David Schiff
Synopsis
Today we celebrate the birthday of American composer David Schiff, who was born in New York City on today\u2019s date in 1945.
Schiff\u2019s best-known work, the 1979 opera Gimpel the Fool, is based on a story by the beloved Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer that tells the tale of a Jewish baker in Eastern Europe who takes everything at face value and so is lied to and cheated by everyone he meets. Rather than take revenge, Gimpel becomes a wandering holy man, convinced that God will not lie or cheat him.
Schiff\u2019s opera premiered in New York City in 1979, and shortly thereafter he arranged its themes into an instrumental divertimento, the first of many works written for clarinetist David Shifrin and Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon. Writing for those musicians, says Schiff, his given him what he calls, \u201ca wonderful sense of how Haydn must have felt as court composer at Esterh\xe1zy.\u201d
The divertimento from Gimpel the Fool draws on Jewish liturgical modes and Klezmer music, and its fourth movement references \u201cWho Knows One?\u201d \u2014 a traditional song in Passover. Like the story of Gimpel, the song is meant to be humorous, while still imparting an important lesson.
Music Played in Today's Program
David Schiff (b. 1945): \u2018Divertimento\u2019 from \u2018Gimpel the Fool\u2019; David Shifrin, clarinet; Theodore Arm, violin; Warren Lash, cello; David Oei, piano; Delos DE-3058