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certainly some in whose tone ex
perienced listeners and observers
discover Jewish sentiment. We hold
this to be especially true of the
two brothers-in-law Jan Pearce and
Eugene Tucker, whose orthodox
Jewish background has imbued
them with the feeling for Jewish
trouble and affliction from their
very childhood. Does this then re
duce their great talent or does it
rather lend grace and poise to their
voices? Ask the true professional,
the true connoisseur of music and
you will be told that it is that very
Jewish sentiment which enhances
their artistic ability.
Another professional Cantor,
who attained success on the stage
of the Metropolitan Company be
fore Tucker is Friedrich Lechner, a
German refugee. Lechner was
born of religious Jewish parents in
Stettin, a German port city on the
Baltic Sea. His father was a music
lover and himself a musician of
some repute. His family tree goes
back to the well known English-
Jewish philanthropist of the last
century, Moses Montefiore. Lech-
nor came to America in 1!)37, a vic
tim of Hitler’s devastating politics.
He was engaged at once as Cantor
by the Central Synagogue in New
York where he attracted much at
tention. His appearances as a solo
ist with the Philharmonic Orches
tra in Boston and in New York
soon won a name for him as a gifted
singer.
To the genre of professional Can
tors might also be added Friedrich
Schorr, who for a long time held a
prominent place among the truly
gifted artists of the famed Opera
Company. Schorr hails from a
family of renowned Cantors. His
father, Meier Schorr, was Chief
Cantor of the large Polish Syna
gogue in Vienna. His uncle, Baruch
Schorr was the Chief Cantor of
Lemberg and one of the best known
of his day. Today's Metropolitan
Opera star, coming from a family
of Cantors, as he does, has certainly
imbibed their music, their specially
Jewish music, which he, like the
others, has transferred into modern
opera.
Kurt Baum, one of the youngest,
but already recognized and suc
cessful artists of the Metropolitan,
also comes from a family of Can
tors. His father, an orthodox Jew,
was a Cantor in Prague and his
children, Kurt among them, were
given a strict religious upbringing.
Young Kurt absorbed Judaism in
all its aspects, Jewish music in
cluded. He came to America in
1939, right after Hitler's occupation
of Czechoslovakia and made his
first appearance in "Aida” with the
Chicago Civic Opera. After an ex
tended and successful tour through
Central and South America, he re
turned to New York where he was
signed up by the Metropolitan
Opera Company.
Who are some of the other Met
ropolitan’s Jewish stars? Regina
Resnick, bom in Brooklyn of re
ligious Jewish parents, who speaks
Yiddish well and frequently con
verses glibly in that tongue with
her aged grandmother, an immi
grant from Russia.
Thelma Altman, a Jewish girl
from Buffalo is one of the five
American-born Opera singers
chosen recently to be heard by the
"Diamond Jubilee" of the Metro
politan.
Christina Carroll, the daughter
of orthodox Jewish parents; Mar
tha Lipton, a New York Jewish
girl; Y’oung Nathalie Bodanya, who
made her debut with the Philadel
phia Grand Opera and at once at
tracted the attention of opera lovers
and music critics throughout the
country.
Among the older Jewish artists
of the Metropolitan Opera Com-
JAN PEARCE
pany, an important place is held
by Alexander Kipnis, who comes
from poor Russian-Jewish people.
Kipnis has a long and rich musical
past behind him. He sang in the
Operas of Vienna, Berlin, Paris and
other cities in all parts of the
world. Kipnis has excelled in the
opera of the well-known anti-
Semitic maestro, Wagner. He was
so beloved by his audiences in
Germany that he was tolerated in
the opera for a time even during
the Hitler regime.
Gerhard Pcchner, a potent force
in the Metropolitan Opera Com
pany, was born in Berlin. He got
his musical training there and
made his early successful appear
ances. first in the Berlin State Op
era and later in the Berlin Opera.
He appeared under the direction of
such important conductors as Bruno
Walter, Richard Strauss and Fritz
Bush.
Walter Olitzky. a nephew of the
once famous Metropolitan Opera
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