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Article Excerpt
Is it possible that had a composer been successful in obtaining the rights to a play that he wanted as the subject for an opera, one of the musical masterpieces of the 20th Century would not have been written? This could have been the fate of Porgy and Bess if George Gershwin had been able to get the rights to The Dybbuk, the great Yiddish play by Solomon Rappoport (better known as S. Ansky) some years before he really turned his attention to composing Porgy and Bess. Ansky's play, probably the most famous Yiddish play of all time, was a great success right from its first performance shortly after Ansky's death in 1920, and this success continued in performances in many countries over many years. A dybbuk in Jewish folklore is the restless soul of a dead person that endeavors to enter the body of a living person. It takes over his body, talks through his mouth, and controls his behavior.
The play also entitled Between Two Worlds is about the love of two young people, Chonon and Leah, who were betrothed to each other by their fathers when they were small. But Chonon is a poor Talmudic student, and Leah's father breaks the agreement and plans her marriage to a rich young man. Chonon invokes the mystical powers of the kabbalah before he dies, and, as Leah is getting married, his spirit enters her body and she, being possessed by this dybbuk, speaks his words and in his voice. He cries out that he has come to possess her and claim her as his own. Leah's father asks the rabbi to exorcise this evil spirit from her body, which he succeeds in doing, but eventually Chonon has the last word as he takes Leah's soul away from her body to be united with him in death.
Gershwin had first become interested in classical music early in his career when in 1919 he wrote Lullaby for a string quartet. Blue Monday in 1922 was an attempt at a miniopera. Rhapsody...
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