Dr. Michael Ochs, and noted scholar on Jewish music, Professor Mark Slobin
will present the talk, “Tailoring an Operetta to Its Audience:
Rumshinsky’s Di goldene kale (1923)” at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th
Street, NYC) on Friday, February 22, 2013 at 10:30 A.M., in what promises to be an
engaging discussion of the issues surrounding the re-construction and
arrangement of a Yiddish theater work.

Joseph Rumshinsky’s 1923 musical comedy, Di goldene kale (The Golden
Bride) was a work carefully designed to both move and entertain its specialized
American audience: Yiddish-speaking immigrants from Eastern Europe and
their families. With pathos (the basic ingredient), love, “Jewish-style”
music, a ritual kiddush, acts set in a shtetl and in America, a shadchen, a
lullaby that slips into Russian, assimilated Jews speaking broken Yiddish, a
paean to America, as well as other compelling features, it offered its
attendees a meaningful evening based on their past and present experiences.

As always, admission is free. Hope to greet you personally on February
22nd. For more information, please visit the Jewish Music Forum website:
http://www.jewishmusicforum.org/

Dr. Michael Ochs is retired Richard F. French Librarian and Senior
Lecturer on Music at Harvard University, as well as the past music editor at W. W.
Norton publishers. He is currently preparing a critical edition of the
operetta’s score based on manuscript material from the original production.

Dr. Mark Slobin is Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music at Wesleyan University
and author of Fiddler on the Move: Exploring the Klezmer World, Chosen
Voices: The Story of the American Cantorate, and Tenement Songs: The Popular
Music of the Jewish Immigrants.