21 volumes and notebooks containing the personal diaries of composer and pianist Gabriel Grad. Lithuania, Berlin and Palestine, 1919-1950. Yiddish and Hebrew, some German.
Gabriel Grad was born in Ritova (Lithuania) in 1890. In the years 1909-1914 he studied composition, piano and conducting at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. During his studies in Berlin he performed as a concert pianist and played his compositions of Jewish music. In Yekaterinoslav he founded a choir as part of the Jewish "Kultur-Lige" (Culture League). In the years 1920-1922 he was active in Kovno as founder and director of a school for Jewish and classical music; headed the institution of the "Kunst-Winkel" association for Jewish art as musical instructor and choir conductor; and served as musical director of the Jewish Association for History and Ethnography. From 1920 he was a member of the German Composers Association. In 1922-24 he was active in Berlin, where he founded the Jewish Chamber Trio with professors Alfred Wittenberg (violin) and Felix Robert Mendelssohn (cello). In late 1924 he immigrated to Palestine with his wife Rachel and his son Benhatov-Ze'ev ("Benhatov", an alliteration of "Beethoven", meaning "the good son" in Hebrew) and settled in Tel Aviv. Together with colleagues he founded the Benhatov Conservatory and continued to compose musical pieces, perform, organize concerts and teach. He composed many poems by Bialik and the anthem of Tel Aviv Port.
The diaries mention subjects touching on his musical work, on the founding of the Benhatov Conservatory and the performances of his works that he organized, on his life in Palestine and Tel Aviv, on his ardent belief in Zionism and later his passionate hatred of the Nazis, his fury at the Holocaust and his desire for revenge.
The diaries make mention, among others, of Bialik, Tchernichovsky, Boris Schatz, as well as events in the life of the Zionist yishuv and the Jewish people, such as the 1929 Arab Riots and the Arab Revolt, the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany, World War II and the Holocaust.
A number of diaries include additional materials - autobiographical texts, a libretto of works, notes of songs and short excerpts from musical works, copies of letters he had written, lists of expenditures of the conservatory opened in Tel Aviv, and more; enclosed are booklets and leaves with sheet music of his works (in print).
Good-fair condition. Wear and tears. Some worming. The diaries are not consecutive and may be missing a number of notebooks.