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Abraham Goldfaden
(Awrom Goldfaden) Abraham Goldfaden was known as the "father of Jewish theater". He was born in 1840 in Starokonstantynów in Volhynia (Starokonstantinov, Russia) and died in 1908 in New York.
He is considered to be the founder of modern Jewish theater. When he was still a student in the Żytomierz rabbinical school during the years 1857-1866, he took part in a school play and began writing poetry in Hebrew. He made his debut in the Hebrew-language press in 1862, and in Yiddish in 1863. In 1866, he published a volume of couplets and songs titled Dos Yudele (Yiddish, Little Jew).
After a meeting with singers from Brody, I. Grodner and Moshe Finkl, in Iasi in 1876, Goldfaden founded the first Jewish theater with them, becoming its stage director and head. He introduced a number of innovations, such as set decorations and make-up. He composed the music himself. The group's repertoire at first included simple scenes from everyday life, interspersed with couplets, whose material was often quite rudimentary. After intellectuals criticized the low literary quality and the frivolous nature of the productions, Goldfaden began writing the plays himself as well. Over time, the productions became what might be called "historical operettas".
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In the early 1880s, the successes of his group, mainly in Russia, contributed to the development of Yiddish-language theater. Later, Goldfaden's troupe performed in Warsaw. Attempts to repeat their success in America, however, ended in failure. After returning to Europe, Goldfaden was active in Lwów (Lviv) (1890-1903), Paris and London (1898-1903). He spent the last years of his life in New York.
He wrote over 50 plays, inspired to a great extent by folklore. In the beginning, these were comedies, such as Di Rekrutn (Yiddish, The Recruits), Shmendrik, oder Die komishe Chaseneh (Schmendrik or The Comical Wedding (Yiddish, Shmendrik, 1877), Di Kishefmacherin (Yiddish, The Witch), and operettas, including Di tsvey Kuni Lemls (Yiddish, Kuni Leml, 1880), Di Grosmuter (Yiddish, Grandma), Rozinkes mit mandeln (Yiddish, Raisins and Almonds). In later plays, he took up more serious subject matter, as in the works Shulamis oder Bas Yerusholayim (Yiddish, Sulamit, or The Daughter of Jerusalem), based on the Song of Songs or connected with Jewish history: Dr. Almosado, Judas Maccabee or Bar Kochba. (asw)
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