Oyfn Pripetshik (Yiddish: ????? ??????????, also spelled Oyfn Pripetchik, Oyfn Pripetchek, etc.; English: "On the Hearth") is a Yiddish song by M.M. Warshawsky (1848-1907). The song is about a rabbi teaching his young students the aleph-bet. By the end of the 19th century it was one of the most popular songs of the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, and as such it is a major musical memory of pre-Holocaust Europe. The song is still sung in Jewish kindergartens.
The fourth stanza introduces tragic pathos into the song: "When, children, you will grow older / You will understand / How many tears lie in these letters / And how much crying." The lyrics hint at the traditional Yiddish saying that "The history of the Jews is written in tears".
Video Oyfn Pripetshik
Lyrics
Maps Oyfn Pripetshik
Recorded versions
- Among the earliest recorded versions of the song, by Nahum Koster (1918) - listen at Jewish Music Archive
- Esther Ofarim version on YouTube
- Version with all stanzas by Suzi Stern on Youtube
- Hebrew version sung by Yael Eilit (2010)
- Folk-metal version by Gevolt (2011)
- Einat Betzalel and L' Orchestre Festival version
- Cantors - A Faith In Song (Benzion Miller, Alberto Mizrahi & Naftali Herstik) (2003)
The song has been featured on soundtracks including:
- Brothers & Sisters, season 1, episode 10, "Light the Lights" (2006)
- Schindler's List (1993)
- Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976)
- Billy Bathgate (1991)
The song is quoted in the Viola Sonata by Graham Waterhouse, entitled Sonata ebraica (Hebrew Sonata), written in 2012 and 2013, and recorded in 2015 by Hana Gubenko and Timon Altwegg who commissioned and premiered it.
References
External links
- Free sheet music version for classical guitar
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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