Happy birthday, Marc Lavry!

Today, December 22, 2011, is Marc Lavry’s 108th birthday. Because it’s the first time since the Marc Lavry Heritage Society was established in March of this year, we find it appropriate to note the date.

This is also a great opportunity to publish Lavry’s autobiography he wrote in 1946 at the request of Moshe Gorali, a known musicologist in Israel. Lavry wrote in Russian and Gorali translated it to Hebrew; we are now publishing our translation to English…
This short paper sheds light on several issues we encountered in our research. For example, it explains how Lavry, who lived in Riga, studied composition with Glazunov who resided in Moscow, some 500 miles away; and why he wrote in 1946 Symphony No. 1 (The Tragic Symphony) in a European characteristic, well after he established his iconic Israeli musical style.

His birthday seems like a perfect timing to publish Lavry’s autobiography.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lavry!