Metadata : Oscar Strok. Personal fonds
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- National Library of Latvia
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Nacionālā Bibliotēka
- Postal address:
- Mūkusalas iela 3, Rīga, LV-1423
- Phone number:
- +371 6780 6100
- Web address:
- www.lnb.lv
- Email:
- lnb@lnb.lv
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- National Library of Latvia
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Nacionālā Bibliotēka
- Postal address:
- Mūkusalas iela 3, Rīga, LV-1423
- Phone number:
- +371 6780 6100
- Web address:
- www.lnb.lv
- Email:
- lnb@lnb.lv
- Reference number:
- RXA418
- Title:
- Oscar Strok. Personal fonds
- Title (official language):
- Oskars Stroks. Personīgais fonds
- Creator/accumulator:
- Strok, Oscar
- Date(s):
- 1900/2010
- Language:
- Latvian
- Russian
- Yiddish
- German
- English
- Extent:
- 30 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The personal fonds of the composer Oscar Strok contains autographs, posters, photographs and photo negatives of Strok, photographs of his funeral, photographs of his relatives, music written by Strok (“Pipe”, “Stalingrad Waltz” (also known as “Over the Volga”), “Over the Clearing”, the tangos “Moon Rhapsody” and “Marianne”; manuscripts and typescripts of various authors; letters from Oscar Strok, his father David, his brothers Mark and Avsey, his son Eugene; material on the professional activities of Leo and Oscar Strok; correspondence with the heads of orchestras and ensembles as well as documents of the pianist Alexander Dubyansky, Oscar Strok’s nephew. An example item is a concert advertisement leaflet: “Oscar Strok. Piano-virtuoso. Author of the most famous hits: “Black Eyes”, “Blue Rhapsody”, “Sleep, My Poor Heart” etc. Author of the special arrangements for piano solo: Chopiniana, Lisztiana, Tchaikovskiana. Author of well-known Russian & Gypsy melodies. Oscar Strok performs his compositions with orchestra and solo”. Another leaflet reviewed a concert performed by Leo Strokoff, Oscar's brother. American violinist Leo Strokoff gave a concert at Carnegie Hall on 26 March 1928, with a programme including Bach, Handel and other composers. The collection of documents from this fonds will be valuable to musicologists, musicians and those with an interest in tango and Oscar Strok's works.
- Archival history:
- Unknown
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Oscar Strok (1893-1975) was an outstanding composer who was in his lifetime named “the king of tango”. He was born into a musical family in Daugavpils, the youngest of eight children. He studied at the St.Petersburg Conservatory and then worked as an accompanist for variety theatres and cinemas. He composed songs based on verses by modern poets writing in Yiddish, including the hit “Vi Ahin Zol Ikh Geyn”. Strok accompanied singers of Jewish songs, among them the seven-year-old singer Misha Aleksandrovich from Riga (subsequently a synagogue cantor and a well-known Soviet variety singer). During WWII, as a member of frontline concert brigades in the army, he created many patriotic songs, such as “We Shall Win”, “Front Driver” and others. During those military years, Oscar Strok went on joint tours with Klavdiya Shulzhenko. He was also a soloist. After the war, “western” light and dance music was banned in USSR. Oscar Strok, the composer of over three hundred tangos and other musical works performed by the best orchestras in many countries of the world, was expelled from the Latvian Composers Union in 1948, because it was alleged that his music lacked the proper ideological orientation. In the Soviet Union, new records with recordings of his songs and instrumental compositions began to be released only in the early 1970s.He was buried in Shmerli Jewish cemetery in Riga to the accompaniment of his tango ”Sleep, My Poor Heart”.
- Access points: locations:
- Riga
- Access points: persons/families:
- Strok, Oscar
- Subject terms:
- Art
- Correspondence
- Manuscripts
- Music
- Music--Composers
- Personal records
- Photographs
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Jana Makarova
- Reference number:
- RXA418
- Title:
- Oscar Strok. Personal fonds
- Title (official language):
- Oskars Stroks. Personīgais fonds
- Creator/accumulator:
- Strok, Oscar
- Date(s):
- 1900/2010
- Language:
- Latvian
- Russian
- Yiddish
- German
- English
- Extent:
- 30 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The personal fonds of the composer Oscar Strok contains autographs, posters, photographs and photo negatives of Strok, photographs of his funeral, photographs of his relatives, music written by Strok (“Pipe”, “Stalingrad Waltz” (also known as “Over the Volga”), “Over the Clearing”, the tangos “Moon Rhapsody” and “Marianne”; manuscripts and typescripts of various authors; letters from Oscar Strok, his father David, his brothers Mark and Avsey, his son Eugene; material on the professional activities of Leo and Oscar Strok; correspondence with the heads of orchestras and ensembles as well as documents of the pianist Alexander Dubyansky, Oscar Strok’s nephew. An example item is a concert advertisement leaflet: “Oscar Strok. Piano-virtuoso. Author of the most famous hits: “Black Eyes”, “Blue Rhapsody”, “Sleep, My Poor Heart” etc. Author of the special arrangements for piano solo: Chopiniana, Lisztiana, Tchaikovskiana. Author of well-known Russian & Gypsy melodies. Oscar Strok performs his compositions with orchestra and solo”. Another leaflet reviewed a concert performed by Leo Strokoff, Oscar's brother. American violinist Leo Strokoff gave a concert at Carnegie Hall on 26 March 1928, with a programme including Bach, Handel and other composers. The collection of documents from this fonds will be valuable to musicologists, musicians and those with an interest in tango and Oscar Strok's works.
- Archival history:
- Unknown
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Oscar Strok (1893-1975) was an outstanding composer who was in his lifetime named “the king of tango”. He was born into a musical family in Daugavpils, the youngest of eight children. He studied at the St.Petersburg Conservatory and then worked as an accompanist for variety theatres and cinemas. He composed songs based on verses by modern poets writing in Yiddish, including the hit “Vi Ahin Zol Ikh Geyn”. Strok accompanied singers of Jewish songs, among them the seven-year-old singer Misha Aleksandrovich from Riga (subsequently a synagogue cantor and a well-known Soviet variety singer). During WWII, as a member of frontline concert brigades in the army, he created many patriotic songs, such as “We Shall Win”, “Front Driver” and others. During those military years, Oscar Strok went on joint tours with Klavdiya Shulzhenko. He was also a soloist. After the war, “western” light and dance music was banned in USSR. Oscar Strok, the composer of over three hundred tangos and other musical works performed by the best orchestras in many countries of the world, was expelled from the Latvian Composers Union in 1948, because it was alleged that his music lacked the proper ideological orientation. In the Soviet Union, new records with recordings of his songs and instrumental compositions began to be released only in the early 1970s.He was buried in Shmerli Jewish cemetery in Riga to the accompaniment of his tango ”Sleep, My Poor Heart”.
- Access points: locations:
- Riga
- Access points: persons/families:
- Strok, Oscar
- Subject terms:
- Art
- Correspondence
- Manuscripts
- Music
- Music--Composers
- Personal records
- Photographs
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Jana Makarova
