ZILBERTS, ZAVEL

ZILBERTS, ZAVEL (1881–1949), composer, conductor, and ḥazzan. Born in Karlin, near Pinsk, Russia, Zilberts became his father's successor as ḥazzan upon the latter's death in 1895, and by the age of 18 he was singing his own compositions. After studying music at the conservatory in Warsaw, he became conductor of the famous Hazomir choral society in Lodz. Between 1907 and 1914 he was choir master in the Central Synagogue, Moscow. He returned to Lodz for another six years before emigrating to the U.S. in 1920. Striving for the establishment of a pure, unaccompanied choral style, he founded the Zilberts Choral Society in 1930 and became musical director of the Jewish Ministers-Cantors Association of America, composing a large number of liturgical pieces and choral arrangements for concert appearances organized by the Association.

His liturgical compositions were often based on motifs from biblical cantillations. His setting of *Havdalah is widely known and has been sung and recorded by many ḥazzanim. Zilberts wrote the biblical cantatas Jacob's Dream and Am Yisrael Ḥai, and published Neginot Yisrael (1932) and Music for the Synagogue (1943).

bibliography:

A. Fishman, in: Jewish Review (Feb. 10, 1949); H. Lefkowitch, in: Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference-Convention of the Cantors Assembly of America (1956), 25–30; I. Rabinovitch, Of Jewish Music (1952), 230–2, 240–1.

[David M.L. Olivestone]