Mark Varshavsky

Born in Odessa, Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Mark Varshavsky (Warshavski) was brought up in Zhitomir and attended a state-sanctioned rabbinical program there for his secondary education. In 1875, he earned his law degree in Kiev (Kyiv), where he lived the rest of his life. He earned a paltry living practicing law, and in his spare time, he composed and performed songs with piano accompaniment. Though never a professional musician, he caught the attention of Sholem Aleichem with his songs, and the writer encouraged the lawyer to put down his compositions in notation. In 1901, Sholem Aleichem helped Varshavsky publish Yidishe folkslider mit notn, a collection of twenty-five of Varshavsky’s tunes with an introduction by Sholem Aleichem. After touring alongside Sholem Aleichem for a time, Varshavsky moved to Belgium to work as a lawyer for a commercial firm. In 1905 he became ill and moved back to Kiev, where he died two years later. Varshavsky’s pieces have been published in many volumes and collections of Yiddish song, and several of them remain well known today.