Goldman, Maurice, 1910-1984

Maurice Lawrence Goldman, noted composer, arranger, conductor and performer, primarily of Yiddish and Hebraic music, was was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 4, 1910 to Marcus and Sarah Goldman. Shortly thereafter, he moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio where his father worked as a rabbi and principal of the Knesseth Israel Hebrew School of the Knesseth Israel Congregation. Goldman was a graduate of Glenville High School in Cleveland, and received a B.S. degree from the Western Reserve University School of Education in 1935.

He was prominent in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio as a choral conductor, composer, arranger, performer, music educator, opera director and radio personality in the mid 1930's until his induction into the U.S. Army in 1942. Of the many positions he held during this time the most notable were as director of the Euclid Avenue Temple Choir, the Cleveland Jewish Singing Society, the Western Reserve University Choir, the Opera Chorus of the WPA Federal Music Project for Cuyahoga County, and the Akron Opera Company; as cantor at the Fairmont Temple and Temple on the Heights; as head of the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera department and the Cleveland Music School Settlement Choral programs and as radio host for the programs "Classics in Wax" and "Operama." In 1941, Goldman moved to Los Angeles and worked in the film industry arranging music scores for several westerns and dramas before his induction into the Army.

From 1942-1944 he was responsible for the "Singing While Marching" program and served as director of the symphony orchestra at the Army Air Force Training Center in Boca Raton, Florida. He was honorably discharged from the Army and returned to Cleveland to resume several of his pre-war positions and assume such new appointments as director of the nationally broadcast black singing group Wings Over Jerusalem. With the exception of a brief sojourn in Los Angeles, from 1948-1951, Goldman remained in Cleveland where he resumed his multifaceted music career. A highlight of this period was his largest work to date, a cantata entitled "The Golden Door" which was performed at the Cleveland Public Hall in 1955 as part of the national Jewish Tercentenary.

In 1957, Goldman moved permanently to Los Angeles and narrowed his professional focus to performing, teaching, directing and composing Yiddish and Hebraic music. He served as musical director for The Bureau of Jewish Education and served as the cantor at University Synagogue. He headed the Los Angeles Opera Company and devoted much of his time to composition and his interest in Jewish folk songs. Despite many offers he did not return to work in the film industry.

Goldman was married to the former Ethel Mann, a talented flutist, with whom he had two children; Stuart and Althea. He died on February 2, 1984 shortly after the premier of his most ambitious composition, "Echos of Jewish Life", a cantata including ten original pieces.

From the guide to the Maurice Goldman Papers, 1933-1993, (Case Western Reserve University Kelvin Smith Library Special Collections)