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M. was born in August 1885 in Shadova, Lithuania.
He received a general
education and from the age of eight on he learned the
play the fiddle, at first with a klezmer in the town and
then in Shavel.
At age fifteen he came to
Warsaw, where he studied violin and general music in the
conservatory, under the influence of Dr. Yosef Luria,
and Avraham Reyzen published songs in "Der Yud" and in "Epelberg's
Yom-tov-bleter", in which he had around 1903 begun to
publish on his own.
In 1901 he composed his first composition (text and
music) for the song "Tsyuns fon", was active as a chorus
conductor in the choral school "Shaari tsion", and for a
singing association, which later transformed into
"Hazamir".
After the outbreak of the
Russian-Japanese War, he went away to his father in
South Africa, where he took a [nont]: participating with
the local Yiddish writers, corresponding also in the
Yiddish press of Europe and North America.
In 1907, together with his
parents, he came to America where he for a certain time
often collaborated in the "Yidish tagenblat" and he also
participated in other periodical publications with
songs, stories, feuilletons and publicity articles.
In 1913 he published in New
York "Di yidishe drama un familyen zhurnal, ersheynt
monatlikh, published by the Frommer Publishing Company",
edited by Eliezer Monfried [October 1913 -- January
1914, 32 pp., 16°], and in 1923 "Di idishe muzikalishe
velt un teater-zhunral, a monatshrift far muziker,
lehrer un shiler fun muzik, khznim, zinger, shoyshpiler
un ale libhober fun musizk un drama, issued by the
Jewish Federation of Music and Drama, edited by Lazarus
Monfried" [New York, 1st volume -- March, 2nd volume --
August-September. 1923, 32 pp., journal format]. In the
last journal M. published in [fortzetsungen] his
four-act drama "In letsstn shturem".
M. also wrote a musical
drama in three acts "Der gott fun muzik".
In the last years M. is
mainly active as a director of a music school and as a
fiddle pedagogue. He also has composed many compositions
for fiddle (or violin), piano and singing and he has
published in Yiddish methods for fidl (violin) playing.
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