David Beigelman

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Lives in the Yiddish Theatre

SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF THOSE INVOLVED IN THE YIDDISH THEATRE
AS DESCRIBED IN ZALMEN ZYLBERCWEIG'S "LEXICON OF THE YIDDISH THEATRE"

1931-1969

David Beigelman

B. was born in March 1887 in Ostrowce, Radom Gubernia (in Russian Poland), into a musical family. His musical education began when he was very young. He joined a theatre orchestra at the age of eight. Later he began directing and conducting. In 1912 he became conductor of the orchestra at Zandberg's Yiddish theatre in Lodz, in which his father acted. Despite more lucrative opportunities to work for Polish orchestras, he remained with the Yiddish theatre.

[According to his declaration of intention to join the Professional Actors Union in Poland (dated 6 January 1923), he had previously worked in the following theatres/cities: Epelbergen's (Warsaw), Adler's (Lodz), Kompanayetz's (Lodz), L. Kahan's (Lodz) -- ed.]

From 1928, he was the composer for the Yiddish theatre in Lwow, and during this period, he wrote scores for Dr. Tsipor's "Revolt" and Levitas' "The Sentence." On the eve of World War II, he wrote the score for Turkow's musical comedy "The African Son."

From the 1920s on, he tried to immigrate to America without success.

In the late 1930s, he composed a score for a large potpourri of the work of A. Goldfaden. This, along with the vast majority of B.’s work, was lost during the Holocaust.

At the outbreak of World War II, B. returned to Lodz. While in the ghetto, he and Moshe Pulaver (formerly an actor with the Ararat Theatre) organized a theatre. B. not only wrote new scores for their productions, he even wrote plays and librettos.

B. was part of the last group of Lodz Jews to be deported to Auschwitz. He brought his violin and all his scores with him. Even in the camp, he tried to provide entertainment for his fellow Jews. He lived until Liberation, but died immediately thereafter.

Sh. Kaczerginski published some of B.’s songs in his "Lider fun di getos un lagern". These included “Tsigayner lid” (The Gypsy Song) and “A yidish lidl” (A Little Jewish Song)—to which B. wrote both the lyrics and music.

B. also wrote the music for the following, which are published in the same collection: “Sand Shines in the Sun," “Small Clouds," “Childhood," “The Sun Reflecting on the Window Pane," “Close Your Eyes," “No Almonds, No Raisins," “I Live in the Ghetto, in the Caucasus," and “The Little Tailor." Katsherginski was able to publish some of these with their melodies.

B. was married to the well-known actress Andzhe Foderman. She was killed earlier on. Their only son, Pinyek (also a musician), survived the war in Russia, and thereafter came to America.