Mordecai Hirsch Bauman (March 12, 1912 in the Bronx – May 16, 2007 in Manhattan) was an American baritone.
Biography
editBauman was born on March 2, 1912, to Allen and Minnie Bauman in the Bronx, New York City.[1] He attended James Monroe High School, then was granted a fellowship to the Juilliard Graduate School of Music during his freshman year at Columbia College in 1930, making him the first and only student to attend both institutions concurrently. He studied voice with Francis Rogers at Juilliard.
During the 1930's he became active in the communist political movement within the United States, and made several recordings for the Timely Recording Company, with a group under the name "The New Singers" where they recorded English language versions of well known communist songs.[2] In 1938, Mordecai Bauman made the first recordings of a group of six songs by Charles Ives -- recorded by Musicraft and issued on a 78 rpm disc by New Music [Quarterly] Recordings (1412).[3] These are described in the book SONG ON RECORD, edited by Alan Blyth in 1988.
In 1941, he was the narrator in the world premiere of PAUL BUNYAN by Benjamin Britten and W.H. Auden. This performance was at Columbia University.
He married Irma Commanday. Together, they started the Indian Hill Art Workshop in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Indian Hill was the first summer school in the arts for high school students.[4] It was open until 1978.
During the Bach Tercentenary in 1985, he led a tour to the Bach Festival in Leipzig. A few years later, he completed a documentary, "The Stations of Bach", in East Germany. The documentary was funded by the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities and broadcast nationally on PBS in 1990. CUNY TV now owns the documentary and broadcasts it annually on Bach's birthday, March 21.
In 2006, Mordecai and Irma published their memoir, titled, From our Angle of Repose. He died in 2007 at the age of 95.[5]
References
edit- ^ "Remembering Mordy". Indian Hill Arts Workshop. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
- ^ "archives.nypl.org -- Mordecai Bauman papers". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
- ^ Warren Jr, Richard (1972). Charles E. Ives: Discography. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Library.
- ^ "Students of Arts Learn in Pastoral Setting". New York Times. August 17, 1975. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
- ^ "Mordecai Bauman's Obituary on New York Times". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
External links
edit- Mordecai Bauman papers in the Music Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- Indian Hill Music Workshop Records at Stockbridge Library, Museum & Archives
- Jamée Ard, "A Passion for Music" (Juilliard alumni spotlight on Bauman)
- Photographs from Bach Tercentenary tour led by Bauman
- Indian Hill Arts Workshop
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