Avraham-Yehoshua Makonovetsky
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Avraham-Yehoshua Makonovetsky (, , born 1872) was a
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
-
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
Klezmer Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...
violinist who acted as a key informant to the
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Ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
Moisei Beregovsky Moisei Beregovsky (1892 – 12 August 1961, ; ) was a Soviet Jewish folklorist, musicologist and ethnomusicologist from the Ukrainian SSR who was a key figure in the study of Jewish music. He collected, studied and published about klezmer music, ...
in the 1930s. His extensive handwritten manuscripts, which are now in the collection of the
Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine The Vladimir Vernadsky, Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, VNLU () is the main academic library and main scientific information centre in Ukraine, one of the List of largest libraries, world's largest national library, national libraries. Its ...
, serve as a rare example of nineteenth-century Klezmer violin music.


Biography

Makonovetsky was born in Khabne,
Kiev Governorate Kiev Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire (1796–1917), Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–18; 1918–1921), Ukrainian State (1918), and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–19 ...
,
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
in 1872. (The town was renamed Poliske in 1957 and is now depopulated due to being located in the
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, also called the 30-Kilometre Zone or simply The Zone, was established shortly after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. Initially, Soviet authorities declar ...
of
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
.) Makonovetsky's father, known as (Israel the fiddler) had lived in Bragin (now
Brahin, Belarus Brahin, or Bragin, is an urban-type settlement in Gomel Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Brahin District. It stands on the banks of the Brahinka River, from the nearest railway ( Khoiniki station). As of 2025, it ha ...
) before marrying a woman from Khabne and relocating there, forming a klezmer ensemble there in 1858. In Khabne he worked not only as a klezmer but also as a barber, watchmaker, glazier, and music teacher to local poor children. Makonovetsky began to study the violin under his father at age seven, and his father later sent him to study under another violinist, Arn-Moyshe Sirtovich, in
Malyn Malyn (, ) is a city in Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of Ukraine located about northwest of Kyiv. It served as the administrative center of Malyn Raion until the administrative reform in 2020, when it was merged into Korosten Raion. Population: ...
. After a few years of being underpaid and underfed as the second fiddler in Sirtovich's orchestra, Makonovetsky left Malyn for
Radomyshl Radomyshl (, ) is a historic city in Zhytomyr Raion, Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. Before 2020, it was the administrative center of the former Radomyshl Raion. It is located on the left bank of the Teteriv River, a right tributary of ...
where he joined another klezmer ensemble under Nune Vaynshteyn. In 1893 he returned to Khabne where he continued to work as a klezmer, and he soon became the leader of the local ensemble. The band served not only Khabne but also smaller towns within a fifty kilometre radius which had no klezmer bands of their own. In Khabne in the 1890s he sought to improve his musical education, studying printed works by
Charles Auguste de Bériot Charles Auguste de Bériot (; 20 February 18028 April 1870) was a Belgian violinist, artist and composer. Biography Charles de Bériot was born in 1802 in Leuven, France (now part of Belgium) into a noble family but was orphaned at the age of n ...
and a method book by a
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author named Niedzielski, as well as other published concertos and etudes. He then set out to document klezmer material and compositions from other towns such as
Makariv Makariv () is a rural settlement in Bucha Raion, in Kyiv Oblast (province) of Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Makariv settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population of the settlement is , down from 12,042 in 2001. ...
, Radomyshl, and
Bila Tserkva Bila Tserkva ( ; , ) is a city in central Ukraine. It is situated on the Ros (river), Ros River in the historical region of right-bank Ukraine. It is the largest city in Kyiv Oblast (which does not include the city of Kyiv) and serves as the ...
. Makonovetsky spent the rest of his life in Khabne, apparently still working as a klezmer musician into the early Soviet era. His exact place and date of death are unknown, although he was certainly alive in the late 1930s when he corresponded with Beregovski.


Legacy

Makonovetsky is known today because he acted as a key informant to
Moisei Beregovsky Moisei Beregovsky (1892 – 12 August 1961, ; ) was a Soviet Jewish folklorist, musicologist and ethnomusicologist from the Ukrainian SSR who was a key figure in the study of Jewish music. He collected, studied and published about klezmer music, ...
, the Soviet Jewish ethnomusicologist and klezmer researcher. He answered Beregovsky's questionnaire about how the klezmer trade worked in the late nineteenth century and shared his extensive manuscripts of klezmer repertoire, some of which Beregovsky used in his published volume of Jewish Instrumental Folk Music. After the closure of the Institute of Jewish Proletarian Culture in
Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
in 1949, Beregovsky's materials (including Makonovetsky's manuscripts) were kept in storage for several decades before being integrated into the collection of the
Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine The Vladimir Vernadsky, Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, VNLU () is the main academic library and main scientific information centre in Ukraine, one of the List of largest libraries, world's largest national library, national libraries. Its ...
after the breakup of the Soviet Union. At present, his manuscripts have been digitized and are accessible as part of a digitization project by the Klezmer Institute called the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project (KMDMP).


References


External links


Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project
a project to transcribe Makonovetsky's manuscripts along with those of
Susman Kiselgof Susman (Zinoviy Aronovich) Kiselgof (, ; 1878–1939) was a Russian-Jewish folksong collector and pedagogue associated with the Society for Jewish Folk Music in St. Petersburg. Like his contemporary Joel Engel (composer), Joel Engel, he conducted ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makonovetsky, Avraham-Yehoshua Klezmer musicians 1872 births 20th-century deaths Year of death unknown People from Poliske 19th-century male musicians from the Russian Empire Jews from the Russian Empire Jewish violinists Violinists from the Russian Empire