The Senescu Family Orchestra: Their Musical Path from Moldavia to America
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THE SENESCU FAMILY ORCHESTRA: THEIR MUSICAL PATH FROM MOLDAVIA TO AMERICA by Paul Gifford Copyright © 2020 Paul Gifford Some images courtesy of Beverly Churchill and Mike Lowther. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA-4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Contact the author at: [email protected] Publication and design support from the Klezmer Institute Klezmer Institute Inc. P.O. Box 1175, Yonkers, NY 10702 | (203) 909-3318 [email protected] | klezmerinstitute.org THE SENESCU FAMILY ORCHESTRA: THEIR MUSICAL PATH FROM MOLDAVIA TO AMERICA Paul Gifford [email protected] In the late nineteenth century new opportunities arose for klezmorim in Moldavia and Bucovina. Jews had migrated from Galicia and Russian-occupied Poland in large numbers to this region during the latter part of the eighteenth and first part of the nineteenth centuries. Although they lacked civil rights until 1918, author- ities tolerated them for their activity in the economy, having replaced the Greek merchants that were expelled following anti-Greek and anti-Ottoman riots in 1821. Migration gradually increased the proportion of Jews living in towns like Iaşi, Bacău, Galaţi, and elsewhere, especially in northern Moldavia. In Botoşani, the home of the family which is the subject of this study, Jews comprised 51% of the population in 1899.1 Historians of Romanian Jewry describe Jewish culture in that city, in comparison with that in Bucharest and Transylvania, as more traditional, largely Yiddish-speaking, with a strong Hasidic presence. Yet we will show, by the example of the Senescu family, that some Jewish klezmorim in Botoşani were acculturating to a Romanian identity by the 1880s and that other Jewish musicians sought a middle ground to perform in an exotic but non-Jewish context. A catagrafia (fiscal census) taken in 1845 in Botoşani lists seven Jewish residents who were identified as musicians, along with one pelivan (a badkhn, or wedding jester). The record gives their names and, remark- ably, their instruments:2 Leizer sin Buium Clarnetar [clarinetist] Iosip sin Moisa Scripcar [fiddler] Herşcu sin Iosip Scripcar [fiddler] Simha sin Froim Ţambalar [tsimbl] Froim sin Bercu Palivan [badkhn] 1. Florea Ioncioaia, “Foreigners in Town: Urban Immigration and Local Attitudes in the Romanian Principalities in the Mid-Nine- teenth Century,” in Ulrike Freitag et al., eds., The City in the Ottoman Empire: Migration and the Making of Urban Modernity (London: Rout- ledge, 2011), 54-9; The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, s.v. “Botoşani,” at https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Botosani. 2 Catagrafia, 1845, Serviciul Judeţean Botoşani al Arhivelor Naţionale, f. 277, provided by Sorin Goldenberg. Jews in Botoşani used the Slavic patronymic sin and did not adopt surnames until the twentieth century or emigration. Using the same source, Iţic Kara-Şvarţ finds four fiddlers, four clarinetists, four bassists, and three badkhonim in Botoşani. See I. Kara, “Lăutari evrei din Moldova,”Revista Cultului Mozaic 19, no. 320, 15 Apr. 1974. 1 2 The Senescu Family: Their Musical Path From Moldavia to America Zalman sin Haim Leib Ţambalar [tsimbl] Alter sin Strul Bas [bass] Iancu sin Ioina Scripcar [fiddler] These men were not the only klezmorim in Botoşani, but perhaps the fact that they were listed together indicates some association. As in Iaşi, Botoşani klezmorim were probably members of a guild headed by a staroste (guildmaster). Their instruments contrasted from those used by Rom lăutari in that city. Dumitru Lavric describes a guild of lăutari that was established in 1830 and consisted of scripcari [fiddlers], cobzari [cobza players], doboşari [drummers], muscalagii [players of the panpipes, derived from the Ottoman mıskal], and dairagii [tambourine players].3 These musicians entertained at lavish feasts of local boyars, receiving substantial payment for their efforts, as well as for common people at taverns, weddings, and fairs. Certain lăutar dynasties developed in Botoşani, including those of the Paraschiv and Filip families. Neculai Filip (1856-1918) enjoyed a career which took him to Russia, Italy, and elsewhere in Europe.4 We will focus on one of the klezmorim in the 1845 list: Alter sin Strul. Born about 1810,5 he may have played, in addition to the bass, as mentioned in that list, the other instruments used by local klezmorim as well. In a document from 1874, he is described as a clanetariu [clarinetist].6 Altar (as the patronymic was usually written) and his wife Paia (known as “Pauline” after her emigration to the United States in 1907) had a number of children born between about 1850 and 1865. All their sons became musicians and a daughter married one as well. These children form the original backbone of the orchestra, and it is important to identify them correctly. The eldest son, Strul (or Srul), born about 1853, whose “surname” remained “sin Altar,” moved to Braila and then Galaţi, in southern Moldavia, until he and his wife emigrated to the United States in 1914, intending to move to Chicago.7 He accompanied his brothers on their first trip to America, but returned and did not participate in the family orchestra. As the eldest son, he may have played the clarinet. Sloim, known as “Iwan/Ivan,” and later in the United States as Solomon and Sam, was born about 1859. He, with his brothers, took the surname “Senescu” before 1895 and played the bass viol as well as the violin. In some photographs he wears a sash that identifies himself “Iwan Senescu, Dir.” His wife Tauba (Toby) and their two daughters, Ernestine (cello) and Charlotte (violin) played in the orchestra. Marcu (“Mitică,” or “Matico,” as spelled by his descendants), born about 1861, played the panpipes and cello. His daughter Rosa played the violin. Iţic, born about 1863, was a bachelor and immigrated to the United States with his family. Nothing further is known of him, but he seems to be the dancer in the photograph with his nieces Ernestine, Charlotte, and Rosa (Fig. 4). Jonize (perhaps a German spelling of the Romanian Ioniţa, but his original Jewish name is unknown), born about 1865, played the violin. Their sister Meriam married, in 1874, Moise sin Mochi, a musician. He immigrated to America, became Moses or Morris Goldenberg, later Goldberg. Their eldest child, Max Goldenberg, later Senescu, born about 1875, played clarinet and violin with the Senescus. Their son-in-law, Morris Wexler, played the cello. Early Years In Europe For the early years of the Senescus we must rely on inferences from a handful of written records. As 3 Dumitru Lavric, “Vestiţi lăutari din Moldova (III),” Luceafarul, 12 Jul 2011, https://luceafarul.net/vestiti-lautari-din-moldova-iii. 4 Lavric, “Vestiţi lăutari din Moldova (III).” 5 Ages must be estimated with caution. He was described as seventy in 1880, fifty-seven in 1870, and sixty-five in 1874, in his children’s marriage certificates. 6 Marriage certificate, Registru Starii Civile, 1874, no. 165, Serviciul Judeţean Botoşani al Arhivelor Naţionale, courtesy of Sorin Golden- berg. 7 New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957, Ancestry.com. Paul Gifford 3 Altar’s sons grew up in the 1860s and 1870s, we can assume they followed him to play at Jewish weddings and other festivities. They probably all learned the clarinet, violin, bass, and dulcimer (ţambal, tsimbl), all of which appear in their publicity photographs, but clearly some specialized on certain instruments. The last birth record recorded in Botoşani of children born to any of Altar’s sons shows that Marcu’s daughter Rifca (later Rosa) was born there in 1887 at the parents’ home on Stradă Ţiganimi (Gypsies’ Street). At this point, at least according to places of birth claimed for other grandchildren born between 1886 and 1891, brothers Sloim, Marcu and perhaps Strul, Iţic, and Jonize left Botoşani for Bucharest. Figure 1: Anghelus Dinicu playing panpipes with ensem- ble inside restaurant, Exposi- tion Universelle (Paris, 1889.) Figure 2: Sava Padureanu and orchestra playing outside restaurant, Exposition Univer- selle (Paris, 1889.) We cannot be certain about what drew them to the capital. The brothers could have earned an income by playing at Jewish weddings. Perhaps Jonize studied at the conservatory, although this is difficult to determine with certainty. We do know that Marcu played the panpipes and probably learned it in Botoşani, as it was used by local lăutari there. Whatever the reasons for moving to Bucharest, including opportunities to learn a wider repertoire there, an event in a distant capital created a new demand for the instrument. This was timely and fortuitous for Marcu and his family. The Romanian pavilion at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris featured a restaurant with two Roma- nian ensembles, one playing inside and the other outside, led by Angheluș Dinicu and Sava Pădureanu respective- ly. The instrument most noticed, according to Cosmin Minea, was the panpipes. Dinicu’s composition, Ciocârlia [The Lark], still widely played today, became a hit of sorts. The Romanian Gypsy orchestras “overshadowed” the Hungarian Gypsy orchestras at the fair. Those from Hungary created a sensation at the earlier Exposition in 1867 but now had lost some of their novelty.8 The popularity of these costumed musicians now created a new demand in at tourist-oriented expositions, amusement parks, and restaurants. The Senescu brothers, now living in Bucharest, took their first major engagement only two years later, at the Allgemeine Landesausstellung or Landes-Jubiläums Ausstellung, held in Prague, then a city in the Austro- 8 Birth certificate, Registru Starei Civile, Nascuţi, 1887, no. 1177, Serviciul Judeţean Botoşani al Arhivelor Naţionale, courtesy of Sorin Goldenberg. 8 Cosmin Minea, “Hungarian and Romanian Gypsy Music at the 19th Century Parisian World Exhibitions,” term paper at https://www.