Klezmer - Repertoire

Repertoire

According to Walter Zev Feldman, the klezmer dance repertoire seems to have been relatively uniform across the areas of Jewish settlement in the Russian Empire. Much of the traditional klezmer repertoire was written by professional klezmer musicians in the style of their region or tradition, and a lot of co-territorial music such as non-Jewish folksongs, especially Romanian music (mainly from Moldavia), as well as Ukrainian music and Ottoman music, and the musics of other minorities living in the same areas as Jews in Southeastern Europe such as Crimean Tatars.

Historically, young klezmorim learned songs from their family and their elders in bands. However, there were several breaks in history where this transmission broke down, including mass emigration, but especially the Holocaust, which destroyed most of Jewish life and culture in Europe. Few scions of klezmer dynasties remained in Europe, one notable exception being Leopold Kozlowski of Poland.

Undoubtedly, a lot has been lost of whatever repertoire they played in different regions, especially wedding repertoire, since Jewish weddings can last several days, but technology of the time could only record a few minutes at a time. As well, some recordings may have been made in one area that did not represent klezmer repertoire from other parts of the region. Fortunately, there remained a few older klezmorim—such as Leon Schwartz, Dave Tarras, and German Goldenshtayn—who could recall some of this repertoire. Also, some transcriptions survive from the 19th century. Some ethnomusicological work from Jewish Eastern Europe is still available in print, notably the work of Ukrainian Jewish field researcher Moshe Beregovski.

In the 21st century, klezmer is typically learned from "fake books" and transcriptions of old recordings, although the music was traditionally transmitted and learned by ear.