ELYOHU
ZALUDKOVSKI (ELIAS ZALUDKOWSKI) (1886/1888[1]-June 29, 1943)
He was born in Meytshet (Molchad),
Slonim district, Byelorussia. His
father, Noyekh Meytsheter, was a cantor in a number of Jewish cities, among
them Lide, Vilna district, where he had become famous and from which he acquired
the name “Reb Noyekh Lider.” When he was
two years of age, Elyohu’s parent brought him to Kalish (Kalisz), Poland, where
his father was to serve as the city’s cantor.
He initially studied at a religious primary school, from age nine with
the Kalish rabbi, R. Shimshen Orenshteyn, and secular subject matter with the
“best teachers in the municipal government’s high school.” Early on he demonstrated musical talent, and
he was taught to play the fiddle. At age
eighteen, he sat for the examinations for the sixth class in high school, and
afterward he left (1905) for Milan, Italy, where he spent five months studying
voice with Professor Augusto Broggi; he later studied for a short time in
Vienna, Austria, with Professor Frank, and in 1906 he arrived at the Kaiser’s
Music Academy in Berlin, later moving to the Stern Conservatory, from which he
graduated with a silver medal in 1909.
That same year (1909), he became the chief cantor of the Sinai Synagogue
in Warsaw. At that time he began writing
about music and the cantorial art in the Hebrew-language Hatsfira (The siren)—“Sirtutim muzikalim” (Musical sketches) and
other pieces under the pen name “Even”—and in Yiddish for Shoyel Hokhberg’s Unzer lebn (Our life)—both in
Warsaw. In 1913 he moved to
Rostov-on-Don, where he served as cantor in the Great Synagogue, voice teacher
in the local state conservatory (1914-1917), and tenor in the opera
(1918-1921). He wrote on music for the
Russian Jewish Razsviet (Dawn) in St.
Petersburg and for the Russian-language Priazovskii
krai (Azov region) in Rostov. In
1922 he left Russia, worked for a specified amount of time as a cantor in the
reform synagogue Taharat Hakodesh in Vilna, served as cantor in Bialystok and
Lodz as well, wrote on music and cantorial work for Vilner tog (Vilna day) and Dos
naye lebn (The new life) in Bialystok, and compiled his work Manginot yisrael (Melodies of Israel), a
collection of songs and stock tunes. In
1925 he arrived to serve as cantor at the Central Synagogue in Liverpool,
England, wrote for Der idisher ekspress
(The Jewish express) in London, and published his book Di muzik in 19tn yorhundert, historish-byografisher iberblik (Music
in the nineteenth century, historical-biographical survey) (London, 1925), 62
pp.—short biographical and critical essays on forty-five composers. In 1926 he moved to the United States, served
for a short time as cantor in a number of synagogues in New York, and then
later moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he was cantor as Temple Shaarey Zedek
from 1926 to 1932; later still, he served as cantor again in New York, as well
as in other cities in America. He spent
his last five year as cantor in Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. He published Finf folkstimlekhe lider far gezang un pyano
(Five popular songs for voice and piano) (New York, 1926), 4 pp.—music and
lyrics by Z. Segalovitsh, Avrom Reyzen, Moris Rozenfeld, and M. Goldman; and he
published in Morgn-zhurnal (Morning
journal) in New York a series of biographical articles on cantors and
conductors which was later included in his book Kultur-treger fun der yidisher liturgye, historish-byografisher
iberblik iber khazones, khazonim un dirizhorn (Culture bearer of Jewish
liturgy, historical-biographical survey of the cantorial art, cantors, and
conductors) (Detroit, Michigan, 1930), 351 pp. and 8 pp., with a preface by the
author, a biographical dictionary of cantors—among them, biographies of his father,
his brothers who were cantors, and his own autobiography. He also compiled a cantor’s prayer book,
entitled Tefilat noaḥ
veavodat eliyahu
(The prayer of Noah and the service of Eliyahu), his father’s and his own liturgical
compositions and recitatives. In the jubilee
volume of Dos naye lebn (Bialystok)
in 1929, he published “Khazonim un khazones bay yidn” (Cantors and the
cantorial art among Jews), and in Shul un
khazonim velt (The world of synagogue and cantors) (Warsaw, 1938) he
contributed a series of articles entitled “Mayne zikhroynes” (My memoirs). He was also the founder and president
(1928-1932) of the cantors’ society of the Midwest. He died in Pittsburgh.
Sources:
Zalman Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Z.
Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater
(Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 1; his autobiography in his Kultur-treger fun der yidisher liturgye
(Detroit, 1930); P. Vyernik, in Morgn-zhurnal
(New York) (January 3 and February 14, 1932); M. Dantsis, in Der tog (New York) (August 26, 1932); Y.
Kirshenboym, in Morgn-zhurnal
(November 2, 1932); Byalistoker leksikon
(Bialystok handbook) (Bialystok, 1935); M. Yardeni, in Der tog (July 11, 1943); Drayshprakhik
yorbukh (Trilingual yearbook), vol. 3 (New York, 1944), p. 76; Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (New
York), vol. 10, p. 627.
[1] The birth date of 1888 is taken from his
autobiography; 1886 comes from Zalmen Reyzen’s Leksikon. The later date
from his autobiography fits better.
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