Dan Carkner: add categories
[[File:Joseph Cherniavsky.jpg|thumb|Joseph Cherniavsky, Jewish-American composer]]
'''Joseph Cherniavsky''' ([[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]: יוסף טשערניאַװסקי ) (c1890-1959) was a Jewish American [[Cellist]], theatre and film composer, orchestra director, and recording artist. He made some of the earliest novelty recordings mixing American popular music, [[Jazz]] and [[klezmer]] in the mid-1920s, was also musical director at [[Universal Studios]] in 1928-9, and had a long career in radio and musical theatre.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Josef Leo Cherniavsky was born in [[Lubny]], [[Poltava Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]] around 1890. The exact date of his birth is unclear; a citizenship application by his wife in 1928 said March 29, 1889; he himself said on US military documents that it was March 29, 1890, while the [[Lexicon of Yiddish Theatre]] says it was March 31, 1894.<ref name="Lara natl petition" /><ref name="LFYT 904-6">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> His father was a [[klezmer]] musician, was was his grandfather who was said to be the prototype for [[Sholem Aleichem]]'s fictional klezmer [[Stempenyu]].<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> In his youth, Joseph studied in a [[Cheder]] and also played drums in his father's ensemble at weddings.<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> He soon began to learn the [[Cello]] from his father, and then moved to [[Odessa]] where he continued to learn the instrument from Alexander Fidelman, a relative also descended from a klezmer family.<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> He then obtained a government scholarship and traveled to [[Saint Petersburg]].<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> He graduated in 1911 with a gold medal as a Cellist and Conductor and then went to [[Leipzig]] where he finished his studies under [[Julius Klengel]].<ref name="LFYT 904-6" />
===Musical career in Russia===
While still a music student, Cherniavsky had been a member of a Jewish chamber music ensemble founded by clarinetist [[Simeon Bellison]] called the Moscow Quintet, which was heavily influenced by the [[Society for Jewish Folk Music]].<ref name="Levin article 73-6">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Cherniavsky had collected Jewish melodies in villages during that era and contribued them to the development of the ensemble's repertoire.<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> Upon finishing his studies in 1914 he returned to Saint Petersburg and rejoined the ensemble, played in some Russian orchestras, and began to compose.<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> In 1918, with the support of the aforementioned Society, Bellison founded a new chamber ensemble called the Zimro Ensemble, also known as the Palestine Chamber Music Ensemble: ZIMRO.<ref name="Levin article 73-6" /> The ensemble's goal was to embark on tours of Eastern Russia, Asia, and the United States, with their final goal being [[Palestine]].<ref name="Levin article 73-6" /> Their repertoire consisted not only of standard Western chamber repertoire, but also compositions by Russian Jewish composers such as [[Alexander Krein]], [[Solomon Rosowsky]], [[Joseph Achron]], and [[Mikhail Gnessin]].<ref name="Levin article 73-6" /> Cherniavsky toured Eastern Russia, India, the Dutch East Indies and China with the ensemble, finally ending up in the United States in 1919.<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> The ensemble stayed at least two years in the United States, performing at [[Carnegie Hall]] and various other venues.<ref name="Levin article 73-6" /> [[Sergei Prokofiev]] composed his [[Overture on Hebrew Themes]] for the Zimra Ensemble, who debuted it in February 1920 in New York, with Prokofiev as guest pianist.<ref name="Levin article 84-6">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> However, rather than continue with their stated goal of fundraising for a artistic centre in [[Mandate Palestine]], gradually the group broke apart, and at least three of its members (Cherniavsky, Mestechkin and Bellison) settled in the US and started music careers there.<ref name="Levin article 84-6" />
===Klezmer, Theatre and Vaudeville in the USA===
In 1919, while the Zimra ensemble was still playing concerts, Cherniavsky wrote the music for a play called ''Moishe der Klezmer'' which was performed by [[Maurice Schwartz]].<ref name="Sapoznik 107-11">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> His encounter with Schwartz led him to enter the world of the Yiddish Theatre more prominently as a composer and arranger. They collaborated on the first American adaption of [[The Dybbuk]] which played to great success in 1921-22.<ref name="Sapoznik 107-11" />
