Abraham Goldfaden facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Abraham Goldfaden
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Abraham Goldfaden
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| Born | Avrum Goldnfoden 24 July 1840 Starokostiantyniv, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) |
| Died | 9 January 1908 (aged 67) New York City, United States |
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| Years active | 1876–1908 |
Abraham Goldfaden (born Avrum Goldnfoden; 24 July 1840 – 9 January 1908) was a Jewish poet, writer, and director from Russia. He wrote plays in both Yiddish and Hebrew. Many people call him the "father of modern Jewish theatre."
In 1876, he started the world's first professional Yiddish-language theatre group in what is now Romania. He also helped put on the first Hebrew-language play in the United States. His work was so important that a festival in Iaşi, Romania, is named after him. People like Jacob Sternberg said he "woke up" Jewish culture in Romania. His plays mixed talking, singing, dancing, and even acrobatics.
Contents
Early Life and First Steps
Growing Up in Ukraine
Abraham Goldfaden was born in Starokonstantinov, a city in what is now Ukraine. His family was Jewish and believed in the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment. This meant they wanted Jewish people to learn more about the world and modern ideas.
His father, who was a watchmaker, made sure Abraham learned German and Russian. As a child, Abraham loved watching and copying performers like wedding jesters. People even called him Avromele Badkhen, meaning "Abie the Jester."
Becoming a Poet
In 1857, he went to a special school for rabbis in Zhytomyr. He finished in 1866 as a teacher and a poet. He also had some experience acting in plays as a hobby.
His first poem was called "Progress." It talked about Zionism, which was a movement to create a Jewish homeland. In 1865, he published his first book of poems in Hebrew. Later, he published his first Yiddish poems in 1866.
Moving Around and Writing Plays
Goldfaden worked as a teacher in Simferopol for a year. Then he moved to Odessa in 1868. There, he met other writers and published poems in a newspaper. He also wrote his first two plays: Die Tzwei Sheines (The Two Neighbours) and Die Murneh Sosfeh (Aunt Susie).
He and his wife, Paulina, lived on his small teacher's salary. In 1875, Goldfaden tried to study medicine in Munich but it didn't work out. He then moved to Lviv and Chernivtsi, where he tried to run a Yiddish newspaper. These efforts were not very successful.
Starting Yiddish Theatre in Iaşi
In 1876, Goldfaden arrived in Iaşi, a city in Romania. He was known more as a good poet whose songs were popular. He wanted to start another newspaper, but a wealthy man named Isaac Librescu wasn't interested.
Librescu's wife suggested that Yiddish theatre would be more popular than newspapers. She offered Goldfaden money to perform his songs in a garden. Goldfaden decided to do more than just sing. He turned it into a small show with different acts, like a vaudeville performance.
The First Show
This performance, or a later one in Botoşani, is often seen as the start of professional Yiddish theatre. Goldfaden, along with actors Israel Grodner and Sokher Goldstein, put on the show. They sang songs and added characters and a simple story.
The audience loved it. The first play was either Di bobe mitn einikl (Grandmother and Granddaughter) or Dos bintl holts (The Bundle of Sticks). After this, theatre became Goldfaden's main focus.
A Famous Review
Later that summer, the famous Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu saw one of Goldfaden's shows. He was impressed by the singing and acting. He noted that the plays were "without much dramatic interest" but still praised the performances. This was important because Eminescu was known for being critical.
Finding a Stage and New Actors
Challenges and New Talent
As the weather got colder, Goldfaden tried to find an indoor theatre in Iaşi. But a theatre owner said a "troupe of Jewish singers" would be "too dirty." So, Goldfaden and his actors went to Botoşani.
They had a successful show there, but then heavy rain stopped people from coming. They had to pawn some things to move to Galaţi. In Galaţi, they found their first set designer, Reb Moishe Bas, a house painter who was good at creating stage designs.
They also found their first actress, Sara Segal. She was very young. To keep her in the group, actor Sokher Goldstein quickly married her. She later became known as Sofia Karp.
Moving to Bucharest
After some more travels, Goldfaden and his group arrived in Bucharest, the capital city. He was already well-known there. They performed in a salon and then in a garden called Jignița.
Goldfaden found many talented Jewish singers, including synagogue cantors, to join his cast. He also hired two trained singers, Margaretta and Annetta Schwartz. One of the new actors was 18-year-old Zigmund Mogulescu, who quickly became a star.
Theatre Becomes Popular
The Russo-Turkish War brought many Jewish merchants to Bucharest, which meant more people to watch the plays. Goldfaden wrote many new songs and plays, and also translated plays from other languages. In his first two years, he wrote 22 plays.
His theatre became a training ground for Yiddish actors. Soon, other writers started creating Yiddish plays too. Yiddish theatre grew into a big production with detailed sets and many actors.
Making Theatre More Serious
Beyond Laughter
At first, Goldfaden's plays were mostly funny comedies and musical shows. These helped make Yiddish theatre popular. But Goldfaden wanted to do more. He was a well-read man and knew that Jewish people in Eastern Europe didn't have many serious plays.
He knew his audience often just wanted to laugh and forget their troubles. But he wanted his theatre to be a "school" for them. He wanted to make them think and feel deeply, not just laugh. He said he would give them "a drama, a tragedy drawn from life."
Important Themes
Even early on, Goldfaden wrote about serious topics. His play Di Rekruten (The Recruits) was about young men being forced into the army. He also translated a serious German play, making it the first non-comedy in Yiddish.
Later, he wrote many serious plays about Jewish themes. One of his most famous was Shulamith from 1880. He believed his audience was ready for more serious stories. This change also happened when more Russian Jews, who knew more about serious theatre, came to Romania during the war.
