The World of Music; 1; Twilight of a Culture with Natania Davrath
- Series
- The World of Music
- Episode Number
- 1
- Producing Organization
- National Educational Television and Radio Center
- WNDT (Television station : Newark, N.J.)
- Contributing Organization
- Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/512-930ns0mr1t
- NOLA Code
- WDOM
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- Description
- Episode Description
- Before World War II an extensive Jewish culture -- warm, rich, inimitable -- flourished in Europe. In centers of Jewish religious and secular thought (such as Warsaw) rabbis, journalists, dramatists, painters, and musicians [?]ked a common heritage, and were bound even more closely by a common language, Yiddish -- that peculiar "patois", rooted in German, mixed with bits of the Slavic, oriental, Spanish, and French tongues, and written in Hebrew characters. But the massive Nazi persecution of the thirties and forties destroyed 6,000,000 Jews and sent thousands more fleeing from Central and Eastern Europe, leaving behind only the skeleton of the great Yiddish culture. Those who fled have, in the intervening years, tended to become gradually assimilated into the cultures of their new homes --such as Israel (where the language is Hebrew, not Yiddish), and the United States (where the children of the war immigrants often forsake the ways of their Yiddish-speaking parents in order to become part of the "American way of life.") This episode marks -- in music, art and commentary -- the sad transition of a strong Yiddish culture into its present day tattered remnant. Netania Davrath, noted Israeli soprano (who fled from Eastern Europe but never forgot the songs of her Yiddish background), sings the Chassidic chant, "Nigun"; another Chassidic melody; "Moschiach Ver Kuman"; the lullaby "Rozhinkes Mit Mandlin"; the children's song "Unzer Nigundle"; "Unzer Shtelt Brent"; and "Dudele"; to the accompaniment of an orchestra under Robert DeCormier while a series of works by the painter Marc Chagall form the visual background; and radio commentator Martin Bookspan, music director of New York's WQXR, provides a voice-over narration. Emily Genauer, art critic of the New York Herald Tribune, was artistic consultant.?Episode Running Time: 29:05 (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Series Description
- This series is designed to illuminate The World of Music through imaginative and informative contact with musical compositions and the artists and instruments that interpret them. The episodes encompass a wide spectrum of styles from the musical past and present -- from the keyboard music of Bach and the madrigals of Gesualdo to the avant garde compositions of Edgar Varese, the protest songs of the civil rights movement, and the "third stream" jazz of Billy Taylor. And some well-known contemporary musicians represent, in performance and discussion, their special fields of interest in conversations with series host, Morton Gould. In general, each episode offers discussion and comment, concerning specific musical subjects, by the host and guest artist; a visual exploration of the "tools" of music, whether it be a precious instrument, the equipment which makes and repairs it, or a composer's score; and performance by the singer or instrumentalist of the music itself. The concentration of each of these components varies with the subject of each episode. The World of Music is a 1964-65 production of National Educational Television, produced through the facilities of Channel 13/WNDT, New York. The 22 half-hour episodes that comprise the series were originally recorded on videotape. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Broadcast Date
- 1965-01-03
- Asset type
- Episode
- Genres
- Talk Show
- Performance
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Credits
-
-
Assistant to the Producer: Pernstein, Harriet
Assistant to the Producer: Bowman, Sandra
Conductor: DeCormier, Robert
Director: Jones, Clark, 1920-2002
Host: Gould, Morton
Narrator: Bookspan, Martin
Performer: Davrath, Netania
Producer: Toobin, Jerome, 1919-1984
Producing Organization: National Educational Television and Radio Center
Producing Organization: WNDT (Television station : Newark, N.J.)
Set Designer: Gurlitz, Eugene
Writer: Elman, Richard
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2343171-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 2 inch videotape
Generation: Master
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- Citations
- Chicago: “The World of Music; 1; Twilight of a Culture with Natania Davrath,” 1965-01-03, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 21, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-930ns0mr1t.
- MLA: “The World of Music; 1; Twilight of a Culture with Natania Davrath.” 1965-01-03. Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 21, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-930ns0mr1t>.
- APA: The World of Music; 1; Twilight of a Culture with Natania Davrath. Boston, MA: Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-930ns0mr1t