Shimon Shteynberg (; ; alternative Latinized spelling: ''Simon Steinberg''; 21 June 1887,

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

– 20 July 1955,

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...

) was a Ukrainian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and a music director of the Ukrainian State Jewish Theatre.

Biography

Shteynberg was born in

into a

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 ...

family of modest means. He started playing

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

at an early age being first taught by his stepfather, a renowned local wedding toast-master and

fiddler A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially syno ...

, and later by M. Chait in Karl Lagler's Music School. After working in city's theatre orchestras for several years, he was accepted into a newly founded Odessa Conservatoire where he studied composition under

Witold Maliszewski Witold Maliszewski (, ; 20 July 1873 – 18 July 1939) was a Polish composer, founder of Odessa Conservatory, and a professor of Warsaw Conservatory. Biography Maliszewski was born in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). He graduat ...

. Upon graduation in 1919 Shteynberg continued composing, contributing to various theatres in Ukraine. He became music director and a major composer of the Ukrainian Jewish Theater since its inception in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

in 1925, working through its existence in

Kiev 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, ...

(there theatre was popularly known as ''Kiev GOSET''), and later in

, until its liquidation in 1949, at the height of Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign. In his latter years he taught in Chernivtsi Music College.

Compositions

Shteynberg composed music to more than 150 plays, including “

Tevye the Milkman Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman (, ''Tevye der milkhiker'' ) is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and their various adaptations, the most famous being the musical '' ...

”, “

Wandering Stars A classical planet is an astronomical object that is visible to the naked eye and moves across the sky and its backdrop of fixed stars (the common stars which seem still in contrast to the planets), appearing as wandering stars. Visible to huma ...

”, ”

Stempenyu Stempenyu (; 1822-1879) was the popular name of Iosif Druker (), a klezmer violin virtuoso, bandleader and composer from Berdychiv, Russian Empire. He was one of a handful of celebrity nineteenth century Jewish folk violinists from Ukraine; others ...

” by

Shalom Aleichem ''Shalom aleichem'' (; , ) is a greeting in the Hebrew language. When someone is greeted with these words, the appropriate response is (, ). The term is plural, but is still used when addressing one person. This form of greeting is traditio ...

,”Favourful people” after

Mendele Mocher Sforim Mendele Mocher Sforim (, ; lit. "Mendele the book peddler"; January 2, 1836, Kapyl – December 8, 1917 .S. Odessa), born Sholem Yankev Abramovich (, ) or S. J. Abramowitch, was a Jewish author and one of the founders of modern Yiddish and Heb ...

, ”Uprising in

Ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

” by

Peretz Markish Peretz Davidovich Markish () () (7 December O.S. 25 November">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 25 November1895 – 12 August 1952) was a Russian Jewish poet and playwright who wrote pr ...

, ”In fire” by M.Daniel, ”Russian People” by

Konstantin Simonov Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov, born Kirill Mikhailovich Simonov (, – 28 August 1979), was a Soviet author, war poet, playwright and wartime correspondent,Константин Михайлович Симонов // " Литературна� ...

, ”

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a ...

”, “

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunke ...

” by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

etc. Along with Lev Pulver and Lev Yampolsky, he was one of the major contributors to the bulk of

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...

for Jewish theatres of the former USSR. Shteynberg was also a prolific writer of

symphonic A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning ...

and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

songs A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usuall ...

, and

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing Composition (music), composition. Differences from the original composition may include Harmony (music), reharmonization, Musical phrasing, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or M ...

ethnic An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

tunes by peoples of Jewish, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Uzbek and other origins. His music, rooted into a late-romantic tradition of the turn of the 20th century as well as Jewish

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

ial and

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 ...

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset A heritage asset is an item which has value because of its contribution to a nation's society, knowledge and/or culture. Such items are usually physical assets, but some countries also ...

, was recognized for its beauty, expressivity, compositional depth and sophistication. However, it fell into obscurity due to decades-long attitude of

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

authorities toward everything Jewish. In December 1987 the Music College of Chernivtsi commemorated his 100th

anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...

with an evening of his music, which was warmly received by the public. There are no known audio recordings of his music available.

References

* Soviet composers - concise biographical directory, Moscow, Sovetskiy kompozitor, 1957, page 669 (in Russian) * T. Shklover. Anniversary of a Jewish composer,

Birobidzhan Birobidzhan ( rus, Биробиджан, p=bʲɪrəbʲɪˈdʐan; , ), also spelt Birobijan ( ), is a town and the administrative centre of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia, located on the Trans-Siberian Railway, near the China–Russia bord ...

Birobidzhaner Shtern The ''Birobidzhaner Shtern'' (Yiddish: ; ''Birobidžaner Štern''; "The Birobidzhan Star") is a newspaper published in both Yiddish and Russian in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast of Russia. It was set up in November 1930 in Birobidzhan to cater f ...

, issue 6, 1988 (in Yiddish) * Moisei Love. Music was his life, New York City, ”Di Tsukunft” (magazine), volume 1, 1991 (in Yiddish) * Russian Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 3, Moscow, Epos, 1997, page 426 (in Russian) * Moisei Love. Stolen muse, Kyiv, Dukh i litera, 2004 (in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Shteynberg, Shimon 1887 births 1955 deaths Soviet composers Soviet male composers Yiddish-language music Jewish Ukrainian musicians