What is Yiddish theater music?

ייִדיש טעאַטערYiddishalso spelled Yiddish theatre

Yiddish theater (ייִדיש טעאַטער) music is the composed song of the Yiddish-speaking stage: show tunes written for named plays by named writers, not dance tunes for a wedding. You can recognise it by a singable verse-and-refrain, a pit-orchestra or piano accompaniment, and a lyric that belongs to a character or a scene — from Second Avenue operettas like “Bei Mir Bistu Shein” to Art Theatre songs like “Dona Dona.”

The Yiddish stage grew up in Eastern Europe and exploded in New York after the great migration, along Second Avenue — “the Jewish Broadway.” Composers such as Sholom Secunda wrote for musicals that closed in a season and, sometimes, became American hits in English translation. Maurice Schwartz’s Yiddish Art Theatre aimed higher, at literary drama; Aaron Zeitlin’s Esterke (1940–41) is that wing, and Dona Dona is its most-travelled song. Klezmer (כּלי־זמר) bands often sat in the pit, which is why the two worlds get collapsed — but a theater song is a written lyric for a play, not a freylekhs (פֿריילעכס) .