Goldfaden was both a thinker and a doer in theatre. He believed that theatre should have good set designs to support the play's themes. Yiddish theatre was seen as a way to show Jewish national character. It also became popular with non-Jewish people in Romania.
Theatre in Russia
Goldfaden's father asked him to bring his theatre group to Odessa, which was then part of Russia. Many of his audience members from Bucharest were now in Odessa.
With some money from Isaac Librescu, Goldfaden and his group of 42 people traveled to Russia. They performed in cities like Kharkov, Moscow, and Saint Petersburg. Goldfaden kept writing many plays, mostly serious ones. These included Doctor Almasada and Bar Kokhba, an operetta about a Jewish revolt. He wrote Bar Kokhba after attacks against Jews in Russia in 1881.
Challenges in Russia
Goldfaden's plays were popular with many Jewish intellectuals. But they caused problems with the Russian government and some conservative Jewish groups. Goldfaden's plays often called for change, which worried those who liked things the way they were.
Because of this, Yiddish theatre was banned in Russia starting in September 1883. This was part of a reaction against Jewish people after the assassination of the Czar. Goldfaden and his group had to leave Russia. They went to places like England, New York City, Poland, and Romania.
Later Years and New York
A Difficult Time
After the ban, Goldfaden struggled. He tried to start a theatre company in Warsaw in 1886, but it wasn't very successful. In 1887, he went to New York City. People were excited for him to arrive.
He briefly worked as a director for Zigmund Mogulescu's new theatre, but they soon disagreed. Goldfaden tried to start a theatre school, but it didn't work out. In 1889, he went to Paris, but he ran out of money. He wrote some poetry there and tried to start another theatre company, but it failed.
Return to Lviv and Bucharest
In 1889, he went to Lviv, where his reputation as a poet helped him. He wrote new plays there, including Rabi Yoselman and Rothschild. An actor named Kalman Juvelier said Goldfaden greatly improved the acting in Lviv.
In 1892, Goldfaden returned to Bucharest as the director of the Jigniţa theatre. He wrote more important plays like The Tenth Commandment and Judas Maccabaeus. However, this was a tough time for theatre in Romania. There was a lot of competition, and anti-Jewish feelings were rising. Many Jewish people, especially intellectuals, left the country.
Goldfaden left Romania in 1896. His health got worse, and he ran out of money. In 1904, he moved to New York City again.
Final Years in New York
In New York, he tried journalism, but it didn't go well. He wrote a Hebrew-language play called David ba-Milchama (David in the War). It was performed in 1906, becoming the first Hebrew play in America.
He also wrote parts of a play called Ben Ami. This play was very successful when it opened in 1907.
Abraham Goldfaden died in New York City in 1908. A newspaper at the time estimated that 75,000 people came to his funeral. They walked in a procession from the People's theatre to Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn. The New York Times called him "both a poet and a prophet." In 2009, Israel and Romania even issued postage stamps in his honor.
Zionism
Goldfaden had a changing relationship with Zionism, the idea of a Jewish homeland. Some of his early poems showed Zionist ideas, and one of his last plays was in Hebrew. Many of his plays had Zionist themes. For example, Shulamith was set in Jerusalem, and Mashiach Tzeiten?! ended with characters leaving New York for Palestine. He even attended a World Zionist Congress in 1900.
However, he spent most of his life in Jewish areas of Eastern Europe and Romania. When he left, he went to cities like New York, London, or Paris, not Palestine. This was likely because there were very few Jewish people in Palestine at that time who could watch his plays.
Works
Plays
Sources sometimes disagree on the exact dates or names of Goldfaden's plays. Here are some of his works:
- Di Mumeh Soseh (Aunt Susie) written 1869
- Di Tzvey Sheynes (The Two Neighbours) written 1869
- Di Rekruten (The Recruits) 1876
- Dos Bintl Holtz (The Bundle of Sticks) 1876
- Fishl der balegole un zayn knecht Sider (Fishel the Carter and His Servant Sider) 1876
- Shmendrik, oder Di komishe Chaseneh (Schmendrik or The Comical Wedding) 1877
- Di Shtumeh Kaleh (The Mute Bride) 1877
- Di Kishefmakhern (The Sorceress, also known as The Witch of Botoşani) 1878
- Di tsvey Kuni-lemels (The Fanatic, or The Two Kuni-Lemls) 1880
- Shulamith (Shulamith or The Daughter of Jerusalem) written 1880, performed 1881
- Dos Zenteh Gebot, oder Lo Tachmod (The Tenth Commandment, or Thou Shalt Not Covet) 1882
- Doktor Almasada, oder Di Yiden in Palermo (Doctor Almasada, or The Jews of Palermo) 1883
- Bar Kokhba 1883
- Rabi Yoselman, oder Di Gzerot fun Alsas (Rabbi Yoselman, or The Alsatian Decree) 1892
- Judas Maccabeus 1892
- Judith and Holofernes 1892
- Mashiach Tzeiten?! (The Messianic Era?!) 1893
- David ba-Milchama (David in the War) 1906, in Hebrew
- Ben Ami (Son of My People) 1907
Songs and Poetry
Goldfaden wrote hundreds of songs and poems. Some of his most famous are:
- "Der Malekh" ("The Angel")
- "Royzhinkes mit mandlen" (Raisins and Almonds)
- "Shabes, Yontev, un Rosh Khoydesh" ("Sabbath, Festival, and New Moon")
See also
- Yiddish theatre
- List of Jewish Romanians
Images for kids
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Libretto for Abraham Goldfaden's historical operetta Bar Kochba (1883), published in 1917
