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! < . , • Page Twenty Page Twenty-one THE JEWISH POST Thursday, March 3, 1966 , • Thursday, March 3, 1966 THE JEWISH POST 1 , . the Coblentz brothers to Winnipeg in 1882, their office. Tendons, muscles and nerves Canada Fro... C 'to C transplanted facets of their former Ii.f~ into. would not respond to the will of the I a Gennan-Russian mosaic on the pralnes. . master." ;,. . As. though to compensate for' the lo,ng In 1927, Mr. Matoff was featur~d at Van- •• . : centuries during whieh they had been ?~med couver's 'Capitol Theatre. the ProVlnce cal~ed • artistic self-expression, these new cltlze~s him "an executant of remarkable power With , began' to' exercise their a~inity for ~USIC the ability to draw out of his instrument.a Adventures In Jewish USIC I . out of all proportion to theIr comparatIvely tone of haunting loneliness." . small numbers. . .' Mr. Matoff entered the. manufacturing tn, a' SJ .. Levis' boasted of Jewish ancestry, and the Can a- chaired the fOI'mation of the Philharmonic Society, The usual discrimination toward J ewsfield, and a:s he took his goods from city. to i . !t 01.1Il n lem dian Archives of 1886 still circulate the story of Led by Capt. W, N. I(ennedy, organist of Grace was often omitted where it concerned Jewish city, there stood in his sample room an 111- . . '. . /"lthe adventurous Jewish girl, disguised as a boy, . Church and mayol' in 1875-76, the' 80-member I musicians, especially after t.he 1850~, when congruous sight amid ~h~ racks of cC!ats . . . .' .. . ~ \\'ho arrived in 1738 on the St. Michel and was Society gave its debut concert in March in 30° j v , ". h I d t R and suits the battered vlOlm case, and wlth- AST b.ut, thlllly populated terntory, ~u~t~nal 'consequently deported. '.' . '.',' below r-ero weather. The sum pi' $1,240 was C91- , Jews began to play t e ea I!llf par. III us- l'n l't, the' o,ld fiddle of his artistic triumphs; A Sia'smusical. life; The tradItIon, laid dO\VTI , , , " . d.rupge!J" . IehglOus, ' " It was liot until the British conquest. of .Can- lectecl for instruments, and mU'sic . lessons were' i , ha~dsh~p::;, m~notonous. . , · by Anton and Nicolai Rubinstein, founders . The 'first Cycle of Musical Festivals, Of.· III ada in 1763 that a, permanent and legalized' settle- offered the general public atltwelve. for $10. The, , l)l~rItalllsm Engllsh-speak~ng dl~trICts, togeth~r of the St. Petersburg and Moscow Conserva- .the Dominion of Canada' originated in Win with frequent .wars an? .Indll.'-n raIds !!lade muslc ment of Jews in Canada began, and because of the· , City ,Hall Theatre, a '500-Heat auditorium which tories of Music, and developed by Leopold nipegfi'om March 31 to May 9, 1903, in Drill a very marglllal activIty m colo~lal Canada. . laws ban'ing Jews from most professions, there boasted a gallery across one end, formally opened Aller court violinist to Czar Alexander III Hall Fort Osborne Barracks (across from Nevertheless,. long Bac.h, Handeland Pur- wel'e np bridges between them and 'the cultural on March 14, 1876, with a benefit for the General ~fore · and teacher of Mischa Elman,. Efvem ,Zim-. tpe 'Legislative Building). The the .muslc dlver<'e. natIOns began to life of their surroundings until the French Hevo- Hospital. Unfol·tnnately, having been constructed . Minneapol~s ~, -.~. ~ell, o~ m~ke balist . Fritz Kreisler' and Jascha HeIfetz, Orchestra under Emil Oberhoffer, and Sir. ~~. . lIlroad~ mto \',arlOu,; . regIOn;;. a~ the same tl.me lution. . along a cl'eek at William and Main, the City Hall . Nelson Sisters - (from ieft to right) Anna (pianist? Ida~."!?linist), retardlllg the iormatlOn of a ulllfied cultural hfe. Two Bm'urian Jewish immigrants of great began to "bulge frightfully" at the 'sides in 188:3 made'deep impress upon quI' pi0!leers. M~sicAlexanderCampbelI Miickenzie, prin~ip~1 of· beC<'1.me part of home life and child ~ducatlOn,. the Royal Academy of London, were mVlted. and Zara ('cellist) '.' '. the famous' "Canadian Trw. . Even before any settlement took place,. the influence, in musical circles were Abraham and and finally' The. Hall had seen a gala coJl~psed. and it \yas with eagerness that JeWish moth- The Winnipeg Festival chorus an~or~~es lllarillers with Jacque Cartier greeted the south Scello, mstruments that A joint concert in 1907 of.the M!nneapolIs Levin, Dr. Chaim Zhitlowsky, the Vilna. Troupe, the Ha.:. 'On his visit t~ Hochelaga,'.'the captain ordered the . early' 1840" as music teacher to the fa'milyof . first professional actor to appear in Winnipeg ._, . aroused their racial sympathies, perhaps Symphony and Fred Warrmgton s Chorus koah football team of Vienna and Palestine's M3:ccil~es. trumpets anu other mstruments be Go\'ernor-General Sir Charles BagoL He orga- Cool Burgess. The second City hall was erected in mU~i(~al t? · because the improvisatory style, s~I'pplemen~- in Haydn's Creation was so successful that The Super-6 Essex, at $72;'5, guaranteed 5.0 mph, "v!?ra;tlOn- . SOl!!lded. where~s the lndlan~w~re much deli&,ht- ni~ed a musical society and founded A. -& S.Nord- . 1886 minus a theatre and the closest the new ed by a certain Orientalism embodied what.ui' the Winnipeg Oratorio Society was formed less beyond belief"; Bill Tobias waf;. tnefil'st \V 1I1lllpeg- . ed. Thus musIc formed the climax of the fIrst helmel', mO\'ing to Toronto where it became the' Ci\iic Centre ev·el· came to a cultural.event was cO!l1monly considered the Jewish element 111 . a year later. Fred M. Gee, fouYoIder of Celeb- born Jew· to be elected to the Le),rlslature, and Joseph ceremonial between European and 'Indian: largest music supply house in the country. In. the controversial Winnipeg. Symphony Redemp- m_ee~ing . dty Concerts, figured in practically p~o- · ::lhafer's HlJ.bonim Youth .Orchestraat the:'i~troPoli,~a~, [. . Oc.tober 3, 103v;'. At Port Royal, Marc. Lescarbot the late 1880s, with sheet music plants in Mont- tion this fall: ' !ill. muWith the arrival of se~i-professional . grams of early events as acc~mpal1lst (I.e . , the D'oyle Carte opera 'at the. Walker, Ben Sheps ChassldlC (CIrca 1630), a young lawyer from Pans, wrote . . . ' . Charles Wheeler, the Tribune· critic, was Ball and Anne Broriaugh'sPlayhouse troupe were compet . a masque to celebrate the return of Baron· de '. ,. ""c"" -.-....~"".,.-, ...... ".--.... , harsher to the Gilbert & Sullivan amateurs of. ador MishaTril1er in 1904, the Jewish Oper- Handel's Messiah) or executive. John J. atic . Company was formed, aided. ,by the Moncriefi' managing editor of the Tribune, ing with the silen'f"iereen and radio for th~ consu.mers' 25¢. Poutrincourt, leader of the colony. The Theatre r:::::r--\\-A ~"A".t::::l.£) ..'i' '.' A'L' L' .' 1890, people said, than to ~he visiting Shakes- · Mme. Maria Frankfort, the 29-year-o.ld JeWIsh Iyl'lc soprano, of Neptune perfonned on barges, contains not t::::::.·LJVV" p,earean troupsat the Bijou Opera House on 'Singennans, Zena Shore and A. Nussbaum,~en'ed as'conductor from 1913~1921 in more r-s,'. .' .. '. . . around whom grew a permanent troupe than 50 programs. ., formerly of the Leningrad Opera, passed away two weeks orily a trunlpet cue but a short piece of verse~" ... ,,-'., .• , ' . '< .' '.' ..,,' ..•. ,', ., -.;; " Notre Dame or the' Princess Theatre, 192 after giving a recital at the Women's Musical Club. to, be sung in four parts. ',. '~: '\:', . Princess: .' .' '. . . ' . which produced The Jewish Hamlet, King . The earliest record of orgaruzed JeWish Lear, . Shulamit, Mar Kochba and AI,edat music in the city dates back to 1912 when Virtuosos Roman Catholic liturgy was introduced to " ... Can three musicians be found in the Yitzchak.As interest grew, Hyman Roller, . Cantor Moshe Jacob recruited a.choir from New France by peasants and missionaries in ""nj'nh city? Aye, can there he one found? The Morris Waieman and Ben Shepsof the. He~ . the IUlbour wing. Premature financial diffi- On October :30; 1929, a 13-year-oldgirl frManitoba had been The Nelson Trio 1912. ,A governor-general travl;!lled ~Y spe 76, for the 1938 LaVerendry~ blcentenmal, , the y we l' e nlade a province, and precautionalT written. measures made the presence of eastem cial train from Ottawa to hear the VIrtUOSO .. the Jewish .Community ChOlr wasbom. The Auditorium was the scene of much excitement in A I tho ugh troops necessary. The theatre - minded • • · "With his feetflrmly planted on the • When the Jewish Community Orche~tra was March, 1928, when three young Jewish sisters competed in F r en c h law . Volunteers rented a ,building from A. G. rungs of the ladder that .lea~s to the organized in 1946, with Jascha Resmtsky as the Manitoba· Musical Festival Competition. Adjudicator prohl'bl'ted the . Bannatyne which they converted to the Olympian heights, the cU:J;am rmgs dow~ conductor, the Jewish Musical Club. under Dr. PeeblesConh praised their performance of Beethoven's ' Nine - year - old Zara Nelsova. 0 t . M . I dDt' A . a:bruptly on the last pubhc appearance of . Roy Calof, Leon Bell, Jack SteiYoIberg,et. a1. Trio in G and cow,mended the solos of pianist Anna Nelson, settlement 0 f :\IanitobaMusical Festival 1928 . n arlO USlca an rama IC ssocia- Michael Matoft'. A fall - a snap of a bone became custodian for both chOlr and orch and violinist Ida, but it wag 9-year-old 'cellist Zara to come J e '\V s· i nit s ... a grade of .99 marks! tion ata cost of $1,000. Their successful colonies, Jews Theatre Royal was actuallv the rear of in the wrist and Fate wiped the name of estra, and today, togethel' with th~ vibr3;nt within one point of 1,00 marks - 99! The people of Win were· intimately connected with its colonial a store on McDennot east. . . . Matoff from the slat-e of artistic success Jewish Women's Musical Club, provldes Wm-. nipeg responded with enthusiasm .to the .call of musie forever.... The fatal day came when t~e nipeg with its major Jewish musical fare. through public and private subscription, chaired by Dr.' trade, much of "it on the sl1ips of David Gradis . Despite the smallpox scare of 1880, young violinist essayed to p~ove tha~ hIS Robert Fletcher, deputy minister of education, $20,000 was of Bordeaux. There are legends extant that music continued to attract the isolated old mastery of the bow 'stIll rem.arned .. Theatre Climate · raised to send the Nelson Sisters to London to study with Viveroy Henri de Levis (early 1600s) and Com- plainsman. At a meeting in the city Across the strings swept the bow Wlth all 1927 Saw Winnipeg emerge as the secular Professors Sacha Lasserson (a pupil of Auer) , Herbert mander of French Troops in 1759, Chevalier de council ~hambers, the Rev. Mr. Fortin its old fll~e, hut tae fiddle fingers refused "Jerusalem of' America," a vibrant culture (Continued on page 32) .
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