CANTOR JACOB KOUSSEVITSKY
Of the four Koussevitzky brothers, it was said
that Jacob was the best 'Ba'al Tefillah.' It's very difficult to explain
exactly what this means, but the implication is that he made a greater impact
with the way he interpreted the words, and his usage of the traditional melodic
lines (Nusach) than he did with his voice. This doesn't mean that he didn't
have a fine voice - he certainly did, (he was actually a lyric tenor), but
Jacob had a way of penetrating to the heart of a prayer that makes a far
greater impression on the listener, than a voice does on its own.
Jacob was the second of the Koussevitzky boys and was born to Alta and Avigdor Koussevitzky in Smorgon, in Russian Poland. At a very early age he took lessons in singing and Chazanut and studied with various tutors, including the famous Chazan Ravitch in Kharkov. As a youngster he sang in Vilna in the choirs of Chazanim Avraham Moshe Bernstein and Bernstein's successor Eliyahu Zaludkowsky, who were both famous cantors in their time.
When his brother Moshe
was Chazan in the Vilna State Synagogue, shortly after the end of the First
World War, Jacob was the tenor soloist in his choir. It wasn't long after that,
that, he was appointed Chazan himself in Kremenetze, where his younger brother David
served as his choirmaster. Some years later they went to Lemberg, where they
continued to work together.
In 1936 Jacob came to London, where he was
appointed to one of the leading Synagogues at that time, the Dalston Synagogue
on Poet's Road. It's been reported that on his first appearance there, he sang
Kaddish to the tune of 'John Brown's Body!' This apparently took the formal
Anglo-Jews of Dalston completely by surprise. But their reaction took Jacob by
surprise too. It would seem that Jacob had never heard of 'John Brown's Body.'
This was a melody that he had heard and used for Kaddish in Lemberg, and as far
as he was concerned, this was where it came from!
From Poet's Road, Jacob went to the Western
Synagogue and in 1951 he decided to go to Canada. For two years he was Chazan
of the Congregation Rosh Pinah in Winnipeg, Canada and in 1953 he became Chazan
at the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills in New York. Sadly he was only there
for six years before he died.
That Jacob did not become as famous as Moshe and
David is probably due to the fact that, although he did give concerts, his true
milieu was on the Bimah. He was more of a 'davener' than he was a performer and
this comes through very clearly in the lovely recordings he has left us.
Simcha was born in Smorgon, near Vilna in (then) Poland, the third of four sons. The early years encompassing World War 1 and the Russian Revolution had the Koussevitsky family chasing back and forth – as refugees escaping hardship in Poland, eastward to Russia, and then back westward again. When all seemed hopeless, a top official of the Bolshevik Cheka (Secret Police) – who had once worked for Viktor (Avigdor) Koussevitsky (the father), gave them documents to travel back, where they settled in Vilna.
At this point, Simcha was a teenager, and life henceforth assumed normality. They returned to regular education, with Jacob, Simcha & David pursuing the family tradition of music, singing in shul choirs and learning from their maternal grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo Shulman. It was from him that the brothers learned the perfect Hebrew pronunciation for which they were noted. Moshe was already married and serving as a ‘shtot’ hazzan.
Simcha served a short stint in the Polish army. But Jewish music, Jewish religious music, was to be the life’s career of each of the four brothers. As Simcha described it, the Polish Jews were discerning. They understood ‘good’ cantorial singing. When Simcha was about 23 and already married, he was invited to fill a vacancy at Rovno, after the death of the famous hazzan Zeidel. He stayed there about three years, when, his fame having reached Britain, he was invited to a Cantorial position in Glasgow.
In 1935, Simcha made another and very significant move – to the Great Synagogue (Duke’s Place), London, which was regarded almost as a Jewish “cathedral” of the British Empire, with Chief Rabbi Hertz in attendance and a Rothschild as “gabbai”. At this time, back in Poland, Moshe Koussevitsky, generally considered the one of the finest hazzanim the world has known, had succeeded Gershon Sirota at the Tlomackie Street Synagogue in Warsaw.
Simcha’s recollections of the war years WW11 (1939-1945) in London and the terrible period of the blitz were painfully vivid to him. Simcha sent his wife and children to relative safety in the country areas. The family apartment was attached to the shul, which suffered direct hits and bombs. Simcha, as a member of the Civil Defense Unit, was in charge of identifying Jewish bodies at the mortuary; he officiated at funerals. “The bombing was indescribable”, he said. He sometimes sang in the bomb shelters to help keep up the spirits of people taking refuge there.
After the war, in 1947, Simcha accepted a position at a synagogue in Greenside, Johannesburg, South Africa. At this time, his brother David took up a position at Boro Park in Brooklyn, New York. David was to stay there for over thirty years, until he died. In 1952, Simcha moved to Cape Town, where he became the beloved cantor of the newly built Tifereth Israel Synagogue, Schoonder Street – the ‘Round Shul’.
There were many highlights to Simcha’s musical career. One of these was a concert at the Royal Albert Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra in February 1946, where Simcha sang on a program that included violinist Alfredo Campoli, leading operatic soprano Eva Turner, and tenor Frank Titterton. It was a proud moment for Simcha’s mother, Alta, and brother David and Jacob, seated in the audience.
By 1953, the brothers were all based in different parts of the globe. Moshe had left Poland for the USA in 1947. David was in New York, Jacob in London and Simcha in Cape Town. On the 26th of December 1947 a glorious concert entitled ‘The Four Koussevitsky Brothers’ was staged at Carnegie Hall, New York. The brothers presented a program mainly of their own work. Alta was ‘spotlighted’ sitting proudly in the front row. Their particular rendition of Sheyiboneh beis ha-mikdosh – the Koussevitsky ‘theme’ melody – was always featured in their program, and in the cantorial concerts which were held in later years. For Simcha, the most notable such concert was held at the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv in 1985, where he was honored as the last surviving brother. This was a grand affair, with Simcha receiving a standing ovation before the concert began. Moshe’s wife was present, and cantors Benzion Miller, Alberto Mizrachi, and David Bagley, performed. Two years later, in Israel, there was another concert based on the arrangements and music of the Koussevitsky brothers, with Moshe Shulhof, David Bagley, Benzion Miller and Jacob Motzen. Simcha retired in 1983, and remained in Cape Town until 1985, when his wife Sonia passed away. He moved to Johannesburg for a few years, and then back to Cape Town to live with his son Jeff.
In 1997, Prof. Neil Levin of the Milken Foundation commissioned Fay Singer tointerview Simcha Koussevitsky, the last surviving brother of the famous Koussevitsky brothers. For many years, Cantor Simcha Koussevitsky officiated in one of the main synagogues of Cape Town, South Africa. This was done 'on camera' as part of Prof. Levin's project of chazanim who came to America. The interview videotape is in the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music.Cantor Simcha Koussevitsky passed away in Cape Town at a retirement home, June1998. It is said that a truly righteous person never passes away, for he or she lives on in their good deeds and work that inspires all of us. Cantor Simcha Koussevitsky and his brothers are still emulated by some of the finest cantors of our day. In fact a Memorial Concert is being planned for this March in Lincoln Center
May their memory be a blessing for all of us.
Sincerely,