Moisei Beregovsky

Moisei Iakovlevich Beregovsky
Моисей Яковлевич Береговский
black and white photo of a smiling man wearing a hat
Born1892
Termakhivka [uk], Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine)
Died12 August 1961
Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (present-day Kyiv, Ukraine)
NationalityRussian Empire, Soviet Union
Other namesMoyshe Arn Beregovski
Occupation(s)Folklorist, ethnomusicologist, music teacher

Moisei Beregovsky (1892–1961, Russian: Моисей Яковлевич Береговский, romanizedMoisey Yakovlevich Beregovsky; Yiddish: משה אהרן בערעגאָװסקי, romanizedMoyshe Arn Beregovski) was a Soviet Jewish folklorist, musicologist and ethnomusicologist from the Ukrainian SSR who was a key figure in the study of Jewish music. He collected, studied and published about klezmer music, Yiddish song, wordless nigun melodies, and the music of Purim plays. His published collections, mostly only released after his death, remain important sources of Jewish music from the late Russian Empire and early Soviet period. Most of his research was done during the period of 1927–1949, during the Stalin era, during which he was faced not only with ideological restrictions, but a period of imprisonment in a forced labour camp from 1950 to 1955. He was rehabilitated after 1955 and continued his work in his final years during the Khrushchev-era.