Creator Bio
Pesach-Elijah Badkhn
19th Century
Dubbed the “Genius of Jesters,” Pesach-Elijah Badkhn was a playful troubadour who traveled to Minsk, Vilna, and elsewhere performing original Yiddish melodies. Like the characters in his songs, he straddled worlds: religious and secular, serious and comic. For years, he avoided publishing his lyrics, though he finally grew tired of rival singers stealing his songs and decided to claim credit for them in print. Pesach-Elijah performed around the Pale of Settlement, traveling widely as his fame and songbook expanded.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
Primary Source
Songbird, or Six Folk Songs
(The songs)
It frightens us so,
With our poor wares to go
And face the wide world and its scorn.
We have lived many days,
But know only the ways.
Of the villages where we were born.
(The author)
Yo…
Related Guide
Music and Opera in Jewish Culture, 1750–1880
One of the most striking changes in European Jewish culture toward the later eighteenth century was marked by the entry of Jews into art music, opera houses, and the stage.