CANTORIAL COMMENTS
By
Cantor Elihu Feldman
Two
Hero Cantors of the Shoah: (Part Two)
Joseph
Schmidt and Gershon Sirota
This is the second part of an article
written in observance of Yom Hashoah,
Holocaust Memorial Day. In dedicating this article
to the two hero cantors
of the Shoah, Joseph Schmidt
and Gershon Sirota, their
memories are kept
alive and the tragedy of their loss remains with us. Both
cantors had the
opportunity because of their great reputation to leave
Nazi Germany, and
did. Both however, though, returned to
life. Joseph Schmidt chose to try to save his mother
rather than be free and
Cantor
Gershon Sirota chose to be
with his
the eighth day of Passover for Yizkor,
precisely when the Warsaw Ghetto was
put to the torch. In this article we will meet Cantor Gershon Sirota, the
second of the hero cantors of the Holocaust.
Gershon Sirota was among the
greatest Chazzanim of this century. He served
pulpits in
cantor of the Tlomatzka Street Synagogue
in
the "leben shtime" the lion’s voice due to the incredible power
and range of
his voice. A
master improviser and interpreter of the liturgy, he was also
able to render formal cantorial
and operatic compositions perfectly.
Gershon Sirota was born in 1874
in
there. However, in 1900 he was made Chief Cantor of
Vilna, a position later
to be held by a number of other famous cantors,
including Mordechai
Hershman. It was here that Sirota reached great prominence, performing
frequently before the Russian nobility. In 1908, Sirota was became Chief
Cantor of the Great Synagogue in
international scale, (primarily because of the wide distribution
of his
recordings which he had begun in 1903), he began a series of
concert tours
to
appearing in most of the major synagogues as well as concert
halls. Sirota's
international concert tours continued on an undiminished
scale during the
inter war period. He returned to the
number of other occasions, culminating in a 1938 tour. So
frequent were
Sirota's excursions abroad that the synagogue officials in
replace him. When he returned after officiating in
Holidays
of 1927, he found that a successor had been found for his position,
the young Moshe Koussevitsky.
Sirota had no trouble finding another position in
honored by Warsaw Jewry for his thirty years of service to
the community at
a special concert held at
was not spared the fate dealt to the Jews with the
advent of Nazism.
Returning
to
believed to have died during the shelling of the city. Sirota is believed to
have perished on the concluding day of Passover,1943
leading Yizkor
services.
Sirota was one of the first cantors to be recorded.
Although, some cantorial
recording activity occurred in
that was reorded was the
legendary Gershon Sirota.
Although he toured the
United
States extensively and regularly between 1912 and 1927 he always
returned home to
to record, for he made cylinders in
included performances in
nineteen years as chief Cantor at Warsaw Synagogue in the
Warsaw Ghetto.
There
is little question that Sirota possessed one of the
greatest voices of
his time. A true dramatic tenor, with great range and
flexibility, as well
as a beautiful quality, Sirota
may well have become an outstanding operatic
singer, but for religious reasons he chose to remain a
cantor. Early in his
recording career, he made several operatic recordings under
the name
Sirotini so as not to divulge his true identity, but later
excursions into
opera were all sung under his real name. Perhaps this is
the reason why
according to some Jewish musicologists report that Gershon Sirota spoken of
as the 'Jewish Caruso.' Even with the poor quality
recordings that we have
of him today, it's quite clear that he had a most
extraordinary voice and
since he was a contemporary of Caruso (1873 - 1938), a
comparison was likely
to be made. An apocryphal story has it that Caruso
would come to hear Sirota
sing or conduct a service whenever, they were in the
same town at the same
time.
Although
Sirota undoubtedly improvised while conducting
services, as is
common with most Chazanim, he
did not compose his own original pieces.
'Sirota's Retsei' is, of course,
not Sirota's at all. Although he
undoubtedly contributed towards making it famous, it was
actually composed
by Schlossberg. It's said
that when Sirota davened at
the Amud, he would get
so carried
away in his 'conversations' with the Almighty, that
for him, it was as if the congregation wasn't present. Chazan Joshua Weider
described Sirota's appearance after
he'd sung 'Ata Nigleita' one Neila,
as spectacular; for all to behold.
Sirota was reputed to have had a generous disposition, and
it was not
uncommon for him to officiate at the wedding of a poor
family for no
remuneration. It was unfortunate for Sirota
that he happened to be in
at the outbreak of the war.
Although he could easily have left, he
remained there to be with his family. Living in the
Cantor
Sirota had one of the most powerful tenor voices ever
recorded. To
hear him, even as recorded in the 1930s, is to hear one
of the most
transcendent voices of the century. Had he lived past
1943, he would have
been a natural for the recording studio, singing all of
the great lyric
tenor roles of Italian, French, and German opera. Had he
lived out his days,
his voice would have challenged all of the great
operatic singers that we
know of. It is sad indeed that this year we mark Yom Ha Shoah by not having
the beautiful voice of Cantor Gershon
Sirota to pray with or listen to.
Sincerely,
Cantor Elihu Feldman