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Valentine's Special: My Grandmother's Communist Lover
In this episode, I discover the identity of my Grandmother’s lover. His name is Lan Adomian. He’s Ukrainian Jewish, he’s a composer, and he’s a communist. In 1930s New York City, he’s directing futurist musicals about robots and capitalism, in Yiddish. His friends are putting on pageants commemorating Lenin in Madison Square Garden, where hundreds of dancers use their bodies to make a massive hammer and sickle formation. He’s part of the first Yiddish proletarian camp for workers and organizers, a place where campers argue about Marx and Lenin and sing communist songs in the swimming pool…..
Music Notes:
Music Notes, part 1:
Zinovy Shulman, Soviet Jewish singer, 1949 “Shpazirn Zaynen Mir Beyde Gegangen”
2.”Las Puertas de Madrid” Music Lan Adomian. Words Miguel Hernandez. Sung by Ana Vega, from her album Canciones De Lucha Songs of Battle
3.”In Praise of Learning” Words Bertold Brecht, Music Hans Eisler. 1935. Chorus New Singers. Conductor, Lan Adomian. Piano Marc Blitztein. Solo Mordecai Bauman.
4.”In Ale Gasn” The song is actually a combination of two songs, arranged by Zalman Mlotek, musician, conductor, arranger and an authority in Yiddish folk and theater music. Mlotek arranged the song for a documentary movie called Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists (1980).
5. “The Internationale” by Pierre Degyeter. 1935. Chorus New Singers. Conductor, Lan Adomian. Piano Marc Blitztein. Solo Mordecai Bauman.
6. Zinovy Shulman.
7. Henry Cowell, Aeolian Harp. Fausto Bongelli, piano.
Bits and Pieces:
1.“ Joe Worker” by Marc Blitztein. Piano/conductor: Rodney Lister. Julia Cavallaro, mezzo-soprano
* “Square Set” Herbert Haufrecht
* “Ostinato” Henry Cowell
* “Joe Hill” Earl Robinson
5. Mécanique No. 1, George Anthell
6. “To an Unkind God” Ruth Crawford Seeger
7. “Song of the Dark Woods” Elie Siegmeister
8. “In dem land Sibir” sung by Chana Yachness and Rukhele Yachness. I couldn’t find any recordings of Jacob Schaefer’s music. But this song was part of his 1937 yiddish revolutionary folk operetta, “A Bunt Mit a Statshke”
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By Maria SchumannIn this episode, I discover the identity of my Grandmother’s lover. His name is Lan Adomian. He’s Ukrainian Jewish, he’s a composer, and he’s a communist. In 1930s New York City, he’s directing futurist musicals about robots and capitalism, in Yiddish. His friends are putting on pageants commemorating Lenin in Madison Square Garden, where hundreds of dancers use their bodies to make a massive hammer and sickle formation. He’s part of the first Yiddish proletarian camp for workers and organizers, a place where campers argue about Marx and Lenin and sing communist songs in the swimming pool…..
Music Notes:
Music Notes, part 1:
Zinovy Shulman, Soviet Jewish singer, 1949 “Shpazirn Zaynen Mir Beyde Gegangen”
2.”Las Puertas de Madrid” Music Lan Adomian. Words Miguel Hernandez. Sung by Ana Vega, from her album Canciones De Lucha Songs of Battle
3.”In Praise of Learning” Words Bertold Brecht, Music Hans Eisler. 1935. Chorus New Singers. Conductor, Lan Adomian. Piano Marc Blitztein. Solo Mordecai Bauman.
4.”In Ale Gasn” The song is actually a combination of two songs, arranged by Zalman Mlotek, musician, conductor, arranger and an authority in Yiddish folk and theater music. Mlotek arranged the song for a documentary movie called Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists (1980).
5. “The Internationale” by Pierre Degyeter. 1935. Chorus New Singers. Conductor, Lan Adomian. Piano Marc Blitztein. Solo Mordecai Bauman.
6. Zinovy Shulman.
7. Henry Cowell, Aeolian Harp. Fausto Bongelli, piano.
Bits and Pieces:
1.“ Joe Worker” by Marc Blitztein. Piano/conductor: Rodney Lister. Julia Cavallaro, mezzo-soprano
* “Square Set” Herbert Haufrecht
* “Ostinato” Henry Cowell
* “Joe Hill” Earl Robinson
5. Mécanique No. 1, George Anthell
6. “To an Unkind God” Ruth Crawford Seeger
7. “Song of the Dark Woods” Elie Siegmeister
8. “In dem land Sibir” sung by Chana Yachness and Rukhele Yachness. I couldn’t find any recordings of Jacob Schaefer’s music. But this song was part of his 1937 yiddish revolutionary folk operetta, “A Bunt Mit a Statshke”
Get full access to Bread and Salt at breadandsalt.substack.com/subscribe