Sunday, July 19, 2015

Ruth's Childhood and Early Years

‘She may, God forbid, want to become an actress. That would be the last straw.’


Photo of Ruth in school uniform, ca 1910?

Born in 1890 in Odessa, Russia. Ruth was the third of four children of Jacob Leviash, a grocer, and his wife Adele. Like her father, who, she later wrote, “enjoyed listening to a good cantor and would go to the other end of town to hear one, letting the family tend the store,” Ruth was enthralled by music:

While living in the center of the city, a block from the theater, I used to sneak in and see whatever was on the stage. There I saw Bar KochbaShulamith, and Russian operas. Having a good memory and voice, I used to reproduce what I had seen and heard on the stage for my parents. They would laugh and say, ‘She may, God forbid, want to become an actress. That would be the last straw.’ But my dreams were set, and the first step toward that goal was to finish high school. (Ruth Rudinow, 1)
After graduating from high school, Ruth took a job as a tutor for three Tartar children in the Caucasus. Her father had become ill and she sent her earnings home to help the family:
My original plan to save up for my tuition fee at the Conservatory of Music was a failure. But an unexpected event saved the situation. An elderly retired business man heard me sing some Schubert songs at a charity concert. He was so delighted with my voice that he immediately got in touch with my sister Rose and offered to pay my tuition at the Conservatory if I would drop my job and leave at once for Odessa. So I did. I was admitted without difficulty and the first year was uneventful. Time would be spent mostly on technical things and very little singing. Theory, harmony, history of music and so on. The most pleasant hours, though, were spent listening to advanced students. 

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