Background
Rosenblatt was born on May 9, 1882, in Bila Tserkva, Russian Empire.
Rosenblatt was born on May 9, 1882, in Bila Tserkva, Russian Empire.
The scion of a long line of cantors, Rosenblatt's devoutly religious upbringing prevented him from receiving formal musical training at any of the great academies of his day. He began his career as a member of the local synagogue choir. Quickly lauded as a "wunderkind", or child prodigy, Rosenblatt's solo career was launched. At the age of 7, he moved with his family to Sadigora, Bukovina (Austria).
With a growing family to maintain, however, the United States offered better prospects and, in June 1912, Rosenblatt moved to New York, to begin his long association with the First Hungarian Congregation (Ohab Zedek) in Harlem. Vast crowds — including non-Jewish music lovers — flocked to the services he conducted as well as to his concerts. It was after a World War I charity performance in March 1918 that Ohab Zedek’s cantor made head¬lines, in the United States and Europe, by politely declining the Chicago Opera Association’s offer to pay him the princely sum of one thousand dollars a night for singing the part of Eleazar in Halevy’s La Juive. As a staunchly observant Jew, Rosenblatt could never agree to appear in love scenes on the opera stage. This high-principled stand enhanced the cantor’s reputation still further, boosting his popularity and the revenue from his concert performances.
Meanwhile, the records of Jewish liturgical music that he had been making for various American companies since 1913 sold by the tens of thousands. Mostly his own compositions, they included such perennial favorites as Ahenu Kol Bet Yisrael, A mar Rabbi Eiazar, Ke-Varakat Ro'eh Edro, Relseh Atiratam, Se’u She'arim, U-Venuhoh Yomar, and Ya’aleh. Kol Nidre was recorded no less that five times, on three different labels and a single version of the Yiddish classic Eli, Eli (the proceeds of which were devoted to Jewish war relief) brought royalties of ten thousand dollars within the space of twelve months.
Despite his considerable earnings, “Yossele” Rosenblatt saved little, bestowing largesse on all comers at the expense of his own family and future. Worse still, he was inveigled into backing The Light of Israel, a shady newspaper scheme that finally collapsed, forcing the cantor into bankruptcy in 1925. Thereafter, in a long and desperate effort to repay The Light of Israel's creditors, he wore himself out as a vaudeville performer, adding operatic arias and other songs to his repertoire as he traveled from one engagement to the next throughout the United States and Canada. Periodical concert tours of Europe and South America lightened the burden somewhat, and there was also an alluring offer from Warner Brothers to play the cantor’s role in Hollywood’s first talkie, The Jazz Singer (1927), a picture starring A1 Jolson, which might have restored his fortunes. However, Rosenblatt would not allow himself to be filmed, only undertaking to record nonliturgical pieces for the movie in return for one-tenth of the one- hundred-thousand dollars he had been offered.
His musical virtuosity combined with his dignified yet outgoing personality gained vast numbers of admirers. Blessed with an astonishing voice that could range over nearly three octaves, from a powerful bass to a ringing falsetto, he also wrote dozens of prayer settings for cantor and choir that have become “traditional” in the Ashkenazi synagogue. Of these. Aheinu Kol Bet Yisra’el and Habet mi-Shamayim U'Re'eh were partly a response to news of the pogroms in war-torn Russia and of Arab violence against Jews in Palestine.
As an enthusiastic Zionist, Rosenblatt did react positively to the Kol-Or Film Company’s proposal that he star in The Dream of My People, which began production when he reached the Holy Land in April 1933. At intervals during the filming, he conducted services and gave concerts up and down the country, sang at the home of Chief Rabbi A. I. Kook, and entranced the poet H. N. Bialik with his setting of Shir ha-Ma’alot (Psalm 126). On June 18, however, while completing work on the movie near the Dead Sea, he suffered a heart attack and died a few hours later in Jerusalem, where he was buried on the Mount of Olives.
The stress of his debts resulted in his demise. He died of a heart attack at the age of 51 on June 19, 1933, in Jerusalem, Israel.
He was known for his extraordinary technique, for the sweetness of his timbre, and for his unique ability to transition from normal voice to falsetto with hardly any noticeable break at all.
His technique in cantillation was unique. Notes were hit remarkably accurately at high speeds. Fiorituras, similarly, were struck near perfectly, both rhythmically and on pitch. His fame spread so far that Toscanini appealed to him to sing the leading role in Fromental Halévy's La Juive, but Rosenblatt replied that he would only use his vocal gift for the glory of God, in service to his religion. Notably, he turned down a "Golden Hello" from the Chicago opera house because it violated his religious principles.
Rosenblatt corresponded with many of the great tenors of his day. It is told that upon hearing Rosenblatt sing "Elli Elli", Enrico Caruso was so moved that he ascended the stage and kissed him.