Alexander Uriah Boskovich

Alexander (Sándor) Uriah Boskovich (Boskovits, Boskowitz, etc.) (; August 16, 1907 – November 5, 1964) was an Israeli composer born to a Hungarian-Jewish family. Life and career Boskovich was born in Kolozsvár, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania). The origin of his family and of his name was the town Boskovich in Moravia. In Cluj, Boskovich studied in a Jewish high school called “Culture” which accommodated both Neolog and Orthodox Jews. In 1937, Boskovich sent a piano version of his work “The Golden Chain” to the conductor Issay Dobrowen. This work, based on Jewish songs from the Carpathian Mountains, was originally written for piano and later on, in 1936, transcribed for orchestra. In 1938, Dobrowen suggested to the newly founded Jewish “Palestinian Orchestra”, which later on evolved into the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, to embed this work in a concert under his baton. Boskovich was invited from abroad to the premiere of his composition “Jewish Folk Songs”, which was performed by the Palestinian Orchestra. One consequence of that event was that Boskovich decided to stay in the country and settle in Tel Aviv. In the coming years, Boskovich often said that Do