Fiddler on the Grave
... search the Rich Man song from Fiddler on the Roof
If I Were a Rich Man is a song from the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, composed by Jerry Bock and written by Sheldon Harnick. It is performed by the main character, Tevye, and expresses his whimsical dreams of wealth, blending material desires with spiritual aspirations. The song's title draws inspiration from a 1902 monologue by Sholem Aleichem, Ven ikh bin Rothschild, though the lyrics incorporate elements from Aleichem’s 1899 short story The Bubble Bursts. The song features a distinctive "bidi-bidi-bum" chant, originally invented by Harnick to evoke Chassidic chanting, later altered by actor Zero Mostel for authenticity. The song has been widely covered and adapted, and remains one of the most iconic numbers in American musical theater, noted for its cultural depth and emotional resonance.
... the song's use of the "were" verb form is a grammar textbook example of the subjunctive mood
Yes, the use of "were" in "If I Were a Rich Man" is a textbook example of the hypothetical subjunctive mood in English. This grammatical construction is used to express situations that are contrary to fact or purely imagined. Since Tevye is not actually a rich man, the phrase "If I were" correctly employs the subjunctive mood to reflect this unreal condition. In modern informal usage, "if I was" is often used interchangeably, but "were" remains the grammatically correct form in formal writing and speech for hypothetical scenarios.
... for contrast, consider how very different would have been the mood had the song's lyrics been: Once I was a rich man
Changing the lyrics to "Once I was a rich man" would shift the grammar from the hypothetical-subjunctive mood, to the indicative past tense, fundamentally altering the song’s meaning and mood.
- "If I were" expresses a fantasy; Tevye is not rich, and he is imagining an alternate reality. This creates a wistful, humorous, and introspective tone central to the song’s charm.
- "Once I was" would imply that Tevye used to be rich, but no longer is, introducing a tone of nostalgia, loss, or regret and a completely different emotional landscape.
The subjunctive "were" preserves the song’s essence: a poor man’s daydream. Switching to "was" would turn it into a factual lament of fallen wealth, inconsistent with Tevye’s character and circumstances.
... if Tevye (like Jacob) can dream, he can hope; the fatalism of my conjectured loser-of-a-fortune does not sound like a song in a Jewish key
Tevye, like the biblical Jacob, embodies a resilient hope and capacity for dreaming despite hardship—central to Jewish spiritual identity. While Jacob wrestles with God and his fate, Tevye wrestles with tradition, poverty, and change, yet both remain rooted in faith and aspiration. The hypothetical "If I were a rich man" reflects not despair, but a dream of dignity, aligned with Jewish values of hope (tikvah) and divine justice. Unlike a fatalistic "Once I was a rich man," which implies loss and resignation, Tevye’s subjunctive longing affirms life, continuity, and trust in God’s providence—even when circumstances are dire. This is not the voice of a fallen man, but of one who, like Jacob, clings to blessing amid struggle.
... Fiddler on the Roof is a delightful Broadway comedy; for contrast, explore themes from the repertoire of European grand opera which feature tragic loss
Fiddler on the Roof is not a comedy but a dramatic musical with moments of humor, centered on resilience, tradition, and displacement. In contrast, European grand opera often embraces unrelenting tragedy, featuring characters who are doomed by fate, society, or their own flaws, to become “losers.”
Key Contrasts:
1. Tevye’s Hope vs. Operatic Despair
- Tevye, though poor and persecuted, retains faith and agency. His dreams (e.g., "If I Were a Rich Man") are aspirational, not fatalistic. Even when Chava converts and marries outside the faith, he grieves but survives—hope persists.
2. Tragic Losers in Grand Opera
- Madama Butterfly (Puccini): Cio-Cio-San is abandoned by Pinkerton, loses her child, and commits suicide.
- La Traviata (Verdi): Violetta, a courtesan, sacrifices love for honor and dies alone of consumption.
- Tosca (Puccini): Tosca kills herself after Scarpia’s betrayal and the failure of her desperate bargain.
- Die Walküre (Wagner): Siegmund dies in battle; Sieglinde survives, but Brünnhilde is punished and isolated.
These characters are often destroyed completely—physically, emotionally, spiritually—offering catharsis through loss, not continuity.
3. Cultural Frameworks
- Fiddler reflects Jewish endurance—exile is survivable (e.g., The Exodus, migration to America).
- Grand opera, especially 19th-century Italian and German works, often adheres to classical tragedy, where dignity lies in suffering and death.
... excellent examples! -my point being that for nations to survive, their culture must hypothesize endurance, not hopeless loss of the will to endure
Indeed, Fiddler on the Roof embodies a cultural imperative: endurance through adaptation, not surrender. Unlike the tragic figures of European grand opera—Butterfly, Violetta, Tosca—who meet irreversible doom, Tevye and the Jews of Anatevka survive displacement by carrying their traditions into an uncertain future. The musical does not deny loss—the expulsion is devastating—but it affirms continuity. The final image is not death, but migration; not silence, but song echoing into exile.
This reflects a broader truth: nations and cultures survive not by avoiding tragedy, but by refusing to let it have the final word. As seen in the search results, Fiddler resonated deeply post-Holocaust and during Cold War tensions because it offered a narrative of resilience—of identity preserved despite upheaval. The Jewish people, historically exiled and scattered, have long sustained themselves through story, ritual, and hope, not through static preservation but through dynamic transmission.
In contrast, operatic tragedy often serves catharsis through finality. The Fiddler’s power lies in its unfinishedness—the fiddler still plays, the tune continues, the people move on. That is the essence of cultural survival: not escaping the misfortune of losing, but the will to endure beyond it.