heifetz later died while a prisoner at the Nazi concentration camp Fort Breendonk during World War II . In 1922, Kremer gave a concert tour of Poland which included performances of Jewish songs. A year later she told Jessie Abrams of The Canadian Jewish Chronicle that upon reaching Warsaw, her scheduled concert sparked an anti-Semitic riot outside
1581-852: The first book. <...> Send it in the original language. I have a very good translator that I want to try on your story". She made her professional opera debut in 1911 at the Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona as Mimì in Giacomo Puccini 's La bohème to the Rodolfo of Tito Schipa . She was then active as principal artist at the Mariinsky Theatre (then known as the Petrograd Opera) in Saint Petersburg where she starred in several operettas and
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1632-526: The number 13 . His manuscripts never had a page 13; he numbered the thirteenth pages of his manuscripts as 12a. Though it has been written that even his headstone carries the date of his death as "May 12a, 1916", his headstone reads the dates of his birth and death in Hebrew, the 26th of Adar and the 10th of Iyar, respectively. Sholem Aleichem died in New York on May 13, 1916, from tuberculosis and diabetes, aged 57, while working on his last novel, Motl, Peysi
1683-567: The same status and respect as other modern European languages. He did not stop with what came to be called "Yiddishism", but devoted himself to the cause of Zionism as well. Many of his writings present the Zionist case. In 1888, he became a member of Hovevei Zion . In 1907, he served as an American delegate to the Eighth Zionist Congress held in The Hague . Sholem Aleichem had a fear of
1734-624: The second decade of the 20th century. Among the roles in her stage repertoire were Tatyana in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 's Eugene Onegin and the title heroines in Jules Massenet 's Manon and Puccini's Madama Butterfly . While on tour to Constantinople in 1917, the Russian Revolution occurred which proved ill fortune for Kremer and her family who were known supporters of Alexander Kerensky . The family's Odessa property
1785-546: The two authors' similar writing styles and use of pen names . Both authors wrote for adults and children and lectured extensively in Europe and the United States. When Twain heard of the writer called "the Jewish Mark Twain," he replied, "Please tell him that I am the American Sholem Aleichem." Sholem Aleichem was an impassioned advocate of Yiddish as a national Jewish language, which he felt should be accorded
1836-514: The very merry ones, and recite it in whatever language is most intelligible to you." "Let my name be recalled with laughter," he added, "or not at all." The celebrations continue to the present day, and, in recent years, have been held at the Brotherhood Synagogue on Gramercy Park South in New York City, where they are open to the public. He composed the text to be engraved on his tombstone in Yiddish, given here in transliteration: Do ligt
1887-455: The victims of the Kishinev pogrom . Sholem Aleichem's narratives were notable for the naturalness of his characters' speech and the accuracy of his descriptions of shtetl life. Early critics focused on the cheerfulness of the characters, interpreted as a way of coping with adversity. Later critics saw a tragic side in his writing. He was often referred to as the "Jewish Mark Twain " because of
1938-818: Was 24 years old, he published his first Yiddish story, צוויי שטיינער Tsvey Shteyner ("Two Stones"), using for the first time the pseudonym Sholem Aleichem. By 1890 he was a central figure in Yiddish literature, the vernacular language of nearly all East European Jews, and produced over forty volumes in Yiddish. It was often derogatorily called "jargon", but Sholem Aleichem used this term in an entirely non-pejorative sense. Apart from his own literary output, Sholem Aleichem used his personal fortune to encourage other Yiddish writers. In 1888–89, he put out two issues of an almanac , די ייִדישע פאָלקסביבליאָטעק Di Yidishe Folksbibliotek ("The Yiddish Public Library") which gave important exposure to young Yiddish writers. In 1890, after he lost his entire fortune, he could not afford to print
1989-520: Was Bialik who inspired her to begin collecting Yiddish music and to include it in her concerts. Up to this point, Yiddish music had been performed solely by men, usually hazzans , within concerts. She gave her first folk concert in Moscow and it was a great success; from there she went to Turkey and later toured in Poland, German, France, England and elsewhere. She married Israel Heifetz, Russian Jewish editor of
2040-568: Was a Yiddish author and playwright who lived in the Russian Empire and in the United States. The 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof , based on Aleichem's stories about Tevye the Dairyman , was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe . The Hebrew phrase שלום עליכם ( shalom aleichem ) literally means "[May] peace [be] upon you!", and
2091-403: Was a rich merchant at that time. However, a failed business affair plunged the family into poverty and Solomon Rabinovich grew up in reduced circumstances. When he was 13 years old, the family moved back to Pereiaslav, where his mother, Chaye-Esther, died in a cholera epidemic. Sholem Aleichem's first venture into writing was an alphabetic glossary of the epithets used by his stepmother. At
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2142-538: Was born in 1887. As Lyalya Kaufman, she became a Hebrew writer. (Lyalya's daughter Bel Kaufman , also a writer, was the author of Up the Down Staircase , which was also made into a successful film.) A third daughter, Emma, was born in 1888. In 1889, Olga gave birth to a son. They named him Elimelech, after Olga's father, but at home they called him Misha. Daughter Marusi (who would one day publish "My Father, Sholom Aleichem" under her married name Marie Waife -Goldberg)
2193-697: Was born in 1892. A final child, a son named Nochum (Numa) after Solomon's father was born in 1901 (under the name Norman Raeben he became a painter and an influential art teacher). After witnessing the pogroms that swept through southern Russian Empire in 1905, including Kiev , Sholem Aleichem left Kiev (which was fictionalized as Yehupetz ) and emigrated to New York City , where he arrived in 1906. His family set up house in Geneva , Switzerland , but when he saw he could not afford to maintain two households, he joined them in Geneva in 1908. Despite his great popularity, he
2244-659: Was brought up under the care of a governess and attended a private school operated by the Russian Orthodox Church . The family moved to Odessa when Isa was 12. As a teenager, Kremer began working as a poet; writing revolutionary poetry for a newspaper in Odessa. The newspaper's editor, Israel Heifetz, took an interest in Kremer and provided her with the funds to pursue studies in opera with Pollione Ronzi in Milan from 1902 to 1911. She
2295-608: Was confiscated, Heifetz was imprisoned, and their daughter, governess, and Kremer's parents were forbidden from leaving the city. Kremer was eventually able to smuggle her family out of the city into Poland in 1919. The following year she managed to bribe city officials to release her husband from jail. While this family drama was going on, she made several recordings in Constantinople on the Orfeon label between 1918 and 1920. After Kremer and her family were all reunited in Poland in 1920,
2346-500: Was during this period that Sholem Aleichem contracted tuberculosis . In August 1904, Sholem Aleichem edited הילף : א זאַמלבוך פיר ליטעראטור אונ קונסט Hilf: a Zaml-Bukh fir Literatur un Kunst ("Help: An Anthology for Literature and Art"; Warsaw , 1904) and himself translated three stories submitted by Tolstoy ( Esarhaddon, King of Assyria ; Work, Death and Sickness ; The Three Questions ) as well as contributions by other prominent Russian writers, including Chekhov , in aid of
2397-690: Was erected in Kyiv ; another was erected in 2001 in Moscow . The main street of Birobidzhan is named after Sholem Aleichem; streets were named after him also in cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv , Odesa , Vinnytsia , Lviv , and Zhytomyr . In New York City in 1996, East 33rd Street between Park and Madison Avenue is additionally named "Sholem Aleichem Place". Many streets in Israel are named after him. Postage stamps of Sholem Aleichem were issued by Israel ( Scott #154, 1959);
2448-763: Was forced to stop studying and begin concertizing when her father's business failed; her mother came to her in Italy and she supported them both. In 1911 Sholem Aleichem 's story "The Chosen Ones (From the Life of Little People)" translated from Yiddish into Russian by Iza Kremer (in the journal - Kreymer) was published, which was included in the first book of the Sovremennik magazine (1911. Jan. P. 119–154). A.V. Amfiteatrov , who highly participated in creating of this magazine, wrote about Isa Kreymer to Sholom Aleichem on November 21, 1910: "It would be nice to receive your story as going into
2499-523: Was forced to take up an exhausting schedule of lecturing to make ends meet. In July 1908, during a reading tour in Russia, Sholem Aleichem collapsed on a train going through Baranowicze . He was diagnosed with a relapse of acute hemorrhagic tuberculosis and spent two months convalescing in the town's hospital. He later described the incident as "meeting his majesty, the Angel of Death, face to face", and claimed it as
2550-417: Was heard in various works from the concert repertoire. Some of the roles she sang there were Dolly in Franz Lehár 's Endlich allein , Elvira in Lehar's Die ideale Gattin , Helen in Oskar Nedbal 's Polská krev , and Laura in Karl Millöcker 's Der Bettelstudent . She was later active at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1915. In 1914, Kremer returned to Odessa and for two years appeared in roles at
2601-424: Was made for The Jewish Channel . Kremer was born to Jewish parents in the city of Belz which was then part of the territory known as Bessarabia under Russian Imperial rule. Her father, Jacob Kremer, was a provision master in the army of Czar Nicholas II . Her mother, Anna Kremer (née Rosenbluth), was a lover of music and passed on that love to her daughter. The family was part of the bourgeois class and Isa
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