Emil Makai (17 November 1870 – 6 August 1901), born Emil Fischer, was a Hungarian-

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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, journalist, dramatist, and translator.

Biography

Born to

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Antal Enoch Fischer in

Makó Makó (, , Makowe, or , ) is a town in Csongrád County, in southeastern Hungary, from the Romanian border. It lies on the Maros River. Makó is home to 21,913 people and it has an area of , of which is arable land. Makó is the fourth-larges ...

, Makkai went to

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

in 1884, where he distinguished himself at the Budapest rabbinical seminary as a student by his poetical talent. In 1888, Makai published his first volume of poetry, ''Vallásos énekek'' ("Religious Songs"). This was followed by a Biblical drama, ''Absalon'' (1891), and ''Zsidó költők'' ("Jewish Poets," 1892), translations of medieval Hebrew poetry, including the works of Shlomo ibn Gabirol, Yehudah ha-Levi, Shmuel ha-Nagid, Moshe ibn Ezra, Avraham ibn Ezra, Yehuda al-Harizi, and Imanuel ha-Romi. In 1893, his version of the

Song of Songs The Song of Songs (), also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a Biblical poetry, biblical poem, one of the five ("scrolls") in the ('writings'), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike other books in the Hebrew Bible, i ...

(''Énekek éneke'') was published. From 1892 Makai translated more than 100 dramas and

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

s, included

Abraham Goldfaden Abraham Goldfaden (; born Avrum Goldnfoden; 24 July 1840 – 9 January 1908), also known as Avram Goldfaden, was a Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in Yiddish and Hebrew languages and author of some 40 plays. Goldfad ...

's ''Sulamit'' and ''Bar Kochba''.

Works

* ''Vallásos énekek'' ("Religious Songs", 1888) * ''Absolon'' ("

Absalom Absalom ( , ), according to the Hebrew Bible, was an Israelite prince. Born to David and Maacah, who was from Geshur, he was the only full sibling of Tamar. He is described in the Hebrew Bible as being exceptionally beautiful, as is his siste ...

", 1891) * ''Komédiások'' (1891) * ''Zsidó költők'' ("Jewish Poets", 1892) * ''Énekek éneke'' ("Song of Songs", 1893) * ''Margit'' (1896) * ''A királyné apródja'' (1899) * ''Robinzonok'' (1899) * ''Tudós professzor Hatvani'' ("The Learned Professor Hatvani", 1900)

Translations

* ''Toto és Tata'' (1895) * ''A kék asszony'' (1897) * ''Jáfet tizenkét felesége'' (1898) * ''A görög rabszolga'' (1899) * ''A modell'' (1901) * ''A kölcsönkért vőlegény'' (1901)

References

* 1870 births 1901 deaths Hungarian Jews Jewish poets Jewish translators People from Makó Writers from Budapest 19th-century translators Poets from Austria-Hungary {{Hungary-writer-stub