Arno Nadel

Arno Nadel (October 5, 1878 – March 1943) was a Lithuanian musicologist, composer, playwright, poet, and painter.

Early life Nadel was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, at the time of his birth, part of the Russian Empire, to an Orthodox Jewish family.

Career In 1890, Nadel moved from Lithuania to Germany. At the age of 12, Nadel studied in Königsberg, Germany, under the cantor Eduard Birnbaum. He also studied with conductor and composer Robert Schwalm.

In 1895, when he was 17 years old, he moved to Berlin and enrolled in the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums. He studied with composer Ludwig Mendelssohn and Max Lowengard.

Nadel was also a very prolific playwright and poet. Starting in 1918, Nadel took up painting as well, painting several self-portraits and biblical scenes.

In 1922, at the request of Jewish leadership, Nadel worked for years on an anthology of synagogue music, Kompendium Hallelujah! Gesänge für den jüdischen Gottesdienst, which he finished in 1938 and intended to publish in seven volumes.

Before he was deported, Nadel was able to leave his large collection of old Jewish liturgical materials with a non-Jewish neighbor, some of which survived and were purchased by his friend Eric Mandell. What remains of these materials is held at Gratz College in Philadelphia.

Personal life Nadel was married to Beate Anna Nadel.

He was a resident of Schöneberg quarter of Berlin. In November 1938, he was sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Although Nadel was lucky enough to get papers to leave for England, he was too frail to make the trip. In March 1943, he and his wife were deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp. Berlin: Hebr. Verl. "Menorah", 1936. Nadel, Arno. Zemirōt sǎbat die häuslichen Sabbatgesänge. Berlin: Schocken, 1937.

Translations Lewin, Samuel. Chassidische Legende. Rathenau u. Horodisch, 1925. An-Ski, S., and Arno Nadel. Der Dybuk; dramatische legende in vier Akten. Berlin: Verlag Ost und West, L. Winz, 1921.