[[File:Joseph Cherniavsky and his Chasidic-American Jazz Band.jpg|thumb|Joseph Cherniavsky and his Chasidic-American Jazz Band, Keith-Orpheum A circuit c1923-1925]]
After The Dybbuk closed, Cherniavsky rewrote some of the material into a new [[vaudeville]] act which he variously called Joseph Cherniavsky's Yiddish-American Jazz Band, the Hasidic-American Jazz Band, etc.<ref name="Sapoznik 107-11" /> The orchestra members would dress as [[Cossacks]] or [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidim]].<ref name="Sapoznik 107-11" /> Famous klezmers who played in this orchestra included [[Naftule Brandwein]], [[Dave Tarras]] and [[Shloimke Beckerman]].<ref name="Sapoznik 107-11" /> The act toured the United States for three years.<ref name="forverts article 1926">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> In 1924 his recordings for [[Pathé Records]] as the Cherniavsky Jewish Jazz Band were marketed as the first "Jewish Jazz Band" in the country.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Dave Tarras later said that the music had not really been Jazz, but just "nice theatre music".<ref name="Sapoznik 112">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Klezmer researcher Jeffrey Wollock describes the act's music as "neither jazz nor true klezmer, his arrangements were modernistic, theatrical treatments of Jewish content."<ref name="wollock 45">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> By 1925 the orchestra disbanded.<ref name="Sapoznik 112" />
Cherniavsky had also continued to compose for the Yiddish Theatre after The Dybbuk. He went to work for [[Boris Thomashefsky]]. In 1926 he was made composer and conductor at the newly opening Public Theatre at Second Avenue and 4th Street.<ref name="forverts article 1926" /> However, his composing for Yiddish music appears to have ended during this period; his last copyrighted piece of this kind appears to be ''Der kaddish tsu mayn shtam'' (1925).<ref></ref>
Cherniavsky was also present in the early years of [[Yiddish language]] radio in the United States. He was musical director of what may have been the first regularly scheduled Yiddish music hour at WFBH in 1926.<ref name="wollock 45" />
===Mainstream music career===
Towards the end of the 1920s Cherniavsky gravitated towards maintream English music, whether in radio, film or theatre. In February 1928 he launched a new radio series with Josef Cherniavsky's Colonials Orchestra at the Colony Theatre in New York; they had made their stage debut at the opening of [[The Chinese Parrot (film)|The Chinese Parrot]].<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Later in 1928 [[Carl Laemmle]] appointed him musical director at [[Universal Studios]] and Cherniavsky relocated to [[Hollywood]].<ref name="BBM article 1929">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> However, he was not there long; he left in July 1929 before his contract was finished.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
During the [[Second World War]], Cherniavsky worked in radio, first at WLW Cincinnati and WOV New York in 1941 and then WEII [[CBS Radio]] in [[Boston]] in 1942.<ref name="WWII Draft reg"></ref><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
In 1949 Cherniavsky spent time in [[Johannesburg]], [[South Africa]] where he was musical director for a production of [[Oklahoma!]] as well as some [[Ballet]] productions.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
===Family===
Joseph's wife was named Lara (née Lieberman).<ref name="Salomea birth record 1929"></ref> She was a pianist and they were married in Russia in June 1917.<ref name="Lara natl petition"></ref>
Their son William was born in June 1918 in Russia and their daughter Salomea was born in California in December 1929.<ref name="Lara natl petition" /><ref name="Salomea birth record 1929" /><ref name="1930 census"></ref><ref name="1940 census"></ref>
==External links==
* [https://ift.tt/3nNdXAU Joseph Cherniavsky recordings] in the [[Florida Atlantic University]] Judaica sound archive
* [https://ift.tt/2KJwP5b Joseph Cherniavsky listed recordings] in the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]]
==References==
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Lubny]]
[[Category:Soviet emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Jewish classical musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American composers]]
[[Category:Klezmer musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish American musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish Ukrainian musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish American film score composers]]
'''Joseph Cherniavsky''' ([[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]: יוסף טשערניאַװסקי ) (c1890-1959) was a Jewish American [[Cellist]], theatre and film composer, orchestra director, and recording artist. He made some of the earliest novelty recordings mixing American popular music, [[Jazz]] and [[klezmer]] in the mid-1920s, was also musical director at [[Universal Studios]] in 1928-9, and had a long career in radio and musical theatre.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Josef Leo Cherniavsky was born in [[Lubny]], [[Poltava Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]] around 1890. The exact date of his birth is unclear; a citizenship application by his wife in 1928 said March 29, 1889; he himself said on US military documents that it was March 29, 1890, while the [[Lexicon of Yiddish Theatre]] says it was March 31, 1894.<ref name="Lara natl petition" /><ref name="LFYT 904-6">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> His father was a [[klezmer]] musician, was was his grandfather who was said to be the prototype for [[Sholem Aleichem]]'s fictional klezmer [[Stempenyu]].<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> In his youth, Joseph studied in a [[Cheder]] and also played drums in his father's ensemble at weddings.<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> He soon began to learn the [[Cello]] from his father, and then moved to [[Odessa]] where he continued to learn the instrument from Alexander Fidelman, a relative also descended from a klezmer family.<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> He then obtained a government scholarship and traveled to [[Saint Petersburg]].<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> He graduated in 1911 with a gold medal as a Cellist and Conductor and then went to [[Leipzig]] where he finished his studies under [[Julius Klengel]].<ref name="LFYT 904-6" />
===Musical career in Russia===
While still a music student, Cherniavsky had been a member of a Jewish chamber music ensemble founded by clarinetist [[Simeon Bellison]] called the Moscow Quintet, which was heavily influenced by the [[Society for Jewish Folk Music]].<ref name="Levin article 73-6">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Cherniavsky had collected Jewish melodies in villages during that era and contribued them to the development of the ensemble's repertoire.<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> Upon finishing his studies in 1914 he returned to Saint Petersburg and rejoined the ensemble, played in some Russian orchestras, and began to compose.<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> In 1918, with the support of the aforementioned Society, Bellison founded a new chamber ensemble called the Zimro Ensemble, also known as the Palestine Chamber Music Ensemble: ZIMRO.<ref name="Levin article 73-6" /> The ensemble's goal was to embark on tours of Eastern Russia, Asia, and the United States, with their final goal being [[Palestine]].<ref name="Levin article 73-6" /> Their repertoire consisted not only of standard Western chamber repertoire, but also compositions by Russian Jewish composers such as [[Alexander Krein]], [[Solomon Rosowsky]], [[Joseph Achron]], and [[Mikhail Gnessin]].<ref name="Levin article 73-6" /> Cherniavsky toured Eastern Russia, India, the Dutch East Indies and China with the ensemble, finally ending up in the United States in 1919.<ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> The ensemble stayed at least two years in the United States, performing at [[Carnegie Hall]] and various other venues.<ref name="Levin article 73-6" /> [[Sergei Prokofiev]] composed his [[Overture on Hebrew Themes]] for the Zimra Ensemble, who debuted it in February 1920 in New York, with Prokofiev as guest pianist.<ref name="Levin article 84-6">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> However, rather than continue with their stated goal of fundraising for a artistic centre in [[Mandate Palestine]], gradually the group broke apart, and at least three of its members (Cherniavsky, Mestechkin and Bellison) settled in the US and started music careers there.<ref name="Levin article 84-6" />
===Klezmer, Theatre and Vaudeville in the USA===
In 1919, while the Zimra ensemble was still playing concerts, Cherniavsky wrote the music for a play called ''Moishe der Klezmer'' which was performed by [[Maurice Schwartz]].<ref name="Sapoznik 107-11">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref name="LFYT 904-6" /> His encounter with Schwartz led him to enter the world of the Yiddish Theatre more prominently as a composer and arranger. They collaborated on the first American adaption of [[The Dybbuk]] which played to great success in 1921-22.<ref name="Sapoznik 107-11" />
