Jacob Dymont papers

Jacob (Jakob) Dymont was a choirmaster, conductor, composer of and instructor in Jewish liturgical music. Dymont was born in Kovno, Lithuania (then part of Russia) in 1881. He left for Germany when he was still a teen and studied music theory, languages, and Jewish music and music history. He received a master’s degree from the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin and in 1908 he became choirmaster at the Orthodox Adass Jisroel synagogue (dedicated in 1904). It was possibly for the congregation’s 30th anniversary, in 1934, that he composed his Shabbat Evening service piece. He married Rosa Klias and they had two daughters - Lily Dumont Mindus, born in Berlin on July 12, 1911, and Sima Dumont Burgheim, born in 1909. In 1938 Jakob and Rosa Dymont emigrated to New York City, where he became involved in Jewish community there, published many works for synagogue services in Hebrew, German, and English, and provided instruction in cantorial music. He died in New Bedford at the home of his daughter Lily, in 1956.