YIVO Hosts Performance of 1911 Operetta Shir Hashirim: The Song of Love by Joseph Rumshinsky and Anshel Shor

(New York, NY) – On Monday, December 11, 2023 at 7:00pm (ET), the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research will host a concert reading of Shir Hashirim: The Song of Love—an operetta by Jewish composers Joseph Rumshinsky and Anshel Shor—performed by students of the Bard Conservatory Vocal Arts Program.

Premiered in New York City in 1911, Shir hashirim: The Song of Love was subsequently performed around the world. It was so popular that, according to Rumshinsky, George Gershwin could play the whole score by heart. In 1935 a film version of Shir Hashirim, now unfortunately lost, was made of it.

This concert will use a new performance score created by a YIVO team led by scholar Ronald Robboy. The music was painstakingly reconstructed from a variety of manuscripts, prints, and recorded archival materials at YIVO, UCLA, University of Wisconsin, and the Library of Congress.

“We triangulated between all these sources to resolve the different manuscripts’ ambiguities, of which there were many,” said Robboy.

Shir Hashirim is the oldest extant manuscript among Rumshinsky’s papers which are held by UCLA. Besides having been among his earliest original works, it is also one the composer treasured, as confirmed in his memoirs written years later.

“Now that we have decoded and reconstructed music and lyrics, and understand their context, we can see why it was all so important,” Robboy explained. “The work is, in a word, utterly engaging. And it points to how the Yiddish musical theater, along with the broader American musical theater it reciprocally influenced, would develop in the coming years.”

Shir Hashirim is a musical comedy featuring several interlocking love triangles that include an aging composer along with his adult children and their lovers and friends. The work also touches on serious topics including love, mortality, and women's suffrage.

Co-sponsored by Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience

What:            Shir Hashirim – An Operetta by Rumshinsky and Shor
When:           Monday, December 11, 2023 at 7:00pm (ET)
Where:          Taking place live on Zoom and in person at YIVO Located in the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011)
Cost:              General Admission: $15 / YIVO & CJH members: $10 / Livestream: Free
Reservations Available at:  yivo.org/Shir-Hashirim

Part of the Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series made possible by a generous gift from the Estate of Sidney Krum. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

For more information contact:
Alex Weiser
Director of Public Programs

YIVO

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is dedicated to the preservation and study of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide. For nearly a century, YIVO has pioneered new forms of Jewish scholarship, research, education, and cultural expression. Our public programs and exhibitions, as well as online and on-site courses, extend our outreach to a global community. The YIVO Archives contains 24 million unique items and YIVO’s Library has over 400,000 volumes—the single largest resource for the study of East European Jewish life in the world. yivo.org / yivo.org/the-whole-story