{{Short description|Early 20th century Yiddish actor, klezmer singer and recording artist}} thumb|Abraham Moskowitz, Jewish American tenor

'''Abraham Moskowitz''' (born c. 1880 in Slobozia, Ialomița County, Romania, died 1956 in New York City) was a Yiddish language baritone and tenor, Yiddish theater actor and recording artist of the early twentieth century who recorded mainly between 1917 and 1927. His most successful recordings were made in collaboration with the klezmer bandleader and composer Abe Schwartz.

==Biography== ===Early life and family=== Little has been written about Moskowitz's early life, although he was apparently born outside of Bucharest, Romania around 1880. The exact date is unclear; on his First World War draft registration card he stated he was born on May 15, 1878,<ref name="WWI Draft reg">{{cite web |title=U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 for Abraham Moskowitz |url=https://www.ancestrylibrary.ca/ |website=Ancestry Library |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref> but based on the age he gave in different census years, he could also have been born between 1880 and 1885.<ref name="1925 NY census">{{cite web |title=New York, U.S., State Census, 1925 for Abraham Moskowitz |url=https://www.ancestrylibrary.ca/ |website=Ancestry Library |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref><ref name="1930 us census" /><ref name="1940 census">{{cite web |title=Abraham Moserwitz [sic] United States Census, 1940 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQ9H-6NJ |website=FamilySearch |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref> His father was born in Romania but that his mother was born in Russia.<ref name="1930 us census">{{cite web |title=1930 United States Federal Census for Abraham Moscowitz. |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4KM-R2P |website=Family Search |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref>

Although some sources states that he emigrated to the United States in 1913,<ref>{{cite web |title=Abraham Moskowitz |url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/648759-Abraham-Moskowitz |website=Discogs |accessdate=19 September 2020 |language=en}}</ref> in census and immigration documents he gave various years including 1905 and 1906<ref name="1930 us census" /> He married his wife Sadie (née Raden), a Russian Jewish immigrant, in around 1910.<ref name="1930 us census" /> They had two children: Rebecca (Bettie), born around 1913, and Nathan, born around 1918.<ref name="1930 us census" />

===Music career=== Abraham worked as a tailor, and that is the occupation he gave on the US censuses during his entire life. However, he was also a talented Yiddish language singer and became involved in the booming "ethnic" recording industry in the 1910s. After spending time working at some smaller labels, he signed to Columbia Records as a recording artist. His collaboration with fellow Columbia artist Abe Schwartz saw their first success in 1919, when he recorded Schwartz's ''Dos Zekele mit Koilen''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sapoznik |first1=Henry |title=Klezmer! : Jewish music from Old World to our world |date=1999 |publisher=Schirmer Books |location=New York |isbn=9780028645742 |pages=89}}</ref> In 1922 Moskowitz was one of the first to record the hit Yiddish song ''Di Grine Kuzine'', another piece Schwartz had written or at least copyrighted; other recordings of the song were soon made by Joseph Feldman, Morris Goldstein and others.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sapoznik |first1=Henry |title=Klezmer! : Jewish music from Old World to our world |date=1999 |publisher=Schirmer Books |location=New York |isbn=9780028645742 |pages=94–97}}</ref> Moskowitz continued to record Yiddish folk and comic songs for Columbia, and to a lesser degree Pathé Records and Okeh Records, in the early 1920s. After that, his pace of recording slowed and essentially ended by the late 1920s. In 1927, he did record with a fellow Romanian Jewish immigrant, the cymbalist Joseph Moskowitz, in what may be the only recording from that era of a Yiddish singer accompanied by a concert cimbalom.<ref>{{cite web |title=DJSA - Vie iz dos gessele |url=https://djsa.dartmouth.edu/tracks/1320 |website=djsa.dartmouth.edu |publisher=Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive |accessdate=19 September 2020}}</ref> During his recording career he is estimated to have recorded roughly 44 sides; these are now archived at YIVO in New York.

Moskowitz died on February 14, 1956, in New York City.<ref>{{cite web |title=Abraham Moskowitz. New York, New York, U.S., Death Index, 1949-1965 |url=https://www.ancestrylibrary.ca/ |website=Ancestry Library |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref>

In the 1990s and 2000s, there was some renewed interest in Moskowitz's recordings, and they started to appear on a number of reissue CDs, such as ''Yiddish : New York-Paris-Varsovie 1910-1940'' (1994),<ref>{{cite book |title=Yiddish: New York-Paris-Varsovie 1910-1940. |language=en |date=1994|oclc=68462054 }}</ref> ''From Avenue A to the Great White Way'' (2002)<ref>{{cite book |title=From Avenue A to the Great White Way. |date=2002|oclc=50199832 }}</ref> and ''Cantors, klezmorim, and crooners, 1905-1953 : classic Yiddish 78s from the Mayrent Collection'' (2009).<ref>Cantors, klezmorim, and crooners, 1905-1953: classic Yiddish 78s from the Mayrent Collection</ref>

==Selected discography==

*Der tag was geht avek/Die heimath<ref>{{cite web |title=דיא היימאַטה (1 of 2) - UWDC - UW-Madison Libraries |url=https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AZTY7RZW4L2BOR8D |website=search.library.wisc.edu |publisher=Mayrent Collection |accessdate=19 September 2020}}</ref> (Columbia 1917) *Oi, die meidelach/Der reisender<ref>{{cite web |title=דער רייזענדער (1 of 2) - UWDC - UW-Madison Libraries |url=https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A5FYB7AE75BZJW8G |website=search.library.wisc.edu |publisher=Mayrent Collection |accessdate=19 September 2020}}</ref> (Columbia 1921) *Dos Zekele Koilen/S'is nit dos (Columbia 1921) *Di Grine Kuzine/Nit di hagada, nor di kneidlach<ref>{{cite web |title=Columbia E7553 (10-in. double-faced (Ethnic)) - Discography of American Historical Recordings |url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/objects/detail/223132/Columbia_E7553 |website=adp.library.ucsb.edu |publisher=Discography of American Historical Recordings |accessdate=19 September 2020}}</ref> (Columbia 1922, with Abe Schwartz) *Yashke fuhrt avek/Mameniu Liubeniu<ref>{{cite web |title=Columbia matrix 88755. Mamenyu, lyubenyu (מאַמעניו, ליובעניו) / Abraham Moskowitz - Discography of American Historical Recordings |url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000114270/88755-Mamenyu_lyubenyu_ |website=adp.library.ucsb.edu |publisher=Discography of American Historical Recordings |accessdate=19 September 2020}}</ref> (Columbia 1922, with Abe Schwartz) *Dos frehliche liedele/Mein thaiere Kishinev<ref>{{cite web |title=דאָס פרעהליכע ליעדעלע (1 of 2) - UWDC - UW-Madison Libraries |url=https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AI7PGVRSBLTAU58R |website=search.library.wisc.edu |publisher=Mayrent Collection |accessdate=19 September 2020}}</ref> (Columbia 1923, with Abe Schwartz) *Vie iz dos gessele/Huliet Huliet kinderlach (Columbia 1927, with Joseph Moskowitz).

==External links== *[https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/112800/Moskowitz_Abraham Abraham Moskowitz] listing at the Discography of American Historical Recordings *[https://rsa.fau.edu/artist/422 Abraham Moskowitz 78rpm recordings] at the Florida Atlantic University Judaica collection *[https://search.library.wisc.edu/search/digital?filter%5Bfacets%5D%5Bnames_facet~Moskowitz%2C+Abraham%5D=yes Abraham Moskowitz 78rpm recordings] in the Mayrent Collection

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moskowitz, Abraham}} Category:19th-century Romanian Jews Category:Yiddish theatre performers Category:Romanian emigrants to the United States Category:Yiddish-language Romanian singers Category:Jewish singers Category:Musicians from Bucharest Category:American people of Romanian-Jewish descent