Velvel Pasternak
{{Short description|Canadian musicologist (1933–2019)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Velvel Pasternak
| image = Velvel Pasternak photo 2011.jpg
| caption = Velvel Pasternak in 2011
| birth_date = {{birth date|1933|10|1}}
| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
|death_date = {{death date and age|2019|6|11|1933|10|1}}
|death_place = Oceanside, NY, U.S.
}}
Velvel Pasternak (October 1, 1933 – June 11, 2019){{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/arts/music/velvel-pasternak-dead.html|title=Velvel Pasternak, Preserver of Hasidic Music, Is Dead at 85|first=Joseph|last=Berger|work=New York Times|date=June 12, 2019}} was a musicologist, conductor, arranger, producer, and publisher specializing in Jewish music.{{Citation |author= Robert Cohen |date=March 27, 2008 |periodical=Tikkun Magazine |title=New Wings for Our Prayers: On American Jewish Music |publisher=tikkun.org |url= http://www.tikkun.org/article.php/20090327095511603/print |accessdate=2010-11-29 }}{{Citation |year=2005 |periodical=Zamir Choral Foundation |title=First Annual "Hallel V'Zimrah" Award Goes to Velvel Pasternak |volume=5765 |issue=Spring |page=6 |url=http://www.zamirfdn.org/PDF/Zamir/zamir%20winter%2005%207a.pdf |accessdate=2010-11-29 }} In 1981, the New York Times described him as "an expert on the music of the Hasidic sect and probably the largest publisher of Jewish music anywhere, although he was quick to note that publishing Jewish music is a business that attracts few rivals."{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/22/nyregion/long-islanders-a-youthful-decision-alters-a-life-s-tone.html | title = Long Islanders; A Youthful Decision Alters a Life's Tone | first = Lawrence | last = Van Gelder | date = 1981-03-22 | work = New York Times | page = 2 (Section 11) | accessdate = 2019-06-12 }}
Biography
Velvel Pasternak was born in Toronto in 1933 to immigrant parents from Poland.{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-jubilee-of-jewish-music/|title=A jubilee of Jewish music|website=blogs.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-27}} He received an Orthodox Jewish education and was a graduate of Yeshiva University High School for Boys (class of 1951){{cn|date=June 2019}} and of Yeshiva University (class of 1955).{{Cite web|url=http://docshare.tips/yeshiva-university-review-winter-2003-2004_574d739ab6d87f3e478b5bab.html|title=YESHIVA UNIVERSITY REVIEW Winter 2003 - 2004|website=docshare.tips|language=en|access-date=2019-05-27}} He also studied at the Juilliard School, and received a master's in music education from Teachers College, Columbia University.{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-jubilee-of-jewish-music/|title=A jubilee of Jewish music|website=blogs.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-27}}
The founder of Tara Publications, he was responsible for the publication of 26 recordings and over 150 books of Jewish music since 1971, spanning the gamut of Israeli, Yiddish, Ladino, cantorial, Hasidic and Holocaust music.{{cite web | url = http://rozhinke.org/2004faculty.html#Velvel | title = Velvel Pasternak | work = 2004 Rozhinke Faculty | accessdate = 2006-08-03 }} He was a regular lecturer on the music of the Hassidim.
He was the music teacher at the Congregation Sons of Israel synagogue in Woodmere, NY for many years. He died on June 11, 2019, in New York City.
== Published works ==
- Songs of the Chassidim (1970, {{ISBN|9780000000934}})
- Songs of the Chassidim II (1971, {{ISBN|9780819702760}})
- The Best of Israeli Folk Dances (1997, {{ISBN|978-0-933676-20-6}}) (previous edition 1990)
- The Jewish Fake Book (1997, {{ISBN|978-0-933676-69-5}})
- Z'Mirot and Kumzitz Songbook (1997, {{ISBN|9780933676633}})
- Beyond Hava Nagila (1999, {{ISBN|978-0-933676-78-7}})
- The Jewish Music Companion (2003, {{ISBN|978-1-928918-24-0}})
- Songs Never Silenced--The Folk Music And Poetry of the Shoah (2003, {{ISBN|978-1-928918-26-4}}) (with Shmerke Kaczerginsky)
- The Best of Hasidic Song: Selections from 7 Acclaimed Music Books (2012, {{ISBN|9781928918868}})
- The Big Jewish Songbook (2014, {{ISBN|9781495012013}})
- Shlomo Carlebach Anthology: Compiled, Edited and Arranged by Velvel Pasternak (2016, {{ISBN|9780933676336}})
- Behind the Music, Stories, Anecdotes, Articles and Reflections (2017, {{ISBN|9781928918523}})
See also
References
External links
- [http://www.jewishmusic.com Tara Publications ]
- {{cite web|url=http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/oral-history/velvel-pasternak|title=Video: Interview with Velvel Pasternak|last=Netsky|first=Hankus|date=August 15, 2011|publisher=Wexler Oral History Project at the Yiddish Book Center}}
- {{cite news|url=http://crownheights.info/videos/530637/nigun-101-a-conversation-with-velvel-pasternak/|title=Nigun 101: A Conversation with Velvel Pasternak|date= April 14, 2016|publisher=CrownHeights.info}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasternak, Velvel}}
Category:Sheet music publishers (people)
Category:American Orthodox Jews