"The Haskalah movement attempted to transmit to the Yiddish-speaking, Hebrew-reading Jews the thought and literature of the non-Jewish world through articles, essays, plays, poems, and songs. Although it did not attack religion, it did satirize the…

"A typical ballad is a plot-driven song, with one or more characters hurriedly unfurling events leading to a dramatic conclusion. At best, a ballad does not tell the reader what’s happening, but rather shows the reader what’s happening, describing…

"From earliest infancy the Jewish child in the Pale heard singing and chanting, humming and intoning. In the home, in the back yard, in the narrow village street, in the cheder, in the synagogue, at the Shabbath table, during holidays, the children…

See "Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive" p. 214

"In Eastern Europe in the nineteenth century, of all the categories of Yiddish folk songs, love songs were the most numerous, popular, melodious and poetic. This fact for a time challenged a number of writers on Jewish literature and folklore, who…

"During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the songs of the craftsmen and apprentices were but a distant echo. New sounds and rhythms, under the pressure of economical and political struggles against tsarist oppression, were surfacing in a…