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Joseph Brody (Yiddish: יוסף בּרױדי Yusf Broydi) (1877-1937) was an American Jewish composer who wrote prolifically for the Yiddish theatre as well as liturgical Jewish works. He taught George Gershwin and was a friend of Yossele Rosenblatt. His daughter Estelle Brody was a film actor.

Biography

Early life

Brody was born on March 12, 1877 in Lyakhavichy, Minsk Governorate, in the Russian Empire. His father was a tailor and send Joseph to a Cheder for his early education. His father emigrated to the United States in 1887, at which point Joseph entered a Yeshiva in Slonim, where he stayed for six years. During that time he developed an aptitude for music, and was greatly impressed by the military orchestras which regularly played in the park in Slonim during the summers. After being noticed by Cantors who visited the Yeshiva in Slonim, he decided to drop out and followed cantor Moshe Bass to Bialystok, where he became a choirboy. It was there that he learned music theory and studied Hebrew and Russian. Upon losing his Soprano voice, he began to compose cantorial compositions, and was hired by Cantor Kahane in Vilnius as a choir conductor, and after that under cantor Yoel Zelig in Pinsk.

To avoid being conscripted into the military, his father sent for him and he travelled to the United States in 1895. He worked for a time as a conductor in synagogues and in the Yiddish theatre in Philadelphia.

Composing career

It was in the late 1890s that Brody's composing career in the United States began to see some success. After working at Morris Finkel's Yiddish theatre in Philadelphia, he was hired by David Kessler from the Thalia Theatre in New York City. This partnership with Kessler would last for several decades. Kessler, along with Bertha Kalich and Sigmund Mogulesko starred in his first play, which was very successful. During this time he developed a jealous appreciation for Louis Friedsell's career, and attempted to emulate him. He continued to work Yiddish folk melodies and Jewish religious music into his theatre compositions.

After two decades of successful collaborations, Kessler died in 1920, after which Brody spent several shorter stints composing in other theatres, including the People's Theater, the Liberty Theater and the Hopkinson Theater. During his career he composed music for more than sixty plays.

Although a number of sources list Brody as having died in 1943, he actually died on August 16, 1937, at age 60. He was buried in the Beth David Cemetery in Nassau County, New York.

References

1. ^ "JOSEPH BRODY DEAD; A JEWISH COMPOSER; Choirmaster, Writer of Sacred Songs and Former Associate of Cantor Rosenblatt (Published 1937)". The New York Times. 1937-08-17.
2. ^ "Joseph Brody (1877-1937) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Find a Grave. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
3. ^ Zylbercweig, Zalmen; Mestel, Jacob (1931). Leḳsiḳon fun Yidishn ṭeaṭer Vol. 1 (in Yiddish). New York: Elisheva. pp. 240–1.
4. ^ Perlmutter, Sholem (1952). Yidishe dramaṭurgn un ṭeaṭer ḳompoziṭors (in Yiddish). New York: Ikuf. p. 349.
5. ^ Perlmutter, Sholem (1952). Yidishe dramaṭurgn un ṭeaṭer ḳompoziṭors (in Yiddish). New York: Ikuf. p. 350.
6. ^ Perlmutter, Sholem (1952). Yidishe dramaṭurgn un ṭeaṭer ḳompoziṭors (in Yiddish). New York: Ikuf. p. 351.

External links

• Musical scores and sound recordings of Brody compositions at the Library of Congress
• Joseph Brody at Find a Grave

• v
• t
• e

• 1877 births
• 1937 deaths
• Burials at Beth David Cemetery
• Jewish American composers
• Yiddish theatre
• American people of Russian-Jewish descent
• American composers
• People from Lyakhavichy
• American composer, 19th-century birth stubs