Pulver, Lev Mikhailovich

Born in Verkhnedneprovsk , now in the Dnipropetrovsk region , Ukraine .

He studied violin from early childhood: first, by ear, from his father, a musician, from the age of seven, according to notes from her sister's husband S. Dvoirin, a student of the famous Czech violinist, composer and music teacher Otakar Shevczyk .
From the age of ten he played klezmer in the "chapels", performed concerts of Felix Mendelssohn and other classical works.

In the years 1898-1901. He was a violinist in the orchestra of the theater troupe of Mark Kropyvnytsky , for whom he composed, based on Ukrainian folklore, the music for the play “Oh, Don’t Go, Gritsa” based on the play by Mikhail Staritsky .

In 1902 he came to St. Petersburg with a Russian theater troupe, studied with violin student D. Bertier (1882-1950, professor of the Kiev Conservatoire from 1922), a student of Leopold Auer , entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory , which after a break in 1905— In 1907, connected with the expulsion "for participating in student unrest" , he graduated in 1908 in the violin class (with Nikolai Galkin ), and also as a composer (with Anatoly Lyadov and Nikolai Sokolov ).

In 1909 he became a soloist-violist of the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra in Moscow, where he served until 1923.

Until 1918 - teacher of the Music and Drama School of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, taught violin, viola and quartet classes.

In 1919-1920 he was one of the participants in the Stradivarius Quartet (the first violin was David Crane ).

In 1920-1922 he played the viola in the quartet of the music department of the People's Commissariat for Education (the first violin was Lev Zeitlin , the second violin was Abram Yampolsky , the cello was Leonid Pyatigorsky ). Conducted by symphony orchestras in Kiev, Kharkov and Minsk.

In 1922-1949 - music director and conductor of the Moscow State Jewish Theater ( GOSET ). The author of music for 42 theater performances, including the most important in the history of the theater: “200,000” (1923), “The Journey of Veniamin the Third” (1927), “Deaf” (1930), “King Lear” (1935), “Bar Kokhba "(1938)," Freilekhs "(1945).

Leo Pulver belongs to the music under review “Under the Dome of the Circus” (1933; lyrics by I. Ilf, E. Petrov, V. Kataev), the performances of “Tevye the Milkman” (1940) at the T. Shevchenko Kharkiv Ukrainian Theater and “Uriel Acosta” (1940, according to K. Gutskov) at the Maly Theater (Moscow).

The author of the operetta "Gulliver" (1907), "What is her name" (1938) and "Sailors" (1940), a number of songs (mainly on the texts of Jewish poets).

Pulver's music is mainly based on the intonations of Jewish folklore. In his memoirs “Episodes of My Life” ( “Soviet Gameland” , 1970, No. 2), the composer noted a special relation to the music of the play of Solomon Mikhoels , with whom the composer collaborated for many years. Expressive and catchy melodies of the composer formed the basis of many Jewish folk songs, and its processing was included in the professional concert repertoire.

The author of music for films: “Jewish Happiness” (“Menachem Mendel”) (1925), “White Death” (1932), “The Border” .

He lived in Moscow on Bolshoi Kozikhinsky Lane , d. 23, apt. 17.

Most of Pulver’s works have not been published, and the location of manuscripts has not been established.

• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1939) ^[1]
• Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1928)
• Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1934)
• People's Artist of the RSFSR (1939)

• Music: Big Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1998
• KEE, Volume 6, count. 885–886