[[File:Joseph Cherniavsky and his Chasidic-American Jazz Band.jpg|thumb|Joseph Cherniavsky and his Chasidic-American Jazz Band, Keith-Orpheum A circuit c1923-1925]]
After The Dybbuk closed, Cherniavsky rewrote some of the material into a new [[vaudeville]] act which he variously called Joseph Cherniavsky's Yiddish-American Jazz Band, the Hasidic-American Jazz Band, etc.<ref name="Sapoznik 107-11" /> The orchestra members would dress as [[Cossacks]] or [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidim]].<ref name="Sapoznik 107-11" /> Famous klezmers who played in this orchestra included [[Naftule Brandwein]], [[Dave Tarras]] and [[Shloimke Beckerman]].<ref name="Sapoznik 107-11" /> The act toured the United States for three years.<ref name="forverts article 1926">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> In 1924 his recordings for [[Pathé Records]] as the Cherniavsky Jewish Jazz Band were marketed as the first "Jewish Jazz Band" in the country.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Dave Tarras later said that the music had not really been Jazz, but just "nice theatre music".<ref name="Sapoznik 112">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Klezmer researcher Jeffrey Wollock describes the act's music as "neither jazz nor true klezmer, his arrangements were modernistic, theatrical treatments of Jewish content."<ref name="wollock 45">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> By 1925 the orchestra disbanded.<ref name="Sapoznik 112" />
Cherniavsky had also continued to compose for the Yiddish Theatre after The Dybbuk. He went to work for [[Boris Thomashefsky]]. In 1926 he was made composer and conductor at the newly opening Public Theatre at Second Avenue and 4th Street.<ref name="forverts article 1926" /> However, his composing for Yiddish music appears to have ended during this period; his last copyrighted piece of this kind appears to be ''Der kaddish tsu mayn shtam'' (1925).<ref></ref>
Cherniavsky was also present in the early years of [[Yiddish language]] radio in the United States. He was musical director of what may have been the first regularly scheduled Yiddish music hour at WFBH in 1926.<ref name="wollock 45" />
===Mainstream music career===
Towards the end of the 1920s Cherniavsky gravitated towards maintream English music, whether in radio, film or theatre. In February 1928 he launched a new radio series with Josef Cherniavsky's Colonials Orchestra at the Colony Theatre in New York; they had made their stage debut at the opening of [[The Chinese Parrot (film)|The Chinese Parrot]].<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Later in 1928 [[Carl Laemmle]] appointed him musical director at [[Universal Studios]] and Cherniavsky relocated to [[Hollywood]].<ref name="BBM article 1929">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> However, he was not there long; he left in July 1929 before his contract was finished.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
During the [[Second World War]], Cherniavsky worked in radio, first at WLW Cincinnati and WOV New York in 1941 and then WEII [[CBS Radio]] in [[Boston]] in 1942.<ref name="WWII Draft reg"></ref><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
In 1949 Cherniavsky spent time in [[Johannesburg]], [[South Africa]] where he was musical director for a production of [[Oklahoma!]] as well as some [[Ballet]] productions.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
===Family===
Joseph's wife was named Lara (née Lieberman).<ref name="Salomea birth record 1929"></ref> She was a pianist and they were married in Russia in June 1917.<ref name="Lara natl petition"></ref>
Their son William was born in June 1918 in Russia and their daughter Salomea was born in California in December 1929.<ref name="Lara natl petition" /><ref name="Salomea birth record 1929" /><ref name="1930 census"></ref><ref name="1940 census"></ref>
==External links==
* [https://ift.tt/3nNdXAU Joseph Cherniavsky recordings] in the [[Florida Atlantic University]] Judaica sound archive
* [https://ift.tt/2KJwP5b Joseph Cherniavsky listed recordings] in the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]]
==References==
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Lubny]]
[[Category:Soviet emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Jewish classical musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American composers]]
[[Category:Klezmer musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish American musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish Ukrainian musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish American film score composers]]
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