ERC > LEXICON OF THE YIDDISH THEATRE  >  VOLUME 5  >  ADOLPH GIMPEL


Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre
BIOGRAPHIES OF THOSE WHO WERE ONCE INVOLVED IN THE Yiddish THEATRE;
aS FEATURED IN zALMEN zYLBERCWEIG'S  "lEKSIKON FUN YIDISHN TEATER"


VOLUME 5: THE KDOYSHIM (MARTYRS) EDITION, 1967, Mexico City

 

Adolph Gimpel
 

Born on 17 January 1875 in Lemberg, Galicia, a son of Yaakov Ber ("Lexicon of Yiddish Theatre", Vol. I, pp. 479-480). He completed a two-class gymnasium and the Lemberg conservatory. He performed as a clarinetist in the city opera, and when Efrayim Perlmutter went with him to America, G. became an orchestra conductor in his father's theatre, and there he orchestrated many operettas that were brought over from America, of which there were arrived only "directions," or the Purim voices. Those orchestrated operettas were then included in the repertoire of the Yiddish theatres in Europe.

Jonas Turkow writes in "Extinguished Stars":

"In Yiddish theatre [in Lemberg], a military orchestra from the Austrian army had to perform. The conductor each time was a non-Jew with the name of Jozef Pletseti, or as they called him, 'Yosl,' Since 'Yosl' conducted according to a military stamp, Adolph Gimpel was a much better conductor to him, and they had completed with Yosele the premieres that Adolph Gimpel should conduct. He had to wear a military uniform when he conducted with the orchestra, and he had to sit as such the entire time, so people would not recognize him."

Furthermore, according to Jonas Turkow, after his father's death, (1906),G.'s brother, Emil, took over the concession for the theatre, the entire theatre library with the plays, the costuming and settings, and had engaged his brother Adolph as an


 


employee studying singing with the actors, and from time to time conducting with an orchestra at first. Later G. became the main conductor for the orchestra. G. however had the notes for all plays and they didn't want to give them to his brother, and between them a quarrel was created, which was maintained throughout their entire lives, and they had not spoken to each other.

When the Soviets took Lemberg and created a Yiddish State Theatre there, G. performed in an orchestra as a violinist. When the Germans took Lemberg and created the ghetto here, G. with his wife wandered through the streets there, starving, farvorlozte. They were sent away by the Germans to Belzac, where they were killed.

G. had three sons who were rescued, all well-known musicians: Kuba, a pianist-accompanist; When the Soviets had, during the Second World War, taken Lemberg, he was arrested and put into prison; Karol, a famous pianist and conductor (died in a prison hospital in Busara), and Branislav, a famous violinist virtuoso, who lived in America and often guest-starred throughout the world.

  • "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre," Vol. I, New York, 1931, p. 479.

  • Jonas Turkow -- "Extinguished Stars," Buenos Aires, 1953, Vol. I, pp. 235-251.


 

 

 

 


 

Home       |       Site Map       |      Exhibitions      |      About the Museum       |       Education      |      Contact Us       |       Links


Adapted from the original Yiddish text found within the  "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre" by Zalmen Zylbercweig, Volume 5, page 4016.
 

Copyright ©  Museum of Family History.  All rights reserved.