Metadata: M. A. Mil’ner
Collection
- Country:
- Russia
- Holding institution:
- The National Library of Russia
- Holding institution (official language):
- Российская национальная библиотека. Отдел рукописей.
- Postal address:
- 91069, Russia, St. Petersburg, ul. Sadovaia, д. 18, main building
- Phone number:
- (812) 310-28-56
- Web address:
- http://www.nlr.ru
- Email:
- office@nlr.ru
- Reference number:
- F. 1067
- Title:
- M. A. Mil’ner
- Title (official language):
- МИЛЬНЕР М. А.
- Creator/accumulator:
- M. A. Mil’ner
- Date(s):
- 1912/1950
- Language:
- Russian
- Yiddish
- Hebrew
- Extent:
- 169 storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Audio
- Photographic images
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The fonds includes manuscripts and offprints of musical works by M. A. Mil’ner and materials pertaining to same; documents related to his biography; correspondence; and graphic materials. Most of the fonds consists of autograph manuscripts of materials pertaining to works by M. A. Mil’ner: instrumentation outlines; musical scores and drafts for the operas Di Himlen brenen [The Heavens Are Ablaze] (1921-23); Wandering Stars (based on the eponymous novel by Sholom Aleichem; libretto by S. Iu. Levik; 1939); Josephus Flavius (1940); The New Way (1932); The Gadfly [Ovod] (based on the eponymous novel by Ethel Voynich; 1950); An Epic on Lekert for symphony orchestra (undated); a concerto for piano and orchestra in 3 parts (1946-47); string quartets (1939); sonatas for violin and piano (undated), and for cello and piano (1947); a piano piece titled “Jewish Dance” (1925); a suite for piano duet titled “From an Epic Poem by An-sky”; etc.; a cycle titled “Kolkhoz Songs” set to the verse of Khanan Vainerman and Perets Markish (1930s); a pastoral poem for a mixed choir titled “OZET [the Society for Land Settlement of Jewish Toilers]” (1920s); etc. Also housed in the fonds are printed collections of Yiddish songs for children titled New Songs (1927); Seven Yiddish Songs, to words by Itsik Fefer, Shimen Frug, and M. Ginsburg (1940s); music to verse by Ḥayim Naḥman Bialik (undated) and others (1920s); songs from the show Hirsh Lekert (1920s); etc. The fonds also contains M. A. Mil’ner’s correspondence with the composers Iu. D. Engel’ (1923); M. F. Gnesin (1926); L. M. Pul’ver (1947); the pianist Mariia Veniaminovna Iudina (undated); N. A. Belilovskii, director of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater (GOSET), and I. Fishman, director of the Odessa State Yiddish Theater (1937); the musicologist Ia. A. Frenkel’ (1944-45); and others; photographic portraits of M. A. Mil’ner (1918-20) and the actor R. Zaslavskii (1927).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Mikhail Arnol’dovich Mil’ner (in Yiddish: Moyshe Milner) (1886-1953) was a composer. As a child he sang in the choir of A. I. Dzimitrovskii in Kiev. In 1904-06 he studied piano at the Kiev Music School under Prof. V. V. Pukhal’skii. From 1908-15 he studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under Profs. A. M. Miklashevskii, A. K. Liadov, M. O. Shteinberg, and others, and concurrently (from 1911-23) directed the choir of the Jewish Folk Music Society. From 1915-18 he was a military bandleader. From 1921-24 he worked as a vocal teacher and choirmaster for the Proletkult, and as chief choirmaster of the Opera Theater of the House of the People in Petrograd. In 1924-25 he served as musical director for the Moscow State Yiddish Theater (GOSET). In 1926-29 he served as director of music instruction at Leningrad secondary schools, and then, until 1931, as director of the Khar’kov State Yiddish Theater; and from 1931-41, he was art director of the Jewish choir Evokans in Leningrad. Works by M. A. Mil’ner include the operas Di Himlen brenen [The Heavens Are Ablaze], libretto by M. S. Rivesman (1923); The New Way [Novyi Put’], libretto by Ia. M. Galitskii (1933); Josephus Flavius (based on Lion Feuchtwanger’s novel The Jewish War), libretto by V. S. Val’tman (1943; unfinished); etc.; several symphonic, chamber, instrumental/piano, and vocal works, including the symphonic poem By the Dnieper; a cycle of piano pieces titled Silhouettes of the Fatherland War; a sonata for cello and piano; verse by Jewish poets set to music; and film soundtracks.
- Access points: locations:
- Russia
- Access points: persons/families:
- An-ski, S.
- Belilovskii, A.
- Engel’, Iu.
- Fefer, Itsik
- Fishman, I.
- Flavius, Josephus
- Frenkel’, Ia. A.
- Ginsburg, M.
- Gnesin, M.
- Iudina, Mariia Veniaminovna
- Levik, S. Iu.
- Markish, P. D.
- Mil’ner, M.
- N.
- Pul’ver, L. M.
- Sholem Aleichem
- Vainerman, Khanan
- Voynich, Ethel
- Zaslavskii, R.
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds includes a single inventory systematised by structure.
- Finding aids:
- An inventory is available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary
