Gershon-Yitskhok Leibovich Sirota (russian: Гершон-Ицхок Лейбович Сирота; 187419 April 1943) was one of the leading

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

s of Europe during the "Golden Age of Hazzanut" (cantorial music), sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Caruso".

Biography

Sirota began his cantorial career in Odessa, then spent eight years in

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

as cantor of the Shtatshul (State Synagogue) there. It was in Vilna that he began his collaboration with choirmaster Leo Lowe, which would continue throughout his career. He performed on numerous occasions throughout Europe, and in 1902 he sang at a reception in honor of

Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl; hu, Herzl Tivadar; Hebrew name given at his brit milah: Binyamin Ze'ev (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who was the father of modern po ...

, the founder of the

Zionist Movement Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Jew ...

. In 1907, Sirota assumed the position of cantor at the prestigious Tłomackie Street Synagogue in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. He continued his concert appearances around Europe, and even sang in Carnegie Hall in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to a sold out crowd. While cantor at the Tłomackie Synagogue, he also began recording his music. The first Jewish records, made in Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg and spread across the whole Jewish world, were of the two famous cantors: Gershon Sirota and Zavel Kwartin.Mordecai Yardeini: ''Vort un klang eseyen, eseyen, eseyetkes, poetsye'' (Volume 3) p 200 As the technology improved, he was constantly rerecording the songs, so that listeners can trace the improvement of his rich

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

voice over the years. While Sirota eventually left the synagogue over disputes concerning his frequent performances, he continued to live in Warsaw. Nevertheless, he travelled frequently, and his concerts were attended by Jewish and gentile audiences alike—and according to some accounts, even by Caruso. Caught in Warsaw during the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

invasion of Poland during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he spent his final years living in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

, and died in the

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany' ...

in 1943.

References

External links

Gershon Sirota recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
Recordings onlineBiography of Sirota
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirota, Gershon 1874 births 1943 deaths Musicians from Odesa Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust Hazzans People who died in the Warsaw Ghetto Odesa Jews Polish civilians killed in World War II