Abraham Ellstein’s Film Scores
Abraham Ellstein’s Film Scores
Some Less Obvious Sources
This chapter examines how Abraham Ellstein came to write the music for such Yiddish films as Yidl mitn fidl, Mamele, and A brivele der mamen. It explains that Ellstein is a New Yorker and the only major Yiddish theatre composer not to have been born in Europe. It also details how he received both a solid traditional Jewish musical preparation as a meshorer and sophisticated training in Western classical music from an early age. The chapter explores the song from Yidl mitn fidl and “Abi gezunt” and “Mazl” from Mamele, which are among Ellstein's most famous works and remain among the best known of the entire Yiddish theatrical repertoire. It analyzes how Ellstein's extensive underscoring serves as an indispensable frame for how action is to be seen and understood, providing subtext and interpretative cues for mood and atmosphere, for setting, for characterizations, and for characters' emotions and states of mind.
Keywords: Abraham Ellstein, Yiddish films, meshorer, Yidl mitn fidl, Mamele, A brivele der mamen
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