The Romanian-born cimbalom virtuoso and restaurateur Joseph Moskowitz (1879-1954) was one of the most celebrated musicians in New York City in the first part of the 20th century, and a central cultural figure in the iconic multicultural Lower East Side immigrant milieu. A visit to see Moskowitz performing in his restaurant on Houston or Rivington Street was an essential New York social call for important politicians, writers, actors, musicians and underworld figures, as well as for generations of immigrants seeking Old World tastes and sounds. Many books, films, newspaper and magazine articles from this time feature scenes set in his restaurant, immersing the reader in the colorful and seductive charm of the neighborhood.
Moskowitzś performances at major concert halls, including an annual concert he presented at Town Hall, were frequently broadcast on national and regional radio. The music he recorded on Victor, Brunswick and later Romany Records is representative of the teeming demographics of the Lower East Side, including Romanian, Yiddish, Hungarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Romani, Greek and Turkish folk music, as well as light classical favorites and ragtime. Moskowitzś compositions continue to form an important part of the repertoire of contemporary klezmer ensembles internationally.
After falling out with his business partner in the famous Second Avenue restaurant Moskowitz & Lupowitzś, he relocated to Akron for a short-lived restaurant venture. Finally Moskowitz settled in Washington, DC to perform nightly at Michelś Restaurant on Dupont Circle, where his musicianship drew visits from a young Congressman from California named Richard Nixon (surely our most musically-talented chief executive). Perhaps this planted a seed in Cold War rapprochement– one of Nixonś first foreign trips as President was to Romania where he was photographed dancing hora with Ceaușescu.
We are grateful to members of the Rosenthal family (descendents of Moskowitz's wife Sally) for preserving Uncle Joe's archive. In 2026, the US Library of Congress's Music Division's accessioned the Joseph Moskowitz Archive. This website has been designed to disseminate an access copy of the Archive for use by musicians, researchers and fans of the legendary cimbalom player.
Click here for a wonderfully-researched Wikipedia article about Moskowitz by Daniel Carkner.
Click here for a memorial page on the Klezmershack.
Overview of the Joseph Moskowitz Archive
The Archive consists of handwritten musical manuscripts, photographs of Moskowitz, press clippings, letters/cards from admirers, concert programs, restaurant menus and advertisements, and a copy of his album Cymbalom Melodies (Romany Records, 1953). Of special significance is an 64-page autobiographical memoir hand-written in Romanian by Moskowitz, which has been recently translated into English by Craig Packard.
Here is a brief synopsis of the contents:
Handwritten music including original compositions and arrangements, mostly composed by Moskowitz but a few compositions written by others for him. This part of the collection includes 3 volumes of his compositions beautifully rendered by Toni Charuhas in negative images in preparation for printing. These volumes (to our knowledge never published) are arranged for piano and bound with a decorative cover ~150 items (very hard to count)
Photographs (unlabeled). 5-6 of these are important pictures of Moskowitz performing or posed with a cimbalom– some of these pictures were used for publicity, publications and advertising for his restaurants. Others depict him with unidentified individuals (probably family, friends and colleagues) ~46
Handwritten memoir (in Romanian), 64 pages (the memoir has recently been translated into English by Craig Packard)
Scrapbook which looks to be mostly compiled in the 1920s but has some materials from later, contains dozens of newspaper clippings about Moskowitz. - 1
Additional newspaper articles in English and Yiddish about performances and restaurants, advertisements, reviews, concert programs, menus ~60 items (very hard to count)
LP recording of Cymbalom Melodies, Romany Records - 1
Appreciation letters, cards, signed photos ~ 106
Union membership book from 1948 - 1
Letter, contract regarding performance and recording - 2
Pleiades Club yearbook 1921-22 - 1
Published music, mostly Jewish, by many composers (not Joseph Moskowitz), individual pieces and collected works ~45
Correspondence regarding donation of cimbalom to Peabody Institute in 1957
Death notice/funeral/obit ~10
Special thanks to: Jeanne, Scott and James Rosenthal, Craig Packard, Vincent Novara, Nancy Groce, Daniel Carkner and Dan Kunda-Thagard. Website design by Pete Rushefsky/Center for Traditional Music & Dance. If using the translation of Moskowitz's Memoir, please credit Craig Packard, 2025.