This entry is part of the Lexicon of Klezmer Terminology (LKT). The LKT compiles a wide array of source materials that shed light on the historical and contemporary state of knowledge about klezmer music. Each entry includes a number of citations from primary and secondary sources that include or refers to the term in question. It also indicates whether musical notation or sound recordings are included in the source. By clicking on the bibliographic hyperlink at the end of each citation, you get the full reference.
“Monsieur Lieberman started to weep as he said this, drank more wine as he wept, and shouted ‘Vivat!’ The guests formed a circle and danced an old-fashioned quadrille with him in the middle, just as at a wedding in a little Jewish town.” [Nikolayev, Kherson province, afterwards the Odesssa region, 1905]. Babel 1965, p. 257.
“Vivat.” [Orgajeev, Bessarabia, c. 1930s-40s]. Bik 1964. (Musical notation included).
“At a wedding they used to play in honor of each in-law a ‘vivat’ and in the morning later a ‘frimorgns’ or a ‘dzshan dobri’, in Yiddish euphemistic language therefore one was called without cursing according to how much it costs: ‘opshpiln a bezon, a viston, a frimorgen’, ‘obgeshpilt a dobranots’, obgeshpilt a vivat.” Elzet 1918, pp. 34-35.
“Then the khasn is taken and they proceed to the badekns. The groom goes first and after him all the remaining in-laws. As soon as they enter, the klezmer play a freylekhs and the badkhn shouts: ‘Vivat!... After the wedding-meal the bride and groom are seated on stools in the middle of the hall (in other places they are seated on the same stool) and the badkhn begins to perform his rhymes. With the last rhyme the mekhutonim are called out to dance with the bride, and they dance with her. When his oration is done, the klezmorim play a vivat...” [Staro-Konstantin, Ukraine, 1820s-30s]. Fridkin 1925, p. 45-47.
“...some ‘Dorian’ songs do bear the imprint of Moldavian influence. We are thinking of songs in which the intonations of Moldavian dances can be heard. As an example, consider the hassidic song ‘Az got vet gebn gezunt un lebn’ (‘If God Gives Health and Life’): ... Measures 9-12 reproduce exactly the beginning of the second figure of the popular Moldavian dance ‘Vivat’...” Goldin 1989, pp. 36-37. (Musical notation included).
“Vivat [also vivad]. long live! hurrah! yikhi!” Harkavi 1928, p. 205.
“In the first [of four] week[s] before the wedding, the sewing of the wedding-clothes began with a special celebration with the klezmorim who played a ‘vivat.’” Rivkind 1960, p. 20.
“Every in-law would receive a special welcome (vivat)...: ‘A nice and beautiful mazl tov...’... played by the klezmorim (mus. ex. of mazltov). Stutschewsky 1959, p. 157. (Musical notation included).
“During the meal, the badkhn or marshalik performs... Sometimes the klezmer band had a member who was also a badkhn, and he would complete what the badkhn had left out...the badkhn resumes and begins with ‘misheberakh’ and calls for special ‘vivatn’ for everyone who brought a present for the groom.” Stutschewsky 1959, pp. 163.
“Vivat (interjection) long live, hurrah, three cheers.” Weinreich 1977, p. 625.
“In the morning they made a ‘rumpl’... here the klezmer came with the badkhn playing for the honor of each person a ‘dobridzen’... When the married couple revealed themselves to the room, the guests cried out a ‘vivat’” [Vilna, Lithuania, c. 1890s-1900s]. Zizmor 1922a, p. 876.