Sunday, July 19, 2015

Moshe and Ruth at the Royal Conservatory, Odessa.

‘My specialty is singing. I learned in childhood,’ was the answer of Mr. Rudinow.


Moshe joined the Conservatory in Ruth’s second year there:
The following year, 1913-14, my teacher started telling excitedly about a new pupil she had accepted into her class. He was a bass baritone who looked typically Russian, dressed in an embroidered Russian blouse, with a voice like Chaliapin. His name was Rudinow and he was a Jew. That was my first impression before I met him. The second was in sight-reading class where no one was willing to sing before the class of forty-five strangers. The class was silent until one man pushed the other saying that Rudinow could do it. A Russian-looking man came out and sang the song without a mistake, to the delight of the teacher and the class. ‘What is your specialty? Where did you learn? What is your name?’ asked the teacher. ‘My specialty is singing. I learned in childhood,’ was the answer of Mr. Rudinow. (Ruth Rudinow, 1)


Ruth and several classmates enlisted this sight-reading master to tutor them. Moshe accepted, but rather than teach sight-reading he turned the group into a chamber chorus. And, through weeks of rehearsals, Ruth and Moshe fell in love. Already during their years of study at the Conservatory (and of courtship), Moshe and Ruth sang together professionally. Ruth wrote:
On our way one day to the park, Moshe invited me to see a scientific motion picture. We saw the silent movie and it occurred to us that if the picture were interspersed with singing or other musical numbers, it would be more interesting. We entered the office, saw the manager, and offered him our idea with our taking part. The man like it and then and there we were engaged. Each of us sang solos and we finished with duets. The cinematograph got the best write-ups in the papers. Their income increased and we made a few hundred rubles, which were so badly needed in the time of inflation. (Ruth Rudinow, 1)
However, Moshe’s studies and the couple’s courtship were cut short by World War I. As Ruth tells in her memoirs (1):
With the war going on for a second year, the mood of the country became more realistic. There were no more predictions about a quick and easy victory. To study and singing became very difficult, almost impossible. Every day this or that friend was called to the army. In a few weeks he would be an accomplished soldier sent to the front and never seen again. Moshe’s conscience didn’t allow him to avoid his duty in spite of all deprivations we had as Jews. He decided after several sleepless nights to enlist and do what all boys did at that time. When he appeared for enlistment, he was asked by the army doctor whether he had any complaints in regard to his health. “No,” was his answer. “Good boy,” said the officer, and he was accepted into the army. Two days later he was shipped to Pavlograd for the training center for new recruits. 

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