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Mascha Benya

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Masha Benya, Yiddish-language soprano, c.1950

Mascha Benya (Yiddish: מאַשאַ בעניאַ, 1908-2007) was a Russian-born Soprano known especially for her promotion and performance of Yiddish song and Jewish art music in the United States after World War II. After a short career as an opera singer in Berlin in the 1930s, she emigrated to New York after Kristallnacht and became an important figure in the teaching of Yiddish song through the Workman's Circle and other organizations.

Biography

Early life

She was born Mascha Beniakonskyte in Virbalis, Suwałki Governorate, Russian Empire on October 15, 1908.[1][2] She was born into a Jewish family; her father Arye Leyb was a merchant originally from Vilnius with a passion for Jewish music and Chazzans and opera in particular, and therefore Mascha grew up in a very musical family.[3][4] After graduating from a Hebrew language Gymnasium, she traveled to Prussia, first studying in a small town near the Russian border and then at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin.[4] While studying there she also worked informally as a Hebrew language teacher.[3] Her voice teacher in Berlin was Franceschina Prevosti.[4]

Music career

After finishing her schooling in Berlin and receiving positive reviews for her stage appearances, she came to the attention of choral director Chemjo Vinaver.[4] He engaged her as the lead soprano in his production of Jacob Weinberg's Hehalutz.[4] As antisemitic discrimination worsened in Nazi Germany, it was no longer possibly for Jewish artists to perform for non-Jewish crowds, or to perform the work of "Aryan" composers. In the spring of 1937, Vinaver helped Mascha become involved in the Jüdischer Kulturbund, an organization which was established to support Jewish artists and to create cultural programs for Jewish audiences.[4][5] In that organization, she acted both as an opera performer and singer of Yiddish folksongs, as well as continuing to teach Hebrew to members who were considering emigrating to Mandatory Palestine.[6][7] Among her successes in the Kulturbund were her performance of Jacques Offenbach material alongside the tenor Max Kuttner, and in stagings of Don Pasquale and Si j'étais roi.[6][4]

After Kristallnacht in November 1938, Mascha decided to finally leave Germany for the United States.[4] She sailed from Cherbourg, France to New York City in December 1938.[1] She soon involved herself in Jewish cultural affairs in New York City. In February 1939 she performed as part of a benefit concert for Jewish refugees from Europe and which included such performers as Hans J. Heinz (tenor), Zina Alvers (mezzo-soprano), Sarah Gorby, and Jascha Bernstein (cellist).[7] She also continued her vocal studies under new instructors, including Rhea Silberta, Sebastian Engelberg and Olga Ryss.[4][3]

After the war, she turned increasingly away from opera and art music towards Yiddish folk songs and Jewish music education.[4] She soon became recognized as a major figure in the dynamic postwar Jewish music milieu, alongside such figures as Moishe Oysher, Mordechai Yardeni, Theodore Bikel, and Martha Schlamme.[8] She became a naturalized US citizen in 1944.[2] In 1949 she traveled to newly independent Israel and made her stage debut there.[3]

In the mid-1950s, she began to prepare to record an LP for ABC Records with Harry Anik accompanying her on piano, to be produced by Abe Lyman. However, both Anik and Lyman died before the album could be completed, and so it was never recorded, although rehearsal tapes for it were later released on audiocassette.[9] In 1953 she also went on a tour of the United States and Canada with Nishka, Rita Karpinovich and the pianist Paula Kadison.[10]

In 1965, she married her husband Lazar Matz.

She died in Queens, New York on November 4, 2007.[11]

Selected recordings

  • Mascha Benya: A Yiddish Song Recital Featuring the poetry of Itzik Manger (Musique Internationale, 1997)
  • Jewish Song Treasury Vol I (Musique Internationale, 1984, with accompaniment by Abraham Ellstein)[4]
  • אַמאָל איז געװען א מעתה Once Upon a Time (Artistic Enterprises, 1957, with Sidor Belarsky and Vladimir Heifetz)
  • Jewish Song Treasury Vol II (Musique Internationale, 1984, with accompaniment by Abraham Ellstein)
  • The Art of Mascha Benya (Musique Internationale)
  • לאָמיר זינגען Let's Sing A Yiddish Song! A Treasury of Popular Children's Songs (Famous Records, arranged by Mikhl Gelbart)
  • Nursery Rhymes (Kinder Velt)
  • Songs for Jewish Children (Far Yiddishe Kinder Record Co.)

References

  1. ^ a b "Mascha Beniakonskyte Migration • New York, Southern District, U.S District Court Naturalization Records, 1824-1946". FamilySearch. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Mascha Beniakonskyte Migration • New York, Southern District, U.S District Court Naturalization Records, 1824-1946". FamilySearch. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d "מאַשאַ בעניאַ די מוזיקאַלישע אויסטײטשערין פֿון אידישע ליד". פֿארװערטס (in Yiddish). 1977-07-21.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Serota, Barry (1984). Jewish Song Treasury Vol I (LP). Chicago: Musique Internationale.
  5. ^ Hirsch, Lily E. (2012). A Jewish orchestra in Nazi Germany : musical politics and the Berlin Jewish Culture League (1st pbk. ed.). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780472034970.
  6. ^ a b Hirsch, Lily E.; Landau, Anneliese (2007). "Anneliese Landau and the Kulturbund: In Her Own Words". The Musical Quarterly. 90 (3/4): 513.
  7. ^ a b "CONCERT TO AID REFUGEES: Program Will Be Given Feb. 19 by European Artists". New York Times. 1939-02-05.
  8. ^ Yardeini, Mordecai (1979). Ṿort un ḳlang eseyen, eseyeṭn, eseyeṭḳes, poetsye (in Yiddish). New York: Farlag Malkah. p. 201.
  9. ^ The Art of Mascha Benya (audiocassette). Chicago: Musique Internationale.
  10. ^ Mercur, Wolf (1968). Ṿenṭ hobn oyern (in Yiddish). New York: Liṭerarish-ṭeaṭralishn ḳomiṭeṭ. pp. 100–1.
  11. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths BENYA, MATZ, MASCHA". New York Times. No. 54120. 2007-11-06.
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