Zevulun "Zavel" Kwartin ( he, זבולון קוורטין; March 25, 1874, Novoarkhanhelsk,

Yelisavetgradsky Uyezd Yelisavetgradsky Uyezd (''Елисаветградский уезд'') was one of the subdivisions of the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the northern part of the governorate. Its administrative centre was Kropyvnytskyi ...

Kherson Governorate The Kherson Governorate (1802–1922; russian: Херсонская губерния, translit.: ''Khersonskaya guberniya''; uk, Херсонська губернія, translit=Khersonska huberniia), was an administrative territorial unit (als ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

- October 3, 1952, United States) was a Russian-born ''

chazzan A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' ( he, חַזָּן , plural ; Yiddish ''khazn''; Ladino ''Hasan'') is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer. In English, thi ...

'' (cantor) and composer, a contemporary of

Mordechai Hershman Mordecai Hershman (1888 – January 30, 1940) was a Ukraine, Ukrainian-born American Jewish cantor (church), cantor ("chazzan") and singer. Biography Mordechai Hershman was born in Chernihiv in the Chernigov Governorate of the Russian Empire (p ...

. Part of his family fled to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

during World War II. They have descendants in the northeastern region of

, more precisely in the state of Ceará. Kwartin gave his first concert in the synagogue of his home town in 1896. In 1897 he moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

for further studies. He was in contact with Joseph Sulzer, son of the former cantor of the biggest synagogue, Vienna's

Stadttempel The Stadttempel ( en, City Prayer House), also called the Seitenstettengasse Temple, is the main synagogue of Vienna, Austria. It is located in the Innere Stadt 1st district, at Seitenstettengasse 4. History The synagogue was constructed from 182 ...

Salomon Sulzer Salomon Sulzer ( he, סלומון זולצר, March 30, 1804, Hohenems, Vorarlberg – January 17, 1890, Vienna) was an Austrian '' hazzan'' (cantor) and composer. Biography His family, which prior to 1813 bore the name of ''Levi'', removed to ...

. In 1903 he was offered to be chazzan of the newly opened Neudeggergasse Synagogue in Vienna's district

Josefstadt Josefstadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Josefstod'') is the eighth district of Vienna (german: 8. Bezirk, Josefstadt). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Josefstadt is a heavily po ...

. In 1906 he signed hist first contracts with record labels like

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

and soon sold more than half a million records. He gave concerts in the russian Rayon,

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 ...

and Białystok. In 1910 he moved to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

to become chazzan at the

Dohány Street Synagogue The Dohány Street Synagogue ( hu, Dohány utcai zsinagóga / nagy zsinagóga; he, בית הכנסת הגדול של בודפשט, ''Bet ha-Knesset ha-Gadol shel Budapesht''), also known as the ''Great Synagogue'' or ''Tabakgasse Synagogue'', ...

. In 1914 he was offered a tournee through USA, but he was hindered by the outbreak of World War I.Gregor Gatscher-Riedl: ''Die vergoldete Stimme - Der Kantor Zevulin Kwartin - zwischen Neudeggergasse und New York.'' In: David, Jüdische Kulturzeitschrift, Nr. 126/2020, S. 80-82
available on davidkultur.at
/ref> Cantor Kwartin was endowed with a beautiful, rich expressive tenor voice with an astounding range and the agility to sing rapid coloratura. His superb voice and elaborate compositions garnered him international renown as both a chazzan and composer. A ''Musical Courier'' newspaper article dated May 6, 1920 lists a concert he gave with his daughter, Anna Kwartin, coloratura soprano, at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

House on April 27, 1920 before an audience of 4,000 people. The article states: "Sawil Kwartin, Cantor Tenor, who enjoys a big reputation throughout European countries, gave a debut recital in the Metropolitan Opera House on Tuesday Evening, April 27. He was given an ovation upon entering the stage, and it required considerable time before he was able to sing his opening number. Following this, the audience bestowed enthusiastic applause which did not subside until an encore was given." His grand daughter Evelyn Lear also became a successful soprano.

References

External links

Chazzanut Online article on "Zevulun (Zavel) Kwartin"

Zavel Kwartin recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings. 1874 births 1952 deaths Viennese hazzans 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers American male composers American people of Russian-Jewish descent Ukrainian Jews Russian Jews People from Kherson Governorate Musicians from Kropyvnytskyi {{Judaism-bio-stub