מתוך האינצקלופדיה על דיסק "star of david" חלק שני
Cerini, Cantor Selmar
1861-1923 Tenor Poland
Selmar Cerini (Steifman) was born in Wulka, Poland in 1861. He left home at the age of eleven because he rebelled against the intolerance of his fanatically
religious parents and went to neighboring Pultusk, intending to study the Talmud. While singing at the Sabbath service, the cantor heard him and became
interested in his voice, putting him in the choir and giving him his first music lessons. At the age of 12 he went to Plonsk, and in the synagogue there he sang the
prayers, alternating with the choir and gaining much admiration. However, with his change of voice at the age of 15, Cerini was forced to return home, where his
family was totally opposed to him becoming a singer. However, he tested his voice secretly for about a year, and when he found that his voice had developed into
a beautiful tenor, he made his way to Warsaw. He stayed there two years, singing in a synagogue choir and studying music. His obligatory military service of 5
years was shortened to only one because of favor from his superiors, who recognized the boy's talent. In 1882 he accepted the position of cantor in the town of
Zagorow, and stayed there three years. He then went to Lodz, and his singing in the local synagogue brought such crowds that police had to be stationed around
the synagogue. However, Cerini still desired a career on the stage, and after many hardships was given a scholarship at the Royal Music Academy in Berlin. He
also sang as the soloist in the major synagogue in Berlin, where he was heard by the director of the Victoria Theater, who gave him a solo sung behind the scene
in a minor opera. He was a tremendous success, but his name wasn't even listed in the program, and critics demanded to know who the wonderful tenor was.
Since at that time beginners were not allowed to perform in public without a contract, the director had the name of a well-known Italian tenor, Cerini, printed in
the program as a pseudonym so that the singer would not incur a penalty; Cerini retained that name throughout his career. After three years of study in Berlin,
Cerini made his stage debut in Halberstadt in 1890, where he sang in
Il Trovatore
and Flotow's
Alessandro Stradella
. He then appeared as guest in Stettin,
which led to an offer of a five-year contract at the Leipzig Opera. He declined the offer because of racial hatred in that city, but accepted a three-year contract in
Breslau in 1891. His performances there were sold out, and and he was a great box office success. At the Breslau City Theater he sang such roles as Eleazer in
La Juive
, Raoul in
Les Huguenots
, Arnold in
Guillaume Tell
, Radames in
Aida
, Manrico in
Il Trovatore
, and Turiddu in
Cavalleria Rusticana
. His fame soon
spread all over Germany and he was invited to sing at many different German houses, including the Kroll Opera in Berlin. However, the life of an opera singer
soon palled. Because of his religious convictions he would not sing on the Sabbath, nor ride on a train; if he could not find a place where Jewish dietary laws were
observed, he made do with dry food. He also confronted anti-Semitism, and was even advised to convert, which he refused to do. Although he was in great
demand and could have sung at any of the major houses, he decided to give up the stage and accepted an offer to become the chief cantor of Breslau in 1895. He
died there in 1923. Judging from the reviews of the times, and from his recordings, Cerini may well have had one of the greatest tenor voices of his time, and yet
sadly, his stage career only lasted 5 years. Cerini was one of the first cantors to record, and it should be remembered that his records were made about 10 years
after he had last sung on the stage.
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בעזרת השם
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