Mark Warshawsky

Mark Markovich Warshawsky (Varshavsky) (russian: Марк Маркович Варшавский, yi, מאַרק וואַרשאַווסקי; 26 November 1848In contrast to more recent scholarship, Noach Prilutski (1882-1941), in an article translated into English and adapted by Shura Vaisman, as

, via ibiblio.org, states (evidently in error) that Warshawsky was born in Zhitomir in 1845. – 1907) was a Yiddish-language folk poet and composer.Mlotek, Chana (February 18, 2011).
Varshavski, Mark
" ''YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe''. yivoencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2017-06-26.

Biography

Mark Warshawsky was born in Odessa into an Ashkenazi Jewish family. He moved with his family as a child to Zhitomir, where he later attended the four-year state rabbinical high school. He then went on to study law at Odessa University for one year, and completed his studies at Kiev University and upon completion of his studies, began to practice law in Kiev. He practiced law throughout his life, barely managing to make a living. In 1903 he moved to Belgium to work as a legal adviser for a firm there; upon falling ill in 1905, he returned to Kiev, where he died two years later.

According to Prilutsky, Warshawsky spoke in the Yiddish dialect of the Volyn region.

Under the influence of Abraham Goldfaden, Warshawsky started to write songs and sing them in his circle of friends accompanied by a fortepiano. He did not take his musical work seriously and never recorded those songs, relying only on his memory. Many of his works spread throughout the Jewish community of the Ukrainian region of the Russian Empire simply through repeated performance and most were adopted as folk songs.

In 1890 Warshawsky met with Sholem Aleichem. After listening to his songs, Sholem Aleichem wrote "I simply hugged him and kissed him!" And then,

Later, with Aleichem's full cooperation, Warshawsky published his first collection, ''Yiddishe Volkslider'' (''Jewish People's songs'', Kiev, 1900) with a hearty foreword from the great writer, Aleichem. The book was republished not only in Russia, but abroad as well. The collection included such songs as ''Der Alef-Beis'' (commonly known as Oyfn Pripetshik), ''A Brif fun Amerike'', and ''Der Zeide mit der Babe''. The songs described the everyday life of Jews in the Russian Empire.

Together Sholem Aleichem and Warshawsky started to tour Russia performing their own repertoires. They also planned to travel to the United States; however, those plans were unfulfilled when Warshawsky suddenly became ill and died on November 26, 1907.

The second edition of the Warshawsky's songs was published in Odessa in 1914, and then in New York (1948) and Buenos-Aires (1958).

See also

* Oyfn Pripetshik

Bibliography

*
* Mlotek, Chana (February 18, 2011).
Varshavski, Mark
" ''YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe''. yivoencyclopedia.org.
* Prilutski, Noach, entry on Mark Warshawsky in ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: ''Obshchestvo Dlia Nauchnykh Evreiskikh Izdanii'', Brokhaus-Efron, 1906-13.

References

External links

* (in Yiddish), performed by Esther Ofarim.

Warshawsky at Virtual Jewish Encyclopedia

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warshawsky, Mark
1848 births
1907 deaths
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni
Odesa Jews
Lawyers from Kyiv
Yiddish-language writers
Yiddish-language singers