Petrushka, Shabtai (Arieh)
Petrushka, Shabtai (Arieh)
Petrushka, Shabtai (Arieh), German-born Israeli composer; b. Leipzig, March 15,1903; d. Jerusalem, 1997. He studied at the Inst. of Technology in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and received an engineering diploma; studied music at the Leipzig Cons. He was a violinist in various Berlin theater orchs. (1928–33). After the advent of the Nazis in 1933, he was a member of the orch. of the Jewish Kulturbund, for which he wrote incidental music. He emigrated to Palestine in 1938, where he served as an arranger and conductor of the Palestine Broadcasting Service (1938–48). He then was asst. director of music of the Israel Broadcasting Service (1948–58) and head of the music division of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (1958–68). From 1969 to 1981 he taught at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem.
Works
String Trio (1939); 4 Movements for Symphonic Band (1953); 5 Oriental Dances for Orch. (1954); The Broken Blackboard, children’s musical (1969); Piccolo Divertimento for Symphonic Band (1970); 3 Jewish Melodies for 2 Flutes and 3 Clarinets (1972); Hebrew Melodies for Wind Quintet (1974); Wind Quartet (1975); Jewish Melodies for Brass Quintet (1974); 3 Sephardic Songs for Women’s Chorus (1976); Sonatina for Horn and String Quartet (1982); Little Suite for Band (1986